A Journey to Katmandu by Laurence Oliphant

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A JOURNEY TO KATMANDU (THE CAPITAL OF NEPAUL), WITH THE CAMP OF JUNG BAHADOOR; INCLUDING A SKETCH OF THE NEPAULESE AMBASSADOR AT HOME.

BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT.

LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1852.

TO SIR ANTHONY OLIPHANT, C.B., CHIEF JUSTICE OF CEYLON, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED BY HIS AFFECTIONATE SON, THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The interest which was manifested in the Nepaulese Embassy during the short residence of Jung Bahadoor in England leads me to hope that a description of the romantic country and independent Court which he came to represent, as well as some account of his own previous eventful career, may not be unacceptable to the English public--more especially as no work upon Nepaul has been published in this country, that I am aware of, since Dr. Hamilton's, which appeared about the year 1819.

Through the kindness and friendship of the Nepaulese Ambassador, I was enabled to visit Katmandu under most favourable circumstances; and during the journey thither in his company I had abundant opportunity of obtaining much interesting information, and of gaining an insight into the character of the people, and their mode of every-day life, for which a residence in camp was peculiarly favourable.

In the Terai I was fortunate enough to witness the Nepaulese mode of elephant-catching, so totally unlike that of any other country, while the grand scale on which our hunting party was organised was equally novel.

I therefore venture to submit this volume to the public, in the hope that the novelty of a portion of the matter contained in it will in some degree compensate for its manifold defects.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Arrival of Jung Bahadoor in Ceylon--Voyage to Calcutta--Rifle practice on board the _Atalanta_--Rifle-shooting--Colonel Dhere Shum Shere--A journey along the Grand Trunk Road of Bengal--The experimental railway--The explosion at Benares.

CHAPTER II. Benares--Cashmere Mull's house--The Chouk--The Bisheshwan temple, and Maido Rai Minar--The Ambassador in Benares--A Rajah's visit--The marriage of Jung Bahadoor--Review of the Nepaul rifle regiment--Benares college.

CHAPTER III. Jaunpore--A shooting-party--Scenes in camp and on the march--A Nepaulese dinner--Ghazipore--The Company's stud--Indian roads--Passage of the Gograh--Jung Bahadoor's mode of despatching an alligator.

CHAPTER IV. A picnic on the Nepaul frontier--A boar-hunt--The Terai and its resources--Our shooting quarters--Incidents of sport--A tiger-hunt--The great elephant exhibition of 1851--Camp Bechiacor.

CHAPTER V. March to Hetowra--Cross the Cheriagotty Hills--Scenes of the war of 1815-16--Preparations for a wild-elephant hunt--The herd in full cry--A breakneck country--Furious charges of wild elephants--The lost child--Return to camp.

CHAPTER VI. March to Bhimphede--National defences--The Cheesapany pass--Lovely scenery--Night adventure--The watch-fire--Reception at camp--Arrival at Katmandu.

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