Notes of an Overland Journey Through France and Egypt to Bombay | Page 5

observe the progress of
these changes, and to compare the British India of 1830 with that of
1840. With a view of enlarging the sphere of her knowledge of the
country, and of deriving every practicable advantage from a
twelve-months' visit, she determined to examine India on its Western
side, and (contrary to the urgent advice of many of her friends) to
encounter the inconveniences of performing the journey overland,

through France and Egypt. Previous to her departure, she entered into
an arrangement with the Asiatic Journal (the depository of most of her
papers on Indian subjects) to transmit, on her way, a series of papers for
publication in that work, descriptive of the objects and incidents met
with in the overland route, and of the "rising presidency," as she termed
Bombay. By a singular coincidence, the last paper of this series was
published in the very number of the _Asiatic Journal_[B] which
announced her death. These papers, which are now before the reader,
carry on the biography of Miss Roberts almost to the end of her life.
She quitted England in September, 1839, and, having suffered few
annoyances on the journey, except a fever which attacked her in the
Gulf, arrived in Bombay in November, where she experienced the most
cordial reception from all classes, including the Governor and the most
respectable of the native community. Miss Roberts was known to Sir
James Carnac, and in his Excellency's family she became a guest for
some time, quitting his hospitable mansion only to meet with a similar
cordiality of welcome from other friends, at the presidency and in the
interior. Her residence at Parell has enabled her to draw, with her
accustomed felicity, in one of the papers published in this volume, a
lively sketch of the domestic scenes and public receptions, as well as
the local scenery, at this delightful place. It appears from her letters that
Miss Roberts meditated a tour into Cutch or Guzerat, which probably
was prevented by her subsequent illness. "It is my intention," she wrote
from Parell, December 30th, 1839, "to go into the provinces, as I have
received numerous invitations; I am at present divided between Guzerat
and Cutch: by going to the latter, I might have an opportunity of seeing
Scinde, the new Resident, Captain Outram, being anxious that I should
visit it." She adds: "I have received much attention from the native
gentlemen belonging to this presidency, and have, indeed, every reason
to be pleased with my reception." She had projected a statistical work
on this part of India, and in her private letters she speaks with grateful
enthusiasm of the liberality with which the government records were
opened to her, and of the alacrity with which Europeans and natives
forwarded her views and inquiries. In a letter dated in February, 1840,
she says: "I am very diligently employed in collecting materials for my
work; I am pleased with the result of my labours, and think I shall be
able to put a very valuable book upon Bombay before the public. I hope

to go in a short time to Mahableshwar, and thence to Sattara, Beejapore,
&c." Her literary aid was invoked by the conductors of periodical
works at Bombay, to which she furnished some amusing pictures of
home-scenes, drawn with the same spirit and truth as her Indian
sketches. She likewise undertook the editorship of a new weekly paper,
the _Bombay United Service Gazette_, and with the benevolence which
formed so bright a feature in her character, she engaged with zeal in a
scheme for rescuing the native women, who (as her observation led her
to believe) impede the progress of improvement, from the indolence in
which they are educated, by devising employments for them suited to
their taste and capacity. The concluding chapter of this volume contains
some very sound and salutary reflections upon native education.
Perhaps too close and unremitting application, in a climate which
demands moderation in all pursuits that tax the powers of either mind
or body, produced or aggravated a disease of the stomach, with which
this lady was seriously attacked when on a visit to Colonel Ovans, the
Resident at Sattara. Some indication of disordered health manifested
itself whilst she was in the Hills. Writing from thence in April, and
adverting to some incident which caused her vexation, she observed:
"My health is failing me, and I can scarcely bear any increased subject
of anxiety." She experienced in the family of Colonel Ovans all the
attention and sympathy which the kindest hospitality could suggest; but
her disorder increasing, she removed, in the hope of alleviating it by
change of air, to Poona, and arrived at the house of her friend, Colonel
Campbell, in that city, on the 16th of September. She expired
unexpectedly on the following