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CHAPTER VIII

1872-3

INDIA

A month at sea, 16 Oct to 16 Nov 1872
The troopship H.M.S.EuphratesThe voyage of H.M.S. Euphrates, on which Major Acton and his regiment had embarked, was calm and uneventful. Malta and Port Said interested him, and landing at these places pleasantly broke the somewhat monotonous journey, while the Suez Canal also offered objects of interest, as it was then comparatively new to travellers. But the heat, both here and in the Red Sea, tried Major Acton much, and he rejoiced that his wife was not with him to suffer from it.

Tracts and Sunday School
But, in spite of heat and monotony, he was earnest in trying to do good on board; and, while joining in the amusements by which the passengers endeavoured to vary the long days of the passage, he yet found time to distribute tracts and visit among the soldiers and sailors, and to speak what he hoped would prove to be words in season. Among the invalids on board was one sailor in whom Major Acton was especially interested. The man was dying of consumption, and passed away when the steamer was in the Red Sea.

It was suggested to the Major that a Sunday-school might be held for the children on board, and in his diary he says :

'At Mrs. T——'s suggestion try school, 10 to 11 a.m. . . . May God direct me, and enable me to do right. A splash of sea interrupts and wets the children!'

No further reference to the school is to be found, but it is to be hoped that its future meetings were more fortunate.

Bombay to Fyzabad
On November 16th, Major Acton landed at Bombay. As the regiment was ordered to Fyzabad, he at once started on his journey thither. The scenery through which he passed interested him much, and on his way he had a good deal of shooting, which he enjoyed. There were many reports of tigers in the vicinity, but none appeared. Jabbalpur, Allahabad, and Cawnpore were visited, and on November 29th Major Acton reached Fyzabad.

Here regimental duties at once occupied him, nevertheless he found time for Bible-classes, etc., and for helping the chaplain in his work among the men. But attacks of fever often prostrated him; still he was always anxious to return as soon as possible to active duty.

Trouble with soldiers' wives
December 17th was his birthday. In his diary he says :

'What an occasion is this for retrospect! Thanks for mercies, and prayer for grace, faith, and God's Holy Spirit to be given me more abundantly.'

In this month (December, 1872) there was some trouble about the soldiers' wives who had been allowed to come out in the Euphrates. A good deal of correspondence with the authorities ensued, and some censure, which seems to haye worried Major Acton much. Speaking of this, he says :

'In this case I fear I did not "wait," did not ask for guidance; and have sinned in that I did not refer the case, as I ought. So I certainly deserve the "Rod." I pray also that I may bear meekly whatever may be sent for my good. How I rejoiced when the poor people were allowed to stay on board ship — and now! "Let us fall into the hands of God, and not of man."'

Nothing serious seems to have come of this trouble, which passed off quietly,

The horse called Bismarck
A letter written about this time refers to his work among the men, and his expositions at the Bible-classes. He also mentions his acquisition of a horse, as to which there had been many negotiations :

'Fyzabad,
126. 12. '72.

' I am now using Ryle's 'Expository Thoughts on St. John.'... What a great deal there is in it! I find Ryle most excellent, better than any commentary I have ever met. I have got a horse, a Kattywar; it trots beautifully, jumps well, a little hot, very free, and is very good-tempered — a great thing for country-breds, as when you buy them you never know whether they'll eat you and your friends and fight all other horses or not. I got him from a man named Germany, so call him Bismarck.'

Evelyn Caroline Annesley Acton born
In February, 1873, Major Acton received the news of the birth of a daughter, which had taken place on January 29th. [In handwriting: Evelyn Caroline Annesley Ball-Acton]

He much enjoyed the shooting, pig-sticking, etc., which could be obtained near Fyzabad, and whenever he had a few days' leave, the time was devoted to those amusements. A letter, dated January I7th, 1873, says:

Religious tracts, fever, shooting
17. i. '73.—Received two bundles of tracts from the North Indian Tract Society. Having had two touches of fever, went for a few days into the jungle. Had a lot of shooting. In the jungle I lived in a very nice bungalow — two nice lofty rooms, two dressing-rooms, bath-room, verandah, with nice plants and orchids hung up; remains of a garden ; jungle all about.'

But he writes afterwards :

'I sometimes have my doubts whether pigsticking and so much shooting is good or advisable, and resolve not to give so much time to them.'

Is chess evil?
Doubts of this kind as to his favourite amusements often depressed him, and even chess sometimes seemed to him a snare. In another letter, dated January 27th, 1873, he says:

'I've played a good deal of chess, and think I spend too much time over it.'

Yet he feared to be thought too ascetic, and consequently to lose influence in the regiment and be shunned. Moreover, he felt that out-door sports were essential for his health, while even the regimental gaieties would give him opportunities for exerting a useful influence over his brother officers, especially the younger among them. Unfortunately, some of these were quite uncongenial to him, and annoyed him often by their conduct and words; but his habit of laying everything before his God in prayer enabled him to meet these vexations with composure.

A brush with the chaplain
An entry in his diary in April, 1873, shows that even the chaplain was sometimes inclined to find fault with Major Acton's methods of Christian work:

Stamper' (the chaplain) ' says: "You seem to have an endless supply of tracts." I say: " Would you like some ? I think it a good way of spending money." He says: " You should not cast your pearls before swine!" Is it so indeed ? O Lord, help me, and direct me aright! . . . Then he says we should try and cultivate a pleasant, cheerful manner. My dear wife said the same in Waterford.'

The reserve of Major Acton's manner has been before alluded to, but this was evidently the result of his distressing self-consciousness, which produced shyness and an unreadiness in conversation with strangers.

The great total abstinence crusade begins
He became a total abstainer in 1873, for the sake of example, and remained faithful to the pledge for nearly twenty-three years. But his health was still uncertain and attacks of fever often laid him aside.

Snakes in the bath, and other wildlife
The hot season tried him much, and he killed an unusual number of snakes in his bath, a rather uncomfortable experience! A letter of July 1st gives some idea of his jungle life during a few days' leave:

Fyzabad,
1 July, '73

MY DEAR

Yours of May 30th was awaiting me here on my return from five days in the jungle.

I enjoyed my trip less than usual. It was sometimes awfully hot, and mosquitoes active and jackals very numerous and vocal; they seemed to be all round my bed. You may be asleep; it is quite silent. One gives a "Wa-ou!" and immediately a hundred throats respond "Wa-ou, waa, waa, wa, wa, wa. . . ." Much like a cat mewing or a child crying. Then it stops suddenly. Some say they say, " I smell a dead Hindoo-o-oo."

Food and drink
Then the water being bad (they said fifteen days of it would give you fever) I didn't drink it, and had but three soda-waters for each day. The nilghau and spotted deer-meat was very good, but my chief diet was "soojac" and milk (stirabout of wheaten meal). Bread was soon stale, and chupatties replaced it (flat, thin girdle-cakes). The soup my khitmutgar made of nilghau ought to have been excellent, but he made it bitter strong so it would stick your lips together. Indeed, my khit. is not a good cook. When I blew him up for this, he joined his hands and said : " Protector of the poor." He's no protector of my poor stomach.

I got two bull and two cow nilghau, and two spotted deer buck (young and doe). I could have shot more nilghau, only the people would not eat them because they say they are cows. They are really "antelope." It is only the lowest castes of Hindoos that will eat them, and of forty coolies that I had driving one day not one would touch them, though miserable, starved individuals. Then there were only three Mussulmen — viz., my khitmutgar, Wheeste, and the caretaker of the bungalow ; and these, again, will not eat of anything unless while living its throat be cut by a Mussulman — hultalfing they call it.. They say, I believe, " Bismillah!" (in the name of Allah) and cut, and if a drop of blood flows it's all right, and most of them will be satisfied easily as to life being in the animal. So I could not kill the poor brutes for no use.

But I have written all this, and you don't care about such.

Well, I went out looking for game at 5 a.m. on morn of 28 June, rode 10 miles from 7 to 8.15, crossed river Ganges in a boat, then had to plod over a mile and half of sand on Tatto Lazy Leggs — it was awfully hot — the boat again, and one mile home, where I enjoyed a good bath and sleep.

Bungalows and their perils
In the jungle I lived in a very nice bungalow ; belongs to Forest Department — two good lofty rooms, two dressing-rooms, one bath-room, and verandah, nice plants and orchids hung up round it; outside remains of a garden, and here and there a stick label on "So-and-so elephantus," but, alas! no trees; the jungle all about. You would like that, and to see all the curious beasts driven out of the jungle close by you.'

Another letter in July says:

28. 7. '73. — As doors and windows are more often open than shut, creatures are at liberty to crawl in — rats, snakes, etc. The Roberts have already killed four snakes in their house. On Sunday morning at three o'clock I was wakened by nearly all the servants coming with lanterns to tell me one of the servants had been bitten by a snake. He was sent to hospital, and was all right in the morning.

In September, 1873, Major Acton's diary records an inspection of the regiment by Sir EL Tombs, who, as Major Acton says, 'came to blame, and left to praise,' which gratified the Major much.

Next chapter.
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