Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s7.t6.55

v2.c27.s7.t6.55

Merta.—December 16.—After an absence of two months we terminated our circuitous journey, and encamped on the ground whence we started, all rejoiced at the prospect of again entering “the happy valley.” We made four marches across the duab, watered by the Berach and Banas rivers; the land naturally rich, and formerly boasting some large towns, but as yet only disclosing the germs of [792] prosperity. There is not a more fertile tract in India than this, which would alone defray the expenses of the court if its resources were properly husbanded. But years must first roll on, and the peasant must meet with encouragement, and a reduction of taxation to the lowest rate; and the lord-paramount must alike be indulgent in the exaction of his tribute. Our camels were the greatest sufferers in the march through the desert, and one-half were rendered useless. I received a deputation conveying the Rana’s congratulation on my return ‘home,’ with a letter full of friendship and importunities to see me; but the register of the heavens—an oracle consulted by the Rajput as faithfully as Moore’s Almanack by the British yeoman—showed an unlucky aspect, and I must needs halt at Merta, or in the valley, until the signs were more favourable to a re-entry into Udaipur. Here we amused ourselves in chalking out the site of our projected residence on the heights of Tus, and in fishing at the source of the Berach. Of this scene I present the reader with a view; and if he allows his imagination to ascend the dam which confines the waters of the lake, he may view the Udaisagar, with its islets; and directing his eye across its expanse, he may gain a bird’s-eye view of the palace of the Kaisar of the Sesodias. The dam thrown across a gorge of the mountains is of enormous magnitude and strength, as is necessary, indeed, to shut in a volume of water twelve miles in circumference. At its base, the point of outlet, is a small hunting-seat of the Rana’s, going to decay for want of funds to repair it, like all those on the Tiger Mount and in the valley. Nor is there any hope that the revenues, burthened as they are with the payment of a clear fourth in tribute, can supply the means of preventing further dilapidation.