DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15173#0090
72
LETTER TO RUNJEET SING. chap. hi.
all our travels. We ourselves were now living as
natives, and had ceased to repine at the hardness of
the ground and the miserable hovels in which we
sometimes halted. I had also disposed of my
valuables in what then appeared to me a masterly-
manner : a letter of credit for five thousand rupees
was fastened to my left arm, in the way that the
Asiatics wear amulets. My polyglot passport was
fixed to my right arm, and a bag of ducats was
tied round my waist. I also distributed a part of
my ready money to each of the servants ; and so
perfect was the check that had been established
over them, that we never lost a single ducat in all
our journey, and found most faithful servants in
men who might have ruined and betrayed us. We
trusted them, and they rewarded our confidence.
One man, Ghoolam Hoosn, a native of Surat, fol-
lowed me throughout the whole journey, cooked
our food, and never uttered a complaint at the
performance of such duties, foreign as they were
to his engagements. He is now with me in Eng-
land.
Our conductor, on the part of Runjeet Sing left
us at Acora. Choonee Lai, for that was his name,
was a quiet inoffensive Brahmin, who did not seem
at ease across the Indus. I gave him a farewell
letter to his master; and, since his Highness had
written for my sentiments regarding the salt-mines
of the Punjab, and the best means of profiting by
them, I gave him a long account of salt monopolies,
telling him, that it was better to levy high duties
upon salt than grain. I told him, also, in as many
LETTER TO RUNJEET SING. chap. hi.
all our travels. We ourselves were now living as
natives, and had ceased to repine at the hardness of
the ground and the miserable hovels in which we
sometimes halted. I had also disposed of my
valuables in what then appeared to me a masterly-
manner : a letter of credit for five thousand rupees
was fastened to my left arm, in the way that the
Asiatics wear amulets. My polyglot passport was
fixed to my right arm, and a bag of ducats was
tied round my waist. I also distributed a part of
my ready money to each of the servants ; and so
perfect was the check that had been established
over them, that we never lost a single ducat in all
our journey, and found most faithful servants in
men who might have ruined and betrayed us. We
trusted them, and they rewarded our confidence.
One man, Ghoolam Hoosn, a native of Surat, fol-
lowed me throughout the whole journey, cooked
our food, and never uttered a complaint at the
performance of such duties, foreign as they were
to his engagements. He is now with me in Eng-
land.
Our conductor, on the part of Runjeet Sing left
us at Acora. Choonee Lai, for that was his name,
was a quiet inoffensive Brahmin, who did not seem
at ease across the Indus. I gave him a farewell
letter to his master; and, since his Highness had
written for my sentiments regarding the salt-mines
of the Punjab, and the best means of profiting by
them, I gave him a long account of salt monopolies,
telling him, that it was better to levy high duties
upon salt than grain. I told him, also, in as many