Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

asked me how I did, but fell and expired before I had time to make him a reply. I laid myself down on some of the dead behind me, and recommending myself to Providence, had the comfort of thinking my sufferings could have no long duration. My thirst, however, grew insupportable, and the difficulty of breathing much increased. I had not remained in this situation many minutes when I was seized with a violent pain in my breast, and palpitation of the heart, which obliged me to get up again; but still the pain, palpitation, and difficulty of breathing increased. I retained my senses notwithstanding; and called aloud for 'water, for God's sake!' I had been concluded dead; but as soon as the survivors found me amongst them, they still had the respect for me to cry out 'Give him water!' nor would one of them attempt to touch it until I had partaken of it. My thirst being increased by the fluid, I determined to drink no more, but kept my mouth moist from time to time by sucking the perspiration out of my shirt-sleeves, and catching the drops as they fell like heavy rain from my head and face. You can hardly imagine how unhappy I was if any of them escaped my mouth.

"By eleven, the greater number of those living were in an outrageous delirium, and the others quite ungovernable; few retaining any calmness, excepting those next the windows. They all now found that water heightened their uneasiness, and Air! air!' was the general cry. Every insult that could be devised against the guard was resorted to, to provoke them to fire on us. But as all was of no avail, many, whose strength and spirits were quite exhausted, laid themselves down, and expired quietly upon their fellows. A steam now rose from the living and the dead, which for a time most awfully affected us. I need not ask your commiseration when I tell you, that from this time till near two in the morning, I sustained the weight of two heavy men; one a Dutch sergeant, who had taken his seat upon my left shoulder, and the other a black, who occupied my right: all which nothing could have enabled me to support, but the props and pressure

equally sustaining me all around. I at length forced my way from the spot, and saw several in the inner ranks dead, though standing, being kept in that position by the throng. Finding a stupor coming on apace, I placed myself by the side of that gallant old man, the Rev. Mr. Bellamy, who lay dead with his son, the lieutenant, hand-in-hand, near the southmost wall of the prison; but of what passed from this moment to the time of my liberation, I can give no account.

"When the day broke, I am told it occurred to Mr. Secretary Cook to make a search for me, in the hope that I might have influence enough to gain a release from this scene of misery. Accordingly I was, by my shirt, discovered under the dead, and brought towards the window I had originally possession of. At this juncture, the Indian governor, who had received an account of the havoc death had made amongst us, sent one of his sergeants to inquire if the chief survived. They showed me to him; told him I had the appearance of life remaining; and believed I might recover, if the door was opened very soon. On this an order came immediately for our release, it being then near six in the morning; but as the door turned inwards, and the dead were piled up against it, and covered all the floor, it was impossible to open it by efforts from without. It became, therefore, necessary that the bodies should be removed by the few who were within, who were become so feeble, that the task, though on the condition of life, was not performed without the utmost difficulty; and it was twenty minutes after the order came before the egress of the survivors could be effected. About a quarter after six, the poor remains of 146 souls, being no more than twenty-three, came out of the Black-hole alive; but in a condition which made it very doubtful whether they would see the morning of another day."

Mr. Holwell and the rest of the survivors were conveyed in a coach drawn by oxen to Patna, where they were soon after released by the Indian governor, at the intercession of his grandmother; and, taking boat, they departed for a

neighbouring Dutch settlement, whence they set sail for England. From Prince's 'Parallel History.'

CAGING A TIGER.

[The following amusing passage is taken from a letter addressed to "The Queen' newspaper by Frank Buckland, a well-known Naturalist.]

SOME weeks ago, it may be recollected, that, in answer to a question as to how to treat a sick cat, I advised that the animal should be placed in a bag, with its head alone protruding, before any attempts to physic it were made. I was much amused last week at seeing my plan put into operation, on a pretty large scale, at the Zoological Gardens. While there, and busily engaged in minutely examining the magnificent Italian cattle presented by His Majesty the King of Italy to the Society, one of the keepers reported to Mr. Bartlett that they were all ready to "pack up the tiger." Of course I formed one of the party, and a curious scene took place. The tiger to be "packed up" was about the size of a good big sheep-dog, only, of course, longer in the body; it had been captured as a cub, and brought over from India on board ship, where it had been made a great pet of by the sailors, and was in consequence pretty tame. 'Puss," for that was her name, was in one of the big dens next the large lions, having for her playmate a young leopard. The box in which she was to be placed was wheeled up in front of the den, and placed on its side; it was simply a large box with strong broad wooden bars on one side, the two centre ones taken out, and two strong bits of wood so arranged as to be screwed down in front of all the bars when the beast was safe inside. I write "when," because it proved no easy task to get her into this box. However, all preliminaries being arranged, Mr. Cooksedge, the keeper, who knows no fear with his beasts, went into the den with the tiger, and called "Puss, puss, puss," in an amiable manner; the tiger came bound

66

66

ing up in a kitten-like fashion, she carried her tail erect over her back, and then raising her fur, began to purr and rub herself against his legs. Cooksedge then took a bit of rope out of one of his capacious pockets and proceeded to pass the end of it under puss's collar. Puss in the mean time began to play with the slack of the rope as though it was great fun. Cooksedge, having fixed the rope, began to draw puss gently towards the door. She did not seem to care about this very much; but still, thinking that a romp" was meant, patted the rope with her paws. Cooksedge, however, got outside the door of the cage, and pulled somewhat harder. Puss began to think that something more than a game of play was meant, so she extended her feet, and pulled well backwards, and her expression seemed to say, "Two can play at that game, my friend." Another keeper then got into the den, and giving her a gentle lift up behind, out she went of the open door on to the stone space which is railed off to keep visitors from the bars of the dens. The moment puss felt she was out of the cage, down she crouched, lashing her tail as though determined not to move an inch. The box was brought nearer, and the rope passed in round one of the bars, and then outside again. The keepers began to pull gently and slowly upon it, the only result being to "bring the mountain to Mahomet "-i.e., the box to the puss, not the puss to the box. When the box was close to her head, they gave a sudden pull on the rope, and at the same time advanced the box quite close to her. The result was most laughable. Has the reader ever witnessed the execution of "Punch" by hanging, in that most popular of street performances? Punch," it may be recollected, cannot be made to understand where he is to place his head. In like manner, Puss could not understand what benefits could be derived from placing her head into the opening of the box before her; so the result of the pull on the rope, and the advancing of the box, and the lifting of her hind quarters, was simply to bring her head well on to the top of the box, several inches

66

[ocr errors]

above the lid, her sprawling arms and legs being extended, spread-eagle fashion, in front of it. "Try again,” therefore, was the word. "Look out," said I to Cooksedge, "the strap round Puss's neck is only leather, and is very likely to give way." Accordingly, on the next trial, smack it went, and Puss, feeling herself loose and free, instantly made a bolt for it. Cooksedge, with his usual coolness and courage, snatched at her as she was slouching quickly away, and got hold of her tail. Like the cats used in that refined but barbarous punishment of the poor niggers, where a common house-cat is placed on the poor black man's back and her tail smartly pulled, so did “ our Puss instantly extend all her sharp talons and hold on, as well as she could, to the stones, thus giving time and opportunity for the rope, without the strap, again to be placed round her neck. A trial was again made to get her into the box; but Puss having by this time found out that Cooksedge was in earnest, showed fight in the most wonderful manner. She put back her ears, showed her young, yet terrible, fangs, and struck at any intruding human limb with her broad talon-armed pats; she had quite lost her temper, and was a true embodiment of the phrase the nurse sometimes applies to a naughty child-" She fought like a young tiger." At last, feeling somewhat exhausted, she sat down on her haunches, lashing her tail from side to side with real anger. The rope plan was therefore given up, and the director of the proceedings, Mr. A. D. Bartlett, ordered the keeper to "fetch the bag." He shortly reappeared with a common sack, the open end of which was mounted on to a strong pole, like an ordinary landing-net for fishing. The shut end of the bag being laced up, after the fashion of a Balmoral boot, only that the lace-holes were much further apart. Watching his opportunity, one of the keepers, a strong and powerful man, slipped the bag over her head, as a lady catches a butterfly on a hedge, and Puss was fairly in the bag; he then lifted it up, thinking Puss would stay quietly there. Puss thought otherwise, for the moment the bag was off the

« НазадПродовжити »