35 Years in the East

• Honigberger’s diaries of the east, chiefly India

• From Transylvania - how was it like?

• Travelled east - caught up in a storm crossing from Varna to Constantinople

• They survived. He tried to save some soldiers from rapidly going from cold to hear

• He then cured his rheumatism with a herb - lawsonia inermis - which is the same thing as henna

• Ancient greek coins were bought insanely cheaply in mountain markets of Anatolia

• He got sick for 10 months and only got better by travelling further along (change of air)

• Getting enlisted in an expedition to Upper Egypt that he dropped out of due to a plague break out. The expedition including all physicians ended up massacred

• Innoculating for Smallpox in Syria and the mum who only wanted her son done and not her precious daughter ending up with her daughter dead as a punishment from god p47

• I was conducted from Mesrut-ul-Toofah, to a place a little farther up the Lebanon, to Atto, where the former French interpreter, Isaac Torbei, was confined to his bed with Angina, and was unable to articulate, in spite of all his eforts to do so. I examined his throat, and found an absces therein, which I opened immediately ; by which operation my patient was able to talk instantly, and after a few day he entirely recovered. sidekick idea?

• When Isaac reaches India with him, he can have a connection to a Napoleanic general

• Kannobin - convent is a good setting for the above scene

• The story of the tapeworm being pulled out as he hears from a local of the death of Bonaparte

• Journey through the desert - p63

• Running into the group of women awaiting their husbands return from the hunt

• How the arabs heal wounds - heat a hole in the sand and lie in it. They either heal or die

• They had a letter of transit from one pasha to the next (Damascus to Baghdad)

• The aga got killed but they’re relieved to not have been the targets

• Turns out the aga is alive and asks them to heal him

• They think it’ll be a good deal to be owed a favour by the pasha of baghdad, but come to lean the aga is now destitute (increases trouble in the story)

• Diseases:

  • Rheumatism
  • Angina
  • Smallpox
  • Tapeworm
  • Bug nest in ear
  • Plague
  • Leeches
  • Hydrophobia (old term for rabies)

• Given a cloak of honour for curing a boy who had a hive of bugs in his ear

• Helping a gunshot victim locate where the ball was in his leg and cutting it out

• The fact that barbers were doctors before he arrived

• On the road, between Bagdad and the camp, I beheld a horrid spectacle namely, a pyramid of some hundreds of the heads of Arab rebels.

• He still bleeds people

• We were told that there were four French military officers in the service of Runjeet Sing at Lahore, in India ( Allard, Ventura, Court, and Avitabile ) who, after the defeat of Napoleon, having served in Persia, were about to organize a regular army at Lahore, and that no European physicians or surgeons had been yet engaged. We therefore, thinking it better to accelerate our departure, requested our dismissal, which was granted, and we thus left Bagdad

• Selling two arabian horses to folks to hitch a ride and then visiting the ruins of persepolis - this is mentioned off hand but can be turned into a bigger bit

• They are getting robbed so Honigberger fires a pistol to scare them and alert his escorts. This seems like a rare act for him

• Soldiers taking snuff

• They spent a winter in Shiras learning Persian so they would be more likely to get hired

• On this journey we had again to endure a great deal of annoyance from the Persians, who being defeated by the Russians in war, were anxious to revenge them-selves on us ; they treated us, in fact, worse than their dogs,cheating, robbing, and insulting us to such a degree, that M. De Turk on one occasion cocked his pistol to fire at a radar ( road-keeper ) who was very insolent ; but I prevented him from executing his design

• At Hispahan, a con-spiracy was formed by the native doctors against our lives,of which we were informed by an Armenian, and, by the interference of the governor, we were pre:jerved

• A short time after his leaving me, I received some good news from Lahore, through a Persian who had been in the service of General Avitabile, which induced me again to attempt going there at the commencement of the favourable season, i, e., the early part of the winter ( 1829 ). I felt the more inclined to do so, as the plague was already raging at Mosul, and the inhabitants of Bagdad were fearful that it might extend as far as their own city, a thing which occurred soon after. In the year 1828, there had been at Mosul and its environs, a famine, in consequence of the crops failing, and numerous families went down the Tigris to settle at Bagdad, selling, their children for a mere trifle, owing to the want of means to support them. I myself sav/ a beautiful Christian girl purchased for twenty grush ( four shillings ). Scarcely had I left Bagdad when the plague broke out, and this scourge was followed by an inundation. A war, previously noticed, also broke out, during which Dohud Pasha was conducted as a prisoner to Constantinople

• My only companion was a faithful servant, called Antun, a Christian, whom I brought with me from Bagdad

• Falling ill en route to Heirpore and asking for leeches, not having any and then resorting to a blister. Him thinking he’s near the end and writing a will. asking his servant to take it and his effects to Lahore and then giving him a lot of money at payment and to ensure he did the bidding

  • He has a crisis of faith in the value of medicine until he cuts a median vein and bleeds himself
  • He then finds leeches and applies a lot to himself

• we could speak the Persian, Arabic, and Turkish languages, had long beards, and addressed each other as Hajee, i. e., pilgrim

• We ate together, according to the eastern custom, using our fingers instead of knives and forks ; in fact, we played our parts so well, that none recognised us as Christians. Having our quarters in the mosque, it was very annoying for us to see the musselmans come five times in twenty-four hours, to offer up their prayers. They thought it strange that we, as pilgrims and their guests, did not join in their devotions. It is true, we could easily have done so, but knowing how to excuse ourselves, we did not like to push our dissimulation any further. We had only to whisper into the ear of one of them that we were unclean. From thai expression they inferred that we had the gonorrhcea, which excuse became a public secret ; and we thus got out of the difficulty.

• The journey from Bagdad to Lahore occupied four months ; I. e., two by water, and two by land. On my arrival at Lahore, I found that the king, Runjeet Sing, with his army and the four French officers, was absent, having gone towards Peshawur ; but at the commencement of the rainy season, in the middle of June, they had all returned to Lahore, and I was well received

• The first patient I had to attend, after my arrival at Lahore, and before I got public employment, was Achilles, an adopted son of General Allard. This boy was afflicted with a fistula on the spine, of long duration, and which had been several times superficially healed by the native surgeons. He was so reduced, that one could truly say, he was but skin and bone: ‘Ossa atque pellis totus est,” which of course rendered the ease most difficult. I v/as convinced that my medical reputation depended upon this case. Greneral Allard told me that the boy would die, if not attended to, that he could na longer bear to see him in that pitiful state, and urgently solicited my aid. He did not at that time imagine that his darling Achilles would outlive him

• Allard is a good character to incorporate due to his marrying a princess (Pan Dei) from Himachal and building a house in her honour in Saint Tropez

• The young Rajah, who had a secret disease, had induced me privately to accompany him, whilst Runjeet Sing, in my four months’ absence, inquired after me several’ times of General Avitabile, who had first introduced me to him. It was, probably, for that reason that he detained me for nine months without giving me my dismissal, or appointing me to any office. General Allard said to me one day, jesting, “It is very difficult to get an appointment here, but still morso to get one’s dismissal, when once in offi;ce.He himself, feeling an excessive longing to revisit his dear native land’ after an absence of so many years, petitioned for a short leave of absence, which the sly Runjeet Sing repeatedly promised, but a long time elapsed before he obtained it.

• hence, we went, with Runjeet Sing to Nadoun,. on the Beas river, where the Maharajah married the two daughters of the famous Rajah Sansar Chund, both orphans, and brought them to Lahore.

• I was informed, by General’ Allard, that a number of his dragoons had been bitten by a mad jackal in the night, while they were endeavouring to kill it. Several of the soldiers, who were seized with hydrophobia, had died, some of them in the barracks, and others on their way home. The general made me the offer of experimenting on some of the bitten soldiers, who had already applied for leave of absence, that they might die near their families. I consented to it, and eighteen men were placed under my care. I was happy to find, in consequence of my treatment, that not one of them was attacked by hydrophobia.

• He got praise for his rabies cure, which is detailed on page 89

• He introduced homeopathy to the east

• He meets a nihang that Ranjit Singh has cut the nose, ears and hands off instead of killing. The nihangs caused a lot of trouble to Ranjit. This particular nihang had cut the arm off a guard to ranjit’s tent when he was blocked from entering. Ranjit used his own sword on him. The nihang said he was high on pung when it happened.

• A redacted general misapplies mercury and gets sick.

• The King of England sent 5 horse as a gift to Ranjit. One became his prized riding horse

• Ranjit was short

• The Pariahs - lowest caste who eats any animal

• General Avitable drinks heavily and and suffers contractions of face muscles

  • Having acquired immense riches, he returned to Europe, to enjoy in his native land ( Naples ) the fruits of his exertions, and there he died in the autumn of his life. Peace to his ashes ! although many an unfortunate man was hung by his orders, at Wuzeerabad as^ well as- at Peshawur, where he exercised his suay in a- most arbitrary manner. The pleasure which he took in seeing people hung by dozens must be attributed to the affection of his brain. General Allard told me that the Maharajah’ once reprimanded him for having executed some musselraans ; whom General’ Avitabile had ordered to be hung because they were of opinion, that, under the- protection of a European’ governor they might be at liberty to eat beef! The opinion of Runjeet Sing was, that he ought to have imprisoned the criminals, and then allowed them to escape.

• Whilst I was residing at Wuzeerabad, a young Hindoo lady ( katretee ) came to call on General Avitabile with presents, as a token of her gratitude for his having preserved her from the fate of a Suttee, i. e., being burnt alive with the body of her deceased husband ; which proves that many of these victims of Brahminism feel en aversion to that horrid ceremony. The woman confessed, that on the day of the burning of her husband, and in her extreme grief, she was ready to sacrifice her life, hoping’ to enter paradise with her partner, but that now she felt more happy at having been preserved

• Rtsnjeet Sing related to me that Dr. Allen ( an American, and governor of Goojerat ) used secretly to employ his time in his fortress in the practice of alchymy. I could not forbear laughing at the idea of his expecting to convert common metals into gold, as the conversion of quicksilver into silver v/as found to be quite impossible. Subsequently, my assertion was verified by the discovery he made, that the doctor’s alchymy consisted in manufacturing false coin.

• Runjeet Sing reposed much confidence in me, and insisted on my accepting the command of an artillery department, or the office of governor of a province, like the Generals Ventura, Avitabile, and Dr. Allen ; this, however, I refused, deeming that I had not sufficient abilities to execute such an office properly ; but upon his giving me the choice, I accepted the management of a gunpowder manufactory and also a gun-stock establishment

• He refers to the Koh-i-noor and values it as at 500k

• Runjeet Sing was a man whose talents and prudence bad acquired for him a great reputation, whose memory is honored, and whose Lame will long occupy a glorious place in the history of India. Although descended from a noble family, being the son of a sirdar, he could neither read nor write. He had lost one eye in his childhood, in consequence of the small-pox. His external appearance was not handsome, being remarkably short, delicate, and with indifferent features, which were, however, counterbalanced by his talents

• He had an extraordinary memory. The prominent trait of his character was, that he rarely did what was required of him, and acted often contrary to what he said. In general, no one was informed of the place to which he intended to go, nor of the time appointed by the astrologers for his departure

• The dark side of his character, was his extreme devotedness to sensuality, spirits, and opium, by which he shortened his life

• He marries a dancer (the Goolbegoom or rose-lady) and eats pork and drinks with him. Character? She had a part in ruling apparently, for a short time

• They plot to have him imprisoned by her when he takes some jewels and has the minister pay a large sum to release him

• Here again I had the opportunity of making some medical and surgical experiments, obliged as I was, to wait four months for the caravan of the Loanis, who were purchasing indigo in that neighbourhood, to carry it to Bokhara. My intention was to accompany that caravan, and to continue my journey from Bokhara to my native country, by crossing Russia

  • The theme of travelling with caravans to stay safe

• Among other valuable curiosities I took, there was a Bactrian papyrus-scroll, which had not then been opened

• At Cabul I opened a great many cupolas ( tombs );, under the protection of the Nawaub Djubber-Khan, and by so doing aroused the suspicion of Dost Mahomed, who thought that I was carrying immense riches out of the country

• The ill-repute to which my opening the tombs had given origin, preceded me. The Affghans and Hozaras hunted after us, when they ascertained who I was

• Operating on the Emir’s friend, getting notarized letter that he’s not liable and failing the operation and the Emir thanking him before passing away. He was barely 20

• Spending money to save two armenians and taking them to Russia

• The most costly thing I carried with me from Bokhara, was a very beautiful horse, of a breed called argomak. This horse, the beauty of which was admired by every connoisseur, was provided with all its appurtenances ; such as a silver bridle, a Bokharian saddle, a richly-adorned caparison, &c. This noble animal was a stallion four years old. I destined it as a present for his Majesty the late Emperor of Austria, Francis I, with a view to its serving as a riding-horse and a sire. I ventured to do this as an Austrian subject, and after an absence of twenty years, to manifest tny loyalty and faithfulness to my monarch. My wish to perform this act of duty in the proper costume, was the cause of my appearing habited as a native of Bokhara, in the years 1834, 1835, and 1836, when travelling through Europe.

  • Honigberger was loyal to Austria

• Who will blame me for having this irresistible and ardent desire to see Europe once more ? Providence had appeared to yield me an opportunity of extending the horizon of my knowledge, for the benefit of mankind ; and the same internal voice which twenty years before had induced me to abandon my friends, my relatives and my dear native country, admonished me also to renounce the favor of a powerful ruler, the prospects of becoming powerful myself, and the influence by means of which I could enjoy the most splendid ease, in order to be instrumental in iotroducing a hitherto unknown healing system (Homeopathy?)

• This reply seemed unsatisfactory to the governor. He dwelt upon the fact, that as I knew fourteen different languages, I ought to be acquainted with the Russian, for I was then conversing with him in French •, he also said that as I had asserted I was an European Christian, clad in oriental costume, I must enter the category of spies, especially as I had been audacious enough to attempt to injure one of the most respectable mercantile-houses, by casting a blemish on its character, and for which he would himself be security.

• I cannot conclude this first part of my adventures without giving some account of the deep impression I experienced on treading again the soil of my native country, after an absence of so many years, in which I had had to struggle against so many difficulties. But the feelings of my heart reached their highest pitch, on entering those rooms in which I had passed my earliest happy age, and not missing either of my dear and beloved parents. My voice faltered, and tears began to flow down my cheeks, when I saw once more, after an absence of twenty years, my father, mother, brothers and sisters, pressed them to my throbbing heart, received their welcome, and felt their kisses. As they were informed of the day of my arrival, they had postponed the christening of my brother’s daughter, and fixed it for the moment of my return, in order to heighten the solemnity of that ceremony, and to have me for her godfather

• Thence, I went to Trieste and Venice, Milan, Genoa, Nice and Marseilles ; from this last, I made a short excursion to St. Tropez, to see General Allard’s family, from whom I learned that the general had left India and was expected at Bordeaux. I proceeded to that city, and, after a three weeks’ stay, I was so fortunate as to meet with the general, who brought me the box containing the antiques which I had forwarded to him from Cabul

• At Paris, my steps were first directed towards the domicile of the father of Homoeopathy, the celebrated Doctor Hahnemann. In Russia, I had been already told of the prodigious effects of his new healing system, and I earnestly desired to learn it at the source itself. The magnanimous old man and his lovely young wife received me in the most friendly manner, and I must not omit to mention, that the open and good-natured Homoeopathist made many interesting revelations to me respecting his new method of curing

• When Ranjit Singh loses his voice due to illness, he can’t write to make himself understood, so he only has gesture

• They use this cool camel artillery - wtf? guns mounted on top of camels

• He extracts a bullet from the head of the leader of the camel artillery and makes his left side unparylized, an affliction he’d had for years since being shot

• Him treating Ranjit illness but diluting a liquor potion 3 times and receiving gold bracelets

• Then Ranjit gets a fever and is dead within a night

• 11 of his wives got burned with him - 4 ranis (legal) 7 female slaves. The women went voluntarily and they were the wives who had not had children

• The minister Dhyan Singh wanted to be burned with them which is unorthodox, but the nation needed him too much

• He describes in wrenching detail the burning ceremony, which had hindu, sikh and muslim prayers uttered

• After the obsequies of Runjeet Sing, his legitimate son, Kurruck Sing, ascended the Guddee ( throne ), who, besides being a blockhead, was a worse opium eater than his father. Twice a-day he deprived himself of his senses, and passed his whole time in a state of stupefaction. It was quite natural that the government could not long remain in the hands of such an individual. His guardian, or tutor and factotum, Sirdar Chet Sing, being desirous to become an independent minister, was a rival of Dhyao Sing, and was contriving to remove him

• The messy succession of Ranjit that led to the English taking over

• The fortressgarden - hazooree bagh is a good setting to use

• Dhyan Singh is an interesting character - loyal servant to the realm - longest serving wazir of the sikh empire

• Honigberger is present at Sheer Singh’s assassination and narrowly escapes, then:

• At the time of Sheer Sing’s reign, we mustered abouttwenty Europeans, for the most part French and English officers, in the service of the Lahore government. It was the common saying, that we should bye and bye form a colony ; but Jellah Pundit dismissed them from the service, one after the other, alleging economical motives, but, in fact, from religious fanaticism ; so that I and the Spaniard only remained. But at last I too was dismissed. Nevertheless, I remained in the city ; and cautiously made preparations for my departure, and for that purpose had sold all my effects at a very low price

• The fanatics, the Akalees ( immortals ), or rather the robber-pack, the Nahungs, exhibited for money the head ofjellahjat Lahore and Umritsir : “That is the rogue,” they exclaimed, “who iuduced the young Heera Sing to murder his uncle, the brave Rajah Soochet Sing, for which he wanted an army of 20,000 men, although his antagonist was only assisted by forty valiant mountaineers.”

• The Guddee - royal throne

• and now and then the Spaniard, Hurbon, and St. Amand, a painter, called on me, these being the only Europeans at Lahore

• In the year 1845 the cholera arrived at Lahore, having travelled through Turkistan and Cabul

• The astrologers having named an auspicious day, they went, without any further diplomatic conferences, on their march. The English, although well acquainted with all those disturbances aud confusions which happened in the neighbouring country, yet had not the least idea of being attacked by their allies, and were consequently not at all prepared for a war. On the other side of the river Sutlej, the four battles were fought—at Moodkee, Ferozeshahur, Aliwal, and Sobraon ; and the English, completely triumphing in the last battle, became masters of the country

• On the loth of February, 1846, the battle of Sobraon took place, which decided the fate of the country. Teja Sing, the traitor, took to his heels, and, on passing the Sutlej, he ordered the bridge to be broken down, leaving the greater part of his troops behind in a helpless state. The betrayed soldiers cried, with their hands folded and grass in their mouths, making themselves emblems of their holy animals, the cattle. It is said, that some of them exclaimed : ” We suffer only the just reward for our sins ; we did not deserve any better fate, for there, beyond the river, is the land where we killed our gooroo with his cows

• the young Dulleep Sing was brought from the capital to give his sanction to all the transactions, the English then proceeded to Lahore, and thus ended the independence of the once powerful state founded by Runjeet Sing

• Cashmere, comprising a part of the mountains, was appointed to Gholab Sing, as a reward for the services he had rendered, and also in consideration of a large sum of money he had delivered over to the conquerors. He was promoted to the title of Maharajah of Cashmere, which was made independent o-f Lahore, but under English protection. Dulleep Sing, after having paid the expenses of the war, remained the ruler of Lahore, and Lall Sing was appointed his wuzeer. Sir H. Lawrence was appointed by the English as Resident, into whose hands the reins of Government were entrusted

• One of his first measures was the reduction of the army, and the suspension of several establishments for the manufacture of military stores, including my powder-mill, &c

• on the 1st of May, 1849—the country was annexed to the English possessions ; the Sikh durbar was abolished ; and my official capacity depending only on the existence of that body, was consequently at its end. I solicited a pension, which I obtained. Dulleep Sing was sent to the interior of India, where he lived upon a pension, derived from the revenue of the same country from which I receive my own ; the only difference between the two pensions being, that I am allowed to expend mine wherever I please. The receipt, however, must be at Lahore ; my agent there presenting a life certificate, signed by an English authority

• The fakeer who is able to live between life and death and can get buried alive in Ranjit’s time

• My readers are aware that besides the AUoeopathia which I practised for many years, I also tried the Homoeopathic method, and my own experience, as well as that of others, brought me to the conclusion that a rational physician may derive successful results from both systems. Nevertheless, I found that the enormous doses generally administered by the Alloeopaths, and also the infinitesimal ones used by the Homoeopaths, were both of them far less beneficial than they should be. This observation induced me to investigate the matter with much earnestness ; and in the extensive practice which I had at Lahore, I was induced to adopt the medium between those two extremes.

• Overall meaning of allo vs homeopathy - treating with other or like. Living with other or like - theme of novel

• Honigberger takes his scketches lifted from others drawings

• I have already mentioned the asylum for lunatics which I established at Lahore, and will now inform the reader of the origin of that establishment. Major Mac Gregor, the director of the police at Lahore, on passsing the bazaar on horseback, was one day stopped by a woman, who was believed to be insane. On account of this accident, the Resident issued an order that the durbar should establish an asylum for such persons. I was consulted upon the subject, and it was resolved that such patients should be received into my hospital

• He cures an insance women

  • She told me that she had sometime since spent all she was worth on the occasion of the marriage of her only son, but no sooner had the bride arrived than she discovered her to be an hermaphrodite

• At Lahore, I had the opportunity of seeing several hermaphrodites, who enjoyed the privilege of being admitted at all births and nuptial festivals, to congratulate the parties and get presents, this being, in fact, their sole means of subsistence, The birth solemnities, however, only take place when the child is of the male sex, never, on any occasion, at the birth of a female. They go so far in this matter as to conceal the latter event ; and the greatest part of the inhabitants of the Punjab, whether Musselmen, Sikhs, o«- Hindoos, are all quite happy when a new-born female departs this life. They would consider it an insult, should any one conprratulate the parents on the birth of a female

• I am sorry to have to relate a fact which is so very uncomplimentary to the ladies, but the first duty of an historian is to tell the truth. If the fair sex in Europe are desirous of knowing why such little regard is paid to their charms, they need only ask the first Hindoo they may meet with, and he will give them the ungallant answer, that a son brings money into the house, whilst a daughter carries it away.

• He cured rose-lady’s brother, who took him into the palace

• He talks about pung and how it’s favoured by nihungs and how there was a place set up to sell it by the Singhs

• I found that Inebriation commenced about half-an-hour after taking it, and lasted about three hours, upon which a sound sleep ensued. Those who have partaken of it, feel no ill effects on the following day ; th&re is none of that headache, giddiness, or nausea, &c., which generally follows inebriation from wine or spirits, The intoxication is accompanied by a good appetite, and the imbibers become excessively jovial ; laughing, joking, and talking, often without control

• In the bazaars of India, the differen-t sorts of churrus are sold under various names, as Bokharian, Jarkandian and Cashmerian ; but the best is called churrus mumiai, i. c, wax-like churrus.

• The Sikhs are forbidden smoking tobacco, and consequently from smoking churrus also, inasmuch as it is always mixed with tobacco. As a compensation for this deprivation they are permitted to use opium and spirituous liquors to any extent, whence the great number of opium-eaters among those people, both males and females, in all classes of society

• In Ainsli’s Materia Indica, we read : —” Toddy is a sweet, aperient, most delicious drink. Taken fresh from the tree, early in the morning, before the sun is up, it is certainly a luscious and most pleasant beverage, cooling, refreshing, and nourishing ; it is besides employed for making the best kind of Indian arrack, and yields a great deal of sugar, Europeans, especially delicate females, in India, who are apt to suffer much from constipation, find a cupful of this toddy, drank every morning at fi/e o’clock, one of the simplest and best remedies they can employ.”

• In the hot season, ginger beer is a great favourite in India as a beverage, especially v;hen cooled by immersion in a freezing mixture of ice and saltpetre.

• Cold baths are much used in India, both by Europeans and natives ; but especially by the latter • in fact, it is almost impossible to over-estimate the benefits arising from them. I have myself experienced the restoring influence of cold-bathing, and from the commencement of April till the end of August, I refreshed myself with at least two cold douche-baths daily ; and sometimes took one even during those intensely hot nights, which so often deprive the European of sleep

• The Sikhs generally employ an hour or two In the operations of the toilet ; and before ablution they rub their hair ( which in most cases is long and black ) with curds. When the hair has become silvered by age, they dare not dye it, being strictly forbidden by their religious tenets. The Musselmen, however, are very fond of dyeing the hair, and for that purpose make use of a great variety of compositions containing oxide of iron, myrobolans, Lawsonia inennis^ Indio^ofera Anil, Bic. They also darken the eyelashes with black sulphurets of lead or antimony.

• Sher Singh asks his brother to come and fix all his European watches and he sets forth only for the maharaj to die before he got there

• In the centre of the city of Umritsir is a gigantic reservoir of water, from the midst of which rises a magnificent temple, where the Gtunth ( the holy book of the Sikhs ) is read day and night. Around this sheet of water are the houses of the maharajah, th.e ministers, sirdars, and other wealthy inhabitants. The square itself is called Dmhar Saheb. At the time of Runjeet Sing and Sheer Sing, the scene which presented itself at this temple, when the court was at Umritsir, was of the most brilliant description, and at certain periods all the notabilities of the Punjab were to be seen collected together in all the splendour of oriental pageantry.

• Herr Schofft - a famous painter painted umritsar while Honigberger read him the news from Konstadt

• 

• They think Schofft is smoking at Amritsar but he is only holding a pencil in his mouth. He runs and is saved behind the gates of his protector baii goormukh singh - Honigberger can be with him in the novel

• It turns out Sher Singh asked for the paiting in the first place

• His two daughters were at Mussoorie - in school run by some French ladies?!?

• I found that it was the custom of the country, among the poorer classes, that when a patient was supposed to be past all hope of recovery, his relations conveyed him to the banks of the Ganges, so that he might die in the vicinity of the sacred river. The relations or friends of the patieuis, visit the spot, to ascertain whether they are still living ; when death ensues, they purchase a sufficiency of wood to make a funeral-pile, and commit the body to the flam es ; when their means do not afford the expense of doing this, they merely burn a portion of the face, and then push the body into the sacred river. When a patient, thus situated, happens to recover, he considers that he has, as it were, acquired a new life, and thenceforth all his former relations and friends are treated as strangers ; he never returns to the dwelling in which he had formerly resided, but wanders down the Ganges, until he arrives at Santipore, near Calcutta, where he settles himself ; and it is a curious fact, that nearly the whole population of Santipore is composed of such persons. These people never again hold any communication with those who had been nearest and dearest to th^^m ; and they contract marriages amongst themselves only. This town or colony, the only one, perhaps, of its kind in the world, may be called the ” Colony of Convalescents. - being somehwere between lift and death

• He then finds a boat bound for England in Calcutta and sets sail - last chapter?

• The various events which I have described in this volume, have all been writtsa from memory ; as the only time which I could spare for committing any observations to paper, was fully enorossed in noting down those which related to medical subjects ; therefore, it can easily be imagined, that some of the minor details may be slightly inaccurate, and that many an important fact, which would have been worth recording, may have escaped my remembrance. I can, however, assure my readers, that, as far as my memory serves me, I have presented to them a faithful record, and that I never have, in any instance, wilfully swerved from truth

• He ends with Dr Triller’s Rules Of Health (title?)

• He follows it up with his own verses commending Nanak’s outlawing of tobacco and imploring Britain to go the same

• My guide was the old grey-beard, Kheiat, the same who conducted Alexander Burnes and Dr. Gerard to Bokhara.

• On my arrival at Bokhara, I delivered the letter of recommendation which 1 had from the Nawaub, addressed to the minister Hoshbegi. His first inquiry was, whether I knew Jussuff Wolff and Alexander Burnes?” Wolff,” continued he, “was a very good-hearted man ; but as for Burnes,he was a deceiver, because he told me, up to the last moment, that his intention was to go to England, via Russia, whereas he returned to Hindostao, via Khiva.” He was convinced that Burnes was a spy, and asked me if I would act as he had done

• Maharani Gulbahar Begum (died 1863) was a wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire

Gul Begum was a Punjabi Muslim dancing girl from Amritsar.[1] Ranjit Singh, on seeing her dance at Ropar, became captivated with her.[2]

They married in 1833.[1] Prior to the wedding there was opposition from orthodox quarters, who demanded that she needed to convert to Sikhism. The Maharaja however resisted, and she remained a Muslim.[2] At the wedding she was dressed in yellow garments, a gold nosering with a pearl was fixed to her nose, her hands and feet were dyed red in henna and she was bedecked in gold ornaments studded with diamonds.[3] As part of the wedding celebrations, her brothers were granted a jagir and given a nawabi title.[4]

After their wedding, Ranjit Singh renamed her Maharani Gulbahar Begum and elevated her to a position above the other courtly women, who were now tasked with massaging her feet. She did not observe purdah and was often seen on the royal elephant with the Maharaja during processions.[2] She was given a haveli between Rang Mahal and Haveli Mian Khan, called Haveli Barood Khana now owned by Mian Yousaf Salli and family.[5]

When the Maharaja died in 1839 she offered herself for sati, however was advised by a courtier that this was forbidden in Islam.[5] After the British annexed the Punjab in 1849 she was granted a pension of Rs. 12,380 for the remainder of her life. In later life she adopted a son, Sardar Khan, who cared for her.[5] She spent her final years in the Miani Sahib area, and the area where she built a garden and mosque.[6] She died at Lahore in 1863.[1]