1 which Runjeet Sing took daily, and the strong spirits lie used to
2 drink at different hours of the day, transported him into a kind
3 of excitement, which manifested itself in the highest degree in
4 the evening, after the enjoyment of larger portions of spirits.
5 Every one loved and feared him at the same time. He had an
6 army of 100,000 men, inspiring awe and respect, half of whom
7 were regular and the other half irregular troops, with whom he
8 might have enforced his laws on all the Hindoos ; nevertheless,
9 he entertained the greatest friendship with his neighbours the
10 English, and manifested his favour towards the French, the
11 Italians, and other European nations, by making them governors
12 in his provinces. His disease was brought on by a severe cold,
13 and by indulging somewhat too much in strong spirits. The
14 latter I am told was especially the case during the winter in
15 which the Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland, came to
16 Lahore to pay him a visit. In the transport of his joy, he drank
17 more than ordinarily. Probably, if an emetic had been given at
18 the commencement of the disease, it would have produced a good
19 effect ; but as the native physicians did not know of any good
20 and effective emetic, and are fearful, also, of the effects of
21 vomiting, they prefer using purgatives, by which sometimes
22 the disease grows worse, as the case above related sufficiently
23 proves.
24 It made a very deep impression on my feelings to have been
25 prevented from making myself useful to the maharajah, and
26 restoring to health the man on whose life was depending the
27 happiness, peace and prosperity of that country. Every one
28 whose forethought enabled him to throw a glance on the future,
29 must have seen with pain and sorrow that a violent crisis menaced
30 that country, by which a nation scarcely risen from barbarity
31 might sink back into its former condition.
32 The first sad and cruel scene that I witnessed after the death
33 of Runjeet Sing, was the Suttee, or burning of his eleven
34 wives, along with the body of the deceased. There were four
35 ranees (legal wives), and seven female slaves, who, animated
36 with the superstitious hope of entering paradise with their