 Reference Base  A narrative of the operations of Captain Little's det... |
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Moor, E., 1794. A narrative of the operations of Captain Little's detachment, and of the Mahratta army, commanded by Purseram Bhow: during the late confederacy in India, against Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur . London, printed for the author, by George Woodfall, pp. i-xv, 1-524
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| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - India |
| Subject: |
Captivity |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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Poona, the residence of the Peshwa.
[364] On the 3d of June [1790] we were met by Mr. Uhthoff, and conducted to Poona, where we arrived before nine o'clock; by conjecture about twelve miles from the village we left. After so long a time spent in the unsettled scenes of a campaign, it was of course a pleasing circumstance arriving at the residence of English gentlemen; and particularly at so happy a society as we found at Poona, to which we were welcomed in the most attentive manner by Sir Charles Malet, the British resident at that court; and during our stay there, entertained with the greatest hospitable kindness. Tents were ready pitched for the reception of our sepoys and followers. - The residence of Sir Charles Malet is known by the name of the Sungum, being situated, as the word denotes, at the confluence of two rivers, the Moota and the Moola; after which mixtures of waters, their names join, and the Moota-Moola falls into the Beemah, about fifty miles to the eastward. Sir Charles's former residence was in the city, but not being a pleasant situation, he was permitted to build habitations on this spot, which until that time had no buildings of any kind, save an old neglected pagoda in ruins, still remaining in the gardens, a contrast to the neatness of the buildings erected at a great expence by him, and the gentlemen of his suite.
[366] The Peshwa has a menagerie of wild animals, but it is not a large, nor a very select collection. It consists of a rhinoceros, a lion, several royal tigers, leopards, panthers, and other animals of the cat kind.—An extraordinary camel is by far the most curious creature in the collection: it is of that species called, we believe, the Bactrian camel, and has two humps of such unweildy dimensions, that when lying down it cannot easily rife, from their enormous weight: it is quite white, with very long hair, a characteristic of its species, about its head and neck. The animal is of course a lusus natura. It was, as well as the rhinoceros, we learned, a present from Scindia. The lynx is a delicate animal, called in India and Persia, from its black ears, seeah-goolh. Sir Charles Malet has all these animals, with others, represented in clay by a Bramin, who has great merit in his modellings: the placid serenity of the camel, and the ferocious confidence of the tiger he is happy in hitting.
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