Part 4 (1/2)
He fasted, complied with the rules and perforht which he strove to attain, and the steps by which he mounted towards it, may be fathered from the Sufic poet Jami Health, says Jami, is the best relish A worshi+pper will never realise the pure love of the Lord unless he despises the whole world Dalliance oes in the book of life You must record upon them only the best acts and memories
”Would you a Sufi be, you er; be of none afraid, A hundred wounds take undish thinking, and stifling generally the impulses of his nature, Burton became a Master Sufi, and all his life he sy prevented by the weakness of his eyes fro his survey work, he made a number of reports of the country and its people, which eventually drifted into print Then can was ied to be allowed to accompany the force as interpreter As he had passed exaes and had studied others nobody was better qualified for the post or seeet it
17 Letter to Sarah Burton, 14th Nov 1848
It hile his fate thus hung in the balance that he wrote to his cousin Sarah [81] daughter of Dr Francis Burton, who had just lost her mother [82] His letter, which is headed Karachi, 14th November 1848, runs as follows:--”My dear cousin, I lose no ti to your note which conveyed to s of our mutual loss The letter took me quite by surprise I are of ined that it was her last illness Youthe event Your mother had always been one of my best relations and kindest friends; indeed she was the only one ho the last six years I have every reason to regret her loss; and you, of course, much more Your kind letter contained much matter of a consolatory nature; it was a melancholy satisfaction to hear that my excellent aunt's death-bed was such a peaceful one--a fit conclusion to so good and useful a life as hers was You, too, must derive no small happiness from the reflection that both you and your sister [83] have always been dutiful daughters, and as such have contributed so much towards your departed mother's felicity in this life In my father's last letter from Italy he alludes to the sad event, but wishesthat he has fears for her mind if it be abruptly alluded to
”At the distance of son ourselves to cala fro the last six years I fear that when able to return ho that name I hope, however, dear cousin, that you or your sister will occasionally sendme of your plans and reatest interest in your proceedings You lect to answer your letters and shall always look forward to thereatest pleasure Stisted [85] is not yet out: his regiaum [86], but I shall do my best to see him as soon as possible Edward [87] is still in Ceylon and the war [88] has ceased there I keep this letter open for ten or twelve days longer, as that time will decide my fate
A furious affair has broken out in Mooltan and the Punjaub and I have applied to the General coo up with him on his personal staff A few days more will decide the business--and I a a little from my old complaint--ophthalmia--yet these opportunities are too far between to be lost”
Unfortunately for Burton, his official respecting his investigations at Karachi in 1845 was produced against him [89], and he was passed over [90] in favour of a lish His theory that the most strenuous exertions lead to the hly broke down, and the scarlet and gold of his life, which had already becoave place to the ”blackness of darkness” It was in the loom and dejection that he wrote the postscript which he had promised to his cousin Sarah The date is 25th Novee of Mooltan, as the General hom I had expected to be sent is recalled
Pray be kind enough to send on the enclosed to my father I was afraid to direct it to him in Italy as it contains papers of some importance
You are welcome to the perusal, if you think it worth the trouble I have also put in a short note for Aunt Georgiana Kindly give my best love to your sister, and believe me, rin and anger, combined with his old trouble, ophthalth, a serious illness followed, and the world lost all interest for him
18 Allahdad
He returned to Bo frame, sunken eyes, and a voice that had lost its sonority ”It is written,”
said his friends, ”that your days are nuo home to die” They carried him to his shi+p, ”The Elisa,” and as there seeland, he at once wrote a farewell letter to his ht away a ood-hearted native na, and in part to the bland and health-giving breezes of the ocean, he gradually regained his forarded these seven years spent in Sind as simply seven years wasted, and certainly his rewards were incommensurate with his exertions Still, it was in Sind that the future becaan to collect thathts
Chapter V 1849 to 3rd April, 1853, Chiefly Boulogne
Bibliography:
5 Goa and the Blue Mountains, 1851 6 Scinde; or the Unhappy Valley, 2 vols, 1851 7 Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus, 1851 8 Falconry in the Valley of the Indus, 1852 9
Cohts, 1852 10 A complete System of Bayonet Exercise, 1853
19 A Motto from Ariosto