DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12673#0051
34 GOA AND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.
a dozen vehicles. The popular conveyance is a
kind of palanquin, composed of a light sofa, cur-
tained with green wax cloth, and strung to a
bamboo pole, which rests upon the two bearers'
heads or shoulders. This is called a mancheel, and
a most lugubrious-looking thing it is, forcibly re-
minding one of a coffin covered with a green pall.
At length we arrived at the Barracks, a large
building in the form of an irregular square, fronting
the Rio, and our British curiosity being roused by
hearing that the celebrated old thief, Phonde Sa-
wunt,* was living there under surveillance, we
determined to visit that rebel on a small scale.
His presence disgraces his fame ; it is that of a
wee, ugly, grey, thin, old and purblind Maha-
ratta. He received us, however, with not a little
dignity and independence of manner, motioned us
to sit down with a military air, and entered upon a
series of queries concerning the Court of Lahore,
at that time the only power on whose exertions the
agitators of India could base any hopes. Around
the feeble, decrepit old man stood about a dozen
stalworth sons, with naked shoulders, white cloths
round their waists and topknots of hair, which
* He raised the standard of revolt against the Indian
government spiritedly but unsuccessfully.
a dozen vehicles. The popular conveyance is a
kind of palanquin, composed of a light sofa, cur-
tained with green wax cloth, and strung to a
bamboo pole, which rests upon the two bearers'
heads or shoulders. This is called a mancheel, and
a most lugubrious-looking thing it is, forcibly re-
minding one of a coffin covered with a green pall.
At length we arrived at the Barracks, a large
building in the form of an irregular square, fronting
the Rio, and our British curiosity being roused by
hearing that the celebrated old thief, Phonde Sa-
wunt,* was living there under surveillance, we
determined to visit that rebel on a small scale.
His presence disgraces his fame ; it is that of a
wee, ugly, grey, thin, old and purblind Maha-
ratta. He received us, however, with not a little
dignity and independence of manner, motioned us
to sit down with a military air, and entered upon a
series of queries concerning the Court of Lahore,
at that time the only power on whose exertions the
agitators of India could base any hopes. Around
the feeble, decrepit old man stood about a dozen
stalworth sons, with naked shoulders, white cloths
round their waists and topknots of hair, which
* He raised the standard of revolt against the Indian
government spiritedly but unsuccessfully.