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 THE
MASTERS
OF
LIMITATION
___________________________________________
An ET’s Observations of Earth
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead,
is entirely coincidental.

“The Masters of Limitation – An ET’s Observations on Earth,” by Darryl Anka. ISBN 978-1-
951985-10-3 (hardcover).

Published 2020 by Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 9949, College Station, TX
77842, US. ©2020, Darryl Anka..
 This book is dedicated to
April Rochelle – “Nania”

With deep appreciation to all

who support Open Contact
between ETs and Earth
 THE
MASTERS
OF
LIMITATION
___________________________________________
An ET’s Observations of Earth
Bashar, a hybrid extraterrestrial from a parallel reality.
INTRODUCTION
First of all, who am I?

I’m what Earth humans usually refer to as an alien or an

extraterrestrial. To be clear, I’m not really all that alien, being
genetically related to humans. However, I’m definitely
extraterrestrial, having been born and raised on a planet other than
Earth. But more on that later.

My world is called E’sassani in our ancient language (translation:

place of the light people). I say “ancient” because, at this point in our
evolution, our species is telepathic, so we rarely speak out loud
anymore, though we still can if, for example, we wish to sing a song
or communicate with a non-telepathic species.

Therefore, the first thing a visitor to our world would notice is that
it’s very quiet, aside from the sounds of nature. Because we’re all
telepathically bonded, we recognize and address each other by our
energy frequencies, or what we refer to as our “signature vibrations.”
Because of this, we don’t have names like Earth people do.

However, we understand that humans and other galactic species who

use names need to refer to us vocally or through symbols and thus,
I’ve chosen the word “Bashar” to be used as my “name” for
convenience. It’s a word that means “messenger,” “human being”
and “bringer of good news” in the Earth language known as Arabic
and, although it’s not literally my name, it describes my relationship
to humanity because I am a first-contact specialist.

There are several reasons for choosing an Arabic word, one of which
is that, hundreds of Earth years ago, a member of my people made an
initial contact with members of your society in the region of your
planet now known as the Middle East. The people in that culture
came to know him by the general name for our people: Sassani,
which was eventually shortened to “Sassan.”

One particular individual who ultimately rose to power initiated a

new society in that region and named it after his grandfather, Sassan,
who was named after that member of my society, since he was
mistakenly considered to be a protector-deity. Thus, that Middle-
Eastern sect became known as the Sassani Empire.

Thus, in light of that historical occurrence, we choose the word

“Bashar” to keep the name “in the family,” so to speak, and to honor
your people’s choice to name their realm after our civilization.

Initiating contact with various civilizations among the stars,

including Earth, is my calling of choice and one I’m particularly
passionate about. I’ve opened dialogues and interacted in various
ways with dozens of alien species and, as a result, I and my fellow
contact specialists have learned about the myriad ways that life can
express itself throughout the multiverse. (A note to your physicists:
Yes, the multiverse exists, and I come from one of the parallel-reality
“timelines” within it.)

There are lifeforms that would seem familiar to you, others that are
so different they’re nearly incomprehensible, and infinite variations
in between the two. While I will refer to some of these civilizations in
this account, the primary purpose of this book is to address my
interactions with the humans of Earth, as well as provide my
perspective on where humanity has come from, where it’s at
presently, and where it appears to be heading based on the
observations of my people and other ET races over the past few
millennia. We typically observe and assess a civilization for quite a
while before determining if a planet’s culture has reached a stage
where contact with an alien race would not be disruptive to that
culture’s way of life.

I’ve personally been transmitting information and engaging in

dialogues with members of the human race for well over three
decades of Earth time. As a First Contact Specialist, I’ve been trained
in various styles of communication, although a common approach to
initiating contact is to impart information via the technique you call
“channeling.” Though this avenue may seem esoteric to many of you,
there are valid and beneficial reasons for choosing this method over
more common or expected routes.

Many among you, particularly the more scientifically-minded, might

ask why we don’t communicate via radio or some other method more
familiar to the people of Earth. The main reason is that we aren’t
attempting to “prove” that the information we share with you is
coming from an extraterrestrial source.

This may seem contrary to the whole point of contact, but we have
learned from experience that we must proceed cautiously when
initiating contact with a new civilization. It’s imperative that we do
nothing to force you to believe we are real. In time, when appropriate
and mutually beneficial, we may reveal our presence in increasingly
physical ways. Until that day comes (and it’s never guaranteed to
happen) we always choose to remain in the background and allow
the inhabitants to decide for themselves whether or not to incorporate
our information into their personal lives or their society.

The degree to which they accept or dismiss that information, without

the “pressure” of having to believe it’s coming from ETs, allows us to
know if that society is ready to move to the next phase of contact.

After all, if our understanding of reality is wholly incompatible with

another civilization’s understanding, then open contact between our
respective worlds is likely to be more disruptive than beneficial.
From our view, contact must serve each world in positive ways and it
must be by choice.

However, this doesn’t mean that the majority of any given

civilization must choose contact in order for it to happen.
Nevertheless, there must be no lasting detrimental effects for any
individual or group that may be willing to initiate open contact with
us or any of the worlds that belong to our Interstellar Alliance. This is
especially important to factor into our contact process when
interacting with a planet such as Earth.

This is in no way intended as a negative, judgmental or derogatory

statement. It’s simply based on our observations that Earth humans
are, for the most part, unfamiliar with the underlying principles and
“mechanics” of existence and, as a result, often make negative choices
due to a lack of understanding and an adherence to a variety of
limiting beliefs.

This is the reason we affectionately refer to Earth humans as “The

Masters of Limitation.” This is not to say that all limitations are
negative. Clearly, certain “limitations,” like fences, prevent you from
plummeting off cliffs. (More on the nature of limitations in Chapter
Five).

However, in our travels, we’ve encountered relatively few societies

that experience negative limitations to the degree that most humans
do on Earth. Paradoxically, this does not make you appear to be
“less” than us in our eyes. From our perspective, it takes a very
strong spirit to overcome and transform such deep darkness into
light; such confining limitation into freedom; such despair into joy.

It is not, as some of your science-fiction stories have proposed, that

Earth is a kind of cosmic kindergarten, but that you are actually a
“master class” in transformation, about to receive your “Master’s
Degree,” taking you from being the “masters of limitation” to
becoming the “Masters of limitation.” This is an ongoing process and
it may be of assistance for us to share some of our observations about
Earth at this time. What you make of our observations and comments
is entirely up to you.

--- “Bashar”
A typical Sassani male, approximately five feet in height.
A typical Sassani female, approximately five feet in height.
CHAPTER ONE
Before I offer my observations of Earth, allow me to provide some
context for my perspective by sharing a bit of my own background.
As I mentioned, I was born on a planet called E’sassani. “E” means
place, “sassa” is living light and “ni” translates loosely to people. We
exist in a reality parallel to yours and therefore, our solar system isn’t
visible to your eyes or telescopes.

However, just to give you a sense of our location relative to your

system, if we were to “overlap” our respective realities, our star,
called “Sha” (higher light), would be approximately five hundred
light years in the direction of the constellation you call “Orion.”

We are a hybrid race, created from the DNA of Earth humans,

parallel-reality beings you call the “Greys” and a mix of other genetic
material from various interstellar species. Thus, being related to Earth
humans, we’re not completely “alien” in the strictest sense of the
word.

We call Earth “E’nani-ka,” which, loosely translated, means “Place of

the ancestors.” This name evolved over time. The original, ancient
form was “E’nadea a nani-ka,” which literally means “Place of the
mother spirits,” but today we simply say “E’nani-ka” and all our
people know we’re talking about Earth.

You call your star “Sol,” but our ancient name for it is “Ma’sa’kesh,”
which means “Light in the darkness.” This is a reference to the
transformational journey we perceive Earth humans to be taking,
shifting darkness into light.

Another historical note I would like to share with you is that when
some of our people visited a few of Earth’s ancient cultures
thousands of Earth years ago, one such area was what you now refer
to as India. Over many generations, these encounters evolved into the
symbolic story of the god Shiva who defeated a “demon” called
“Muka.”

Thus, Shiva is sometimes referred to as “Mukesh” to represent a god

of light vanquishing a demon of darkness. It’s also a linguistic
evolution of “Ma’sa’kesh,” our name for your star.

Because we are an artificially created hybrid race rather than one that
“naturally” evolved, our ancient language is also a mix of human and
alien languages, created specifically for our culture. Thus, you may
hear some familiar words or sounds in our ancient language, not only
because we adapted Earth terms for use in our society, but also
because our people visited yours in the past on occasion and a few of
our hybridized words found their way back into your languages, as
illustrated in the above explanation.

At this point in our evolution, approximately three thousand years

ahead of your present state, we have become what we call “quasi-
physical.” This means that, while we may still appear to have
physical bodies, we also exhibit many traits typically ascribed to non-
physical beings, such as spirits.

For example, although our people used to procreate sexually, as you

still do, our children are now “born” in a different manner. That is to
say, they are no longer conceived and gestated inside the mother’s
body. The parents-to-be slip into a meditative, trance-like state and
extend the energy fields that surround their bodies to form two
“energy bubbles” that overlap in the center, forming a third energy
field. The etheric consciousness, or spirit, of the child-to-be
participates in this process and “crystallizes” a new body within the
four-dimensional “vesica piscis” between the two adults’ energy
bubbles. The new being will appear, on average, to be a fully-formed
child of about three or four Earth years in age.

I was conceived and born in this manner and raised by my parents, as

well as other family members in a “birthing village,” which is a
temporary environment populated by the children, parents, family
members, other Sassani and sometimes, alien beings involved in a
child’s education period.

This initial education cycle lasts three years on E’sassani, which is

equivalent to nearly four Earth years. After the children born in a
given cycle are ready to fully enter society, the birthing villages are
disassembled until needed again for the next cycle, which occurs
every eight E’sassani years, or about every ten Earth years.

Bashar’s homeworld of E’sassani.

Before I go further with descriptions of life on my home world,
perhaps it will be helpful to explain the difference between our
respective measurements of time. A day on E’sassani is nearly
identical to one on Earth, what you call twenty-four hours, although
we don’t use hour demarcations. Being the product of Earth genetics,
our hybrid race was placed on a terraformed planet with similar day
and night periods (more on the creation of our species and home
world in a bit).

However, our year (one orbit around our star) is longer than yours.
E’sassani is about one hundred eleven million miles from our “sun”
in your measurements, while Earth is only ninety-three million miles
from Sol. This larger radius gives us a larger orbit, of course, and
results in a year that’s four hundred fifty-four days long as opposed
to Earth’s three hundred sixty-five. Since our star is a bit hotter than
yours, our world still lies within what your astronomers call the
“Goldilocks Zone” where the temperature supports our kind of life.

E’sassani is slightly smaller than Earth, with a bit less gravity but
more water and an atmosphere that is slightly richer in oxygen. Our
climate is temperate year-round with no major seasonal changes since
our planet’s axis is inclined by only a few degrees.

The planet is mostly left in a natural state, covered with vast forests,
jungles and fields fed by many streams and lakes. There are no large
cities and very few permanent structures of any kind. Our spaceships
are our cities, some of which are miles long and can comfortably
accommodate thousands of our people. Our population is low
compared to Earth’s: at any given time, there are generally no more
than about three hundred million individuals on the entire planet,
although many millions more might be in space aboard our ships.

Our world has no natural moons, but the planet is balanced by three
orbiting artificial satellites positioned in an equilateral triangle
formation. Each satellite is approximately seventy-five miles in
diameter and are also the engines responsible for terraforming the
planet to make it habitable for our kind. These artificial “moons” bear
the ancient names of Epsilon, Eclipse and Epiphany.

In case you’re wondering why these artificially intelligent satellites

have names in English instead of ancient Sassani, it’s because they
were created and named by the Greys, who were originally humans
from an alternate-reality Earth and whose primary international
language was English, just like your version of Earth.

The story of our origin as a hybrid species is a long and complex tale.
The short version is that the humans on that parallel Earth destroyed
their world through blind negligence and warfare that created a toxic
atmosphere that brought about droughts, famine, pestilence and that
eventually rendered them sterile. Their society moved underground
and, after many failed attempts to clone their people, they ultimately
adapted to their post-apocalyptic environment by mutating
themselves into the Grey beings.

However, still unable to reproduce, they knew that without an

infusion of viable human DNA, their culture would die out. Using
their most advanced technology, they discovered a way to “tunnel”
into other parallel realities, such as yours, where humans still thrived.
They began to secretly extract DNA from your people in a long-term
process that came to be known as “alien abduction” by your people.

Through trial and error, the Greys finally succeeded in creating four
hybrid species besides themselves, each infused with varying degrees
of human DNA. The Greys are considered the first hybrid race since
they started with normal human DNA. The fifth and final species are
human-looking enough to walk among you without detection and
some of them do now and then to observe and learn your ways.
The Sassani people are the third hybrid race created in this way and
thus, our general appearance is a fifty-fifty blend between a typical
Grey and an Earth human. We average about five feet in height, are
slender with very pale skin, slightly larger heads and eyes than you,
but smaller mouths, noses and ears. Males, like myself, have no hair.
Females have hair and it tends to be white, although there are
exceptions depending on the genetic “recipe.”

The first hybrid race, the Greys, are called Maz’e (pronounced Mahz -
eh) in our language. The second hybrid species are what humans
who’ve had abduction experiences refer to as the “tall Greys” and are
called “Mazani.” Our race, as you already know, are the Sassani. The
fourth race is called Sha’ya’el and the final, more human-looking
hybrids are termed Ya’ya’el. The Ya’ya’el will be the first hybrid race
to make open contact with Earth humans in the years to come.

There is a sixth group: The Shalinaya (the “First Light”) which are the
more recent hybrid children created in the ongoing hybridization
agenda. They mostly live aboard the Ya’ya’el ships and will
ultimately live with you on Earth in the future. They represent an
evolutionary step on the path of Earth becoming the sixth hybrid race
hundreds of years from now. These future hybrids will be known by
us as “E’nani-kaya.”
A typical mothership over E’sassani along with two of the three
artificially intelligent spheres in orbit that stabilize the environment of
the planet.
CHAPTER TWO
At age three (E’sassani years), I left my birthing village on the
western shore of our northern continent and was freely allowed to
explore my world. It may seem strange to Earth humans that a three-
year-old would be granted the freedom to be so far from home on
their own, but remember that my people are telepathically linked.
There’s no such thing on E’sassani as “out of sight, out of mind.”
Plus, although they may still appear to be a child physically, a three-
year-old on my world exhibits the mental and emotional maturity of
a teenager on your world. In addition, the entire population of my
world consider themselves to be family. Thus, all adults act as
parents for all the children, no matter who their birth-parents may be.

As I grew, I realized that one of my passions was to become a first-

contact specialist like my father. Our family line has produced many
who took up that calling and, as I listened to more and more stories
about my relatives’ encounters with exotic beings on far-flung worlds
across the galaxy, and even within other dimensions, I felt drawn to
follow in their footsteps.
 Bashar in the mothership observation corridor overlooking Earth.

My formal training began at age seven, along with several others my

age. My father, being one of the more experienced contact specialists,
was our teacher, although others would mentor us now and then in
order to impart knowledge about specific civilizations with whom
my father may not have personally interacted.

Our training consisted mostly of simulated contact scenarios created

using a combination of holographic technology and telepathic
projection. That approach allowed us to experience the simulations as
real by enhancing our emotional responses and thus, firmly
imprinting a strong sense of responsibility in each of us. That way,
our teachers made sure we did nothing that would cause harm to the
actual civilizations we were being trained to contact.
 Bashar teaches a class of young ‘First Contact Specialist’ students.

Opening relations with the inhabitants of a new world is often

fraught with misunderstandings that can lead to disaster. For
example, we were given the opportunity, via one simulation, to
experience an early contact with an alien culture that, at the time, had
only recently begun to explore their own solar system. Due to certain
social factors that were overlooked by our people, the sudden
introduction of beings from the stars caused a massive collapse of
their society. Their recovery took centuries and taught the Interstellar
Alliance a valuable lesson.
That incident was responsible for the Alliance’s so-called “non-
interference directive” that some of your more intuitive science-
fiction authors have

imagined and incorporated into their stories. One of the many

examples of art imitating life, even though those writers weren’t
consciously aware of the incident in question. Ironically, the
introduction of such a directive to your society, even though
presented via imaginary stories, created a more mature
understanding of potential human/ET relations and thus, increased
the probability of open contact with Earth.

After that alien society’s tragic reaction, the Alliance established new
protocols for contact that are in place to this day. However, it should
be understood that not every member of the Alliance chooses to act
on all the protocols, nor acts on them in the order that I will present
them here in this book. It’s also important to realize that not all
extraterrestrials who make contact with Earth are members of our
Alliance, or even members of any other alliances within your reality
or ours.

As such, they may have very different contact protocols, or none at

all. This is particularly true of the Greys who, as we’ve explained,
aren’t actually extraterrestrials in the strictest sense of the word since
they used to be humans from a parallel version of Earth. They see no
reason to create a “buffer” between their society and yours because
they view contact with your people as something akin to interacting
with alternate versions of themselves.

In addition, just as we were created using your DNA and thus, view
Earth humans as our ancestors, there are other ETs who are your
ancestors as well. Therefore, being “family,” some “star people” may
have very different protocols for how they interact with Earth.

In general, the Interstellar Alliance protocols for contact are as

follows:

First, long-term, remote observation of a culture to determine when

or if contact would be appropriate.

Second, more focused observation and determination of which

individuals or segments of that society are either more or less open to
the concept of contact.

Third, detailed projections of the potential impact of contact on

various segments of that society and the species as a whole.

Fourth, upon determination that contact would be mutually

beneficial for both our society and the culture in question, several
simulated contact scenarios are explored and the outcomes assessed
to determine the optimum approach.

This optimum approach usually contains a mix of the following sub-

steps, timed for maximum beneficial impact:

Four-A: Increasing and closer sightings of our spacecraft (what you

call UFOs) and observing the reactions to such sightings.

Four-B: A method of delivering information that allows the culture to

accept or reject the information as they see fit.

Four-C: Deliver information that may be beyond what is typically

accepted by the culture and observe their reaction to such
information.

Four-D: Initiate subtle or symbolic telepathic contact, often in a

manner that can be interpreted as nothing more than imagination or a
dream and observe the reaction to such communication as well as the
individuals’ interpretation of the communication.

Four-E: Communicating during “out-of-body” episodes and

observing the degree and style of retention of such interactions once
the individual awakens (assuming the species even sleeps, of course,
which some don’t).

There are many other factors involved in determining the appropriate

method and timing for contact in all its forms, whether subtle or
obvious. Generally speaking, once open contact with a world, or
individuals or groups upon that world, has been approved by the
Alliance, isolated physical interactions may commence, followed by
more public sightings and eventually, broad open contact with the
society (unless a reason is determined to limit contact only to a
specific group or individual on that planet, but this is extremely rare).
Also, based on the approved method deemed most beneficial to the
civilization, open public contact may or may not involve any
“official” representatives or recognized authorities within the society.
This is determined on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, should open
contact happen between our respective worlds, you may not hear us
utter the famous science-fiction greeting: “Take us to your leader.”
Open contact with ETs may not happen in the manner depicted in
many sci-fi movies.
CHAPTER THREE
I learned about Earth for the first time during my first-contact
training. At first, I couldn’t understand what I and my fellow trainees
were told about your people. I already knew that Earth was “E’nani-
ka,” the home of our ancestors, but I was surprised by my father’s
description of your way of life. This information had been
telepathically withheld from the trainees until we were experienced
enough to understand the remarkable differences between your
world and ours.

My father explained, via telepathic images, that Earth humans were,

with some exceptions, rather violent and often battled one another
over such things as occupation of land, material resources or different
belief systems. He went on to describe the concept of your nations
with their various cultures, customs and languages and explained
that many humans regarded each other with suspicion and fear based
on nothing more than the color of their skin.

To be frank, several trainees, including me, thought my father was

testing us; making up a story about a world so extreme that actual
civilizations would seem easy to make contact with by comparison. It
was sobering to finally realize that he was describing an actual
civilization. None of us had heard of a world like Earth. It seemed as
though alien civilizations from dozens of star systems had all chosen
to live on the same planet.

As our education of Earth continued over the years, we discovered

that analogy wasn’t far from the truth. We learned that Earth humans
were, in fact, a hybrid mix of several star-faring races due to
interactions that took place several hundreds of thousands of years
ago with an extraterrestrial species called the “Anu.” The Anu
infused their DNA with a species of hominid you call “Homo
Erectus” that evolved naturally on your planet.

We were told the Anu did this to create a race of workers that could
help them with the herculean task of mining gold and other elements
that the Anu needed to correct an imbalance in their home world’s
atmosphere and reverse the destructive weather patterns that had
been caused by massive solar storms in their star system.

Since the Anu themselves were already a mix of various humanoid

species, the blending of their DNA with Earth’s early hominids,
which resulted in the creation of “Homo Sapiens,” means that Earth
humans are, by definition, a hybrid race.

Once humans began to spread over the Earth and encountered

different environments, certain traits from the different ET species
emerged as a response to changes in temperature, dry or wet
conditions and other factors like diet, based on the foods available in
the different ecological niches.

This is why Earth supports so many “races,” whereas most

civilizations our people have encountered in each system among the
stars are relatively homogenous, though there are exceptions. But
that’s another story.

The more I learned about Earth, the more curious and excited I
became. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I would choose to
include your world among those with which I would eventually
make contact.

Once a “curriculum” of potential worlds was chosen by each trainee,

our contact simulations shifted from general scenarios to ones that
were specifically designed around the designated civilizations. As my
training continued, it became clear that Earth was far more complex
than I initially realized. My father pointed out that, if I continued on
the path that led to contact with your people, I would need to employ
a special protocol called “Illiani,” which, loosely translated means
“self-reflection.”

However, this is far more than an exercise of inner awareness. This

protocol, which had been added to the primary list only within the
last century, was derived from an ancient practice. In the context of
contact, “Illiani” meant I’d need to create a physical incarnation on
Earth.

In linear terms, I’d need to choose to have a “past life” on your planet
in order to gain direct experience with your culture. This would
allow my “present incarnation” to tap into “memories” of that life,
which would make it easier to relate to human culture during the
process of contact.

It’s possible to do this since, from our perspective, time is an illusion

or, more precisely, time is a “side effect” of consciousness in a certain
state of being that creates the experience called “physical reality.”
That means that all things actually exist simultaneously, but appear
to “inhabit” different time frames like the “past” or the “future”
when viewed through the “lens” of the illusionary space-time
framework.

Thus, a probable “past life” on Earth already existed. I just needed to

focus on shifting part of my consciousness to one that would serve
the process of contact in the most efficient and beneficial manner.

I don’t mean to make this technique sound clinical because, in truth,

it requires a very strong emotional connection to be successful.
Linking with another soul, be it in the so-called past, present or
future, creates a bond that’s much deeper than family. It gives birth
to a type of “twin-soul” that becomes part of us for the rest of our
lives.

Once we’ve linked with such an incarnation in a designated society,

an empathic and telepathic, (or “telempathic”) communication is
initiated that activates the connection between the contact specialist
and the “past self.” This can happen in a number of ways and can
include a variety of experiences designed to strengthen or
“crystallize” the link.

Without going into further detail at the moment, suffice to say that I
chose to implement this protocol to ensure a more “intimate”
connection with, and deeper understanding of your world. After all,
the best way to learn about a culture is to immerse oneself in it.
______________________
I am aided in my endeavors as a First Contact Specialist by another
group in my civilization called the O’Lan Ken in our ancient
language. While the term could be translated in English as
“Observers” or “Watchers,” a more precise interpretation would be
“Assessors.”

One of their duties is to observe and assess the rate of progress in the
other civilizations we choose to make contact with and to provide
First Contact Specialists, such as myself, with that assessment. This
helps to determine the rate at which further contact ought to occur as
well as what type and amount of information ought to be shared with
the civilization in question.

Often, such assessments can also be used to deliver a neutral, third-

party perspective to inhabitants that is free from culturally ingrained
beliefs, perspectives or other learned biases that may prevent those
inhabitants from having a clear understanding of the principles we
share with them.
CHAPTER FOUR
I’ve spent the first three chapters sharing some information about
who I am, where I’m from, how I became a First-Contact Specialist
and how it came to be that I chose Earth as one of the many worlds
with which it would be my passion to develop a relationship; one
that could blossom into open contact between our civilization and
yours.

In this chapter, I will begin to share my observations of your society

and address the impact that your individual and collective choices
have upon the probability of open contact. None of my comments are
intended to dismiss, devalue or offend any member of your society,
although we fully understand that some of your people will choose to
feel judged regardless of these assurances.

That’s one of the first things we observed about human society on

Earth: Some of you will always interpret things in the most negative
way, no matter how positively an idea is presented. This reaction
generally stems from fear-based beliefs, of course, so we know not to
take such reactions personally.

We understand that, when humans are afraid to face their fears, they
deny that they have them. This is a state of double-denial: people
who deny they have fears are also in denial about being in denial.
This creates a second psychological wall around the first one, making
it a much greater challenge to help them let go of the initial fear-
based belief.
Complex negative states of mind such as this are what make it
necessary for a First-Contact Specialist to experience an incarnation in
your society. Without such an experience, you would be far too
“alien” for us to comprehend many aspects of your culture or the
reasons behind the choices you make.

However, we also observe great joy, love, compassion and creativity

in many of your people, so we know the capacity for such
expressions exists within all of you. Thus, we perceive that, at the
very least, the potential exists for peaceful contact with your world.

Based on our vantage point outside your culture, and combined with
our incarnational experience within your society, we know that, not
only are many of Earth’s inhabitants open and willing to have open
contact with beings from the stars, but that there are even a few
isolated locations on your planet where contact with ETs has been
happening for thousands of years.

These brief, limited interactions mostly happen between certain

indigenous cultures on Earth and a few specific groups of
extraterrestrials with whom the human cultures have a genetic
connection from ancient times. Generally, such contact is essentially
an exchange between “family members,” with the native people
being at least partially descended from their star-people ancestors.

The fact that such interactions have been happening for hundreds, if
not thousands of years with the majority of Earth’s population either
dismissing or being unaware of such contact, demonstrates the
degree of psychological compartmentalization and the manipulation
and suppression of information that pervades much of your society.

We can empathize with those among you, such as many of your

scientists, who would be willing to acknowledge our presence if
presented with sufficient physical evidence. However, such evidence
will have to wait until we determine, via our own observations, that
Earth is sufficiently prepared for such an undeniable revelation.

In all probability, Earth might have already reached that level of

preparedness were it not for the fact that most of your political,
social, economic, religious and military institutions operate from a
fear-based perspective. There are several individuals, even certain
groups, within those institutions who are fully aware we exist and
are visiting your planet. However, despite a few courageous
exceptions, they’ve chosen to keep such knowledge from the general
public.

Though this choice comes mainly from a desire to safeguard their

personal positions of power, many of these individuals often attempt
to justify or rationalize their decision by insisting that open
acknowledgment of an ET presence would cause mass panic and
destabilize your society. The irony is that their ongoing agenda of
secrecy is actually responsible for increasing the probability for panic
because they haven’t allowed your public to properly prepare for
contact with extraterrestrials. They create the condition and then
bemoan that there’s no remedy for the condition.

Despite this behavior, your society is generally, albeit slowly, moving

in the direction of having open contact with our kind. Many people in
positions of authority on your planet are aware of this inevitability
and are making attempts to educate and prepare your people for
such an event in order to at least partially mitigate any negative
reactions that might arise from such an encounter.

Even those committed to keeping our presence a secret realize they

won’t be able to do so forever. The most they can achieve, based on
your people’s drive and curiosity to explore the cosmos, is to slow the
process down enough so that, should your society experience
unexpected repercussions from contact, those individuals would
have time to position themselves and safely ride out any negative
impact in relative comfort.

Some of your people have speculated that many science-fiction

movies and books that depict first-contact scenarios between humans
and aliens are deliberately designed to get your people used to the
idea of ETs and there is some truth to this theory. However, while a
few films, TV programs and books were created with this agenda in
mind, most are simply the result of writers and filmmakers tapping
into your collective consciousness and intuiting that contact with
other species is more and more likely to occur now that your
technology allows you to explore farther and farther into space.

This is a natural evolutionary effect, specifically an extension of a

psychological survival mechanism, designed to “buffer” you from the
shock of the all-encompassing paradigm shift represented by an
event such as contact with an alien intelligence. If contact happens
too quickly, this buffering effect can amplify into flat-out rejection of
any change in the status quo and potentially lead to the culture
choosing to isolate itself from any further interaction. But, if allowed
to happen over a reasonable amount of time, a society’s natural
curiosity and drive to explore the unknown will “soften” the
buffering effect and allow contact to happen in a more natural and
effective manner.

However, if the transition takes too much time, this can also create
negative effects that can be just as detrimental to the society as
moving too quickly. For example, the extended secrecy that shrouds
the existence of ETs from your people has created a cynical
atmosphere in which people who publically share their sightings of
UFOs or encounters with ETs are ridiculed, vilified and even
ostracized from mainstream society. This only works to compound
the secrecy and further prevents preparation for contact.
In this way, your society becomes more “fragile” and over-reactive to
any shifts in your established perception of reality. If such entrenched
denial persists, even the smallest crack in that perception, no matter
the source, could shatter your society’s veneer of civilization far
worse than open contact ever could.

Nevertheless, there is a growing awareness in your global culture

that contact with extraterrestrials is at least a probability, now that
your search for other habitable planets has finally been accepted, for
the most part, into the halls of mainstream science. It’s
understandable that your astronomers prefer to be cautious in their
estimates regarding the odds of finding life elsewhere in the galaxy.
In general, it’s true that Earth-like planets are few and far between
compared to the number of planets orbiting other stars.

That statement notwithstanding, there’s a lot of life out here and,

while some ETs do resemble humans (or humans resemble many ETs
due to the genetic connections we previously mentioned), most of the
beings born under the light of other suns are truly alien and not
humanoid in the least.

Therefore, it will probably be beneficial for Earth humans to first

encounter beings with whom you have something in common in
order to give you time to get used to dealing with other interstellar
cultures before being exposed to more exotic civilizations.

We know that the avid science-fiction fans among you may feel better
prepared than most for such encounters because they’ve read dozens
of tales or seen many movies and TV shows of first contact between
humans and aliens. However, the reality of meeting a truly alien
being “face-to-face” can be far more unexpected and startling than
anything imagined in your stories.

Even though Earth is blessed with several sentient species, such as

dolphins for example, and even though they are “alien” in many
ways, you’ve shared your planet with them for thousands of years.
And though you’ve gotten used to them, communication between
your respective species still remains sporadic, undefined and
imprecise. In fact, most humans still consider cetaceans to be nothing
more than “smart animals” rather than an intelligent “alien” life
form.

Based on our observations, it will take many years before the majority
of your society finally regards the killing of a dolphin in the same
light as the murder of a human. But once you adopt that view, you
will be psychologically and morally better equipped to form
meaningful interactions, not only with cetaceans and other sentient
species on your world, but also with intelligent beings from other
planets.
To give you some idea of what you might encounter someday when
Earth humans become technologically capable of exploring the
galaxy, we’ll share a little information about a few of the alien species
with which our

civilization’s made contact. While we realize the following

descriptions may seem no different than many of the ETs in your sci-
fi stories, and that no mere description can compare with what you
would actually experience in actual encounters, they may at least hint
at the diversity of life to be found in different star systems.
The first species on our list, though “humanoid” in that they possess
a head, two eyes, two arms with hands and are bipedal, display an
attribute so unusual and “alien” that they merit mention.

The beings are called “Thook.” They’re tall, slender to the point of
being gaunt with light, milky-blue skin and enormous, round yellow
or green eyes, although some eyes tend toward orange or red.

Individually, each is a Thook. Collectively, all are Thook. Their home

world is called Thook as well. That would seem to make things easier
to remember, but therein lies the irony. Their unique attribute is
experienced by other species that attempt to communicate with the
Thook. While talking face-to-face with a member of their species, you
can carry on a normal conversation. But the instant you break eye
contact, all memory of the conversation and the being you spoke with
is erased from your mind, as though you had never met.

Needless to say, unless the encounter is recorded, no one would

retain any awareness of the meeting. This is a natural, telepathic
defense mechanism that creates immediate, short-term memory loss
for all who come in contact with the Thook. However, with continued
contact, long-term memory takes over and reminds you that the
Thook exist, even though short-term experiences continue to be
expunged. This survival trait is “built in” to the species and there’s
nothing the Thook can do to turn it off, nor would they if they could.
The ability developed as they evolved in an environment brimming
with extremely aggressive predators. A few of those predators still
exist on Thook, but are limited to the central continent, which has
been left in its wild, natural state, while the Thook ultimately built
shimmering cities on the surrounding continents as they spread
across their world.
______________________
The “Veequa-pani” is my civilization’s name for the next species. It
means “seed dancers” in our language and is a reference to the nature
of these beings. Although the “Veequa-pani” have no general name
for their kind, they have dozens of names for the various
configurations and personality states they’re capable of expressing.

Imagine a large, three-foot long worm or snake-like being without

eyes as humans have, but with sensory organs along the length of
their bodies that can be adapted to see, hear, taste, smell or provide
other sensations as required.

Each being is sexless. All individuals are identical, completely

indistinguishable from one another until they join together to create
more complex identities. Special “linking organs” at one end of each
individual allow them to physically and neurologically connect,
turning two, three, four or up to eight of them into a being
resembling a starfish or a headless octopus.

The various combinations allow them to take on different sexual,

physical, psychological and other temporary qualities that vanish
once the purpose of the “collective” is fulfilled. The individual
“worms” then disconnect and go on their way, although each retains
the memory, knowledge and experience of every collective thus
formed over their lifetimes, which average around two hundred
Earth years.
______________________
The next culture is alien in the extreme and possesses qualities that
allow them to simultaneously exist in multiple dimensions. This
grants them the ability to interact with various phenomena that
would normally annihilate beings that inhabit “normal” physical
realities.

Though these being have a name for themselves, it’s practically

unpronounceable to species that use language to communicate and is
more akin to a vibrational “equation” of energy.
The closest approximation in your English language would be:
R•PH•R•K’ TH•R•M.

The “R” in each case is trilled, somewhat like the purr of a cat. All
other sounds are like a whisper and the apostrophe represents what
humans would perceive as a glottal stop. We’ll refer to them simply
as “R” for convenience.

The “R” are capable of such feats as extracting information from the
event horizon of a black hole or passing unscathed through the dense
matter of a neutron star. They appear as abstract, dark blue nodes
with long extensions, similar to a neuron, although that’s only the
part perceivable by physical beings. The “R” are much more than that
and it requires specialized senses or technology that can peer into
other dimensions to reveal their complete form, which is a constantly
undulating “cloud” of quantum particles.

Conversely, the “R” perceive physical beings like you and us as

transparent, crystallized energy forms drifting in a sea of virtual
particles, similar to ice floating in water as a rough analogy. It took
our civilization about ten years to learn to communicate with the “R”
and there are still many things we don’t know about them, although
their primary quality is a relentless curiosity and drive to explore
various dimensions of existence.
____________________
Finally, we’ll share our initial impressions of a civilization we’ve only
recently encountered. We learned about this unusual society from the
“R” due to their ability to transcend dimensions, because this alien
species, called “Ovma,” inhabits an alternate reality we’ve named the
“inside-out universe.”

Instead of stars and planets moving through the vacuum of space,

this universe is filled with a type of gravitational “fluid” peppered
with enormous, hollow “bubbles” inside of which the Ovma live.

The specific bubble we discovered has an inner diameter nearly the

size of the orbit of Mars around your sun. The bubble’s inner surface
feels somewhat solid due to surface tension created by the
gravitational fluid outside the bubble as it encounters the outward
pressure of the bubble’s inner atmosphere.

The very center of the hollow bubble is occupied by a type of “white

hole” that created and maintains the bubble by pouring energy from
other dimensions into this alternate reality. This type of white hole
has periodic fluctuations that generate a cycle of frequencies in the
energy it emanates. One frequency energizes the Ovma (day) and the
other frequency lowers their energy level (night).

The word “ovma” means “spheres” in our language and these beings
are exactly that: spheres with extendable and retractable tentacles
that are used, among other things, to roll themselves around the
bubble’s habitable inner surface that, in terms of square footage, is
approximately equal to one million, two hundred seventy-five
thousand Earths.

The “Ovma” population exceeds several hundred billion individuals,

yet the bubble is practically empty, save for the exotic flora and fauna
that share the “world” with the “Ovma.” Their dwellings tend to be
composed of tube-like structures they can roll through, although
there’s all manner of configurations that have sprung from the
creative imagination of the “Ovma” architects.

They cultivate a variety of spores on their “farms” and their

“restaurants” are usually comprised of patches and lines of different
“flavored” spores they absorb through their membranous skins by
rolling over them.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Evan Lloyd being detained to give evidence on General Whitelocke’s
court-martial. On the 1st of June it arrived at the Cape of Good
Hope, where it found one of its old colonels, Major-
General H. G. Grey, and was inspected by him. 4th June.
From the Cape the regiment sailed for Calcutta. As
it was approaching the Hugli one of the transports, the Hugh Inglis,
was set on fire by the carelessness of a petty officer, but the fire was
extinguished without serious damage. Next day the three topmasts
were carried away by a squall, and swept fourteen or fifteen men
overboard with them, of whom, however, all but one were saved. The
Seventeenth has gone through a good many adventures at sea
between gales, founderings, fires, and service as marines.
On the 25th August the regiment was disembarked at Calcutta,
790 men strong, and did garrison duty in Fort William until
December; during which time Major Cotton, the regimental
quartermaster, and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and men,
fell sick and died—a melancholy opening to its first term of Indian
service. In the following year it was placed on the
Bombay establishment, and sailing from Calcutta 1809.
arrived at Bombay on the 1st February. From
thence it was moved up to its destined quarters at Surat on the Tapti
River, some two hundred miles north of Bombay. Two galloping guns
worked by its own men were added, as was usual, to the
establishment; and by a concurrence of testimony the regiment was
excellently mounted.
Early in 1810 the Seventeenth was employed on a rather curious
service. At the end of 1809 there was a sudden rising of religious
fanatics in Mandavi under the leadership of a man named Mean
Abdul Rahman, who killed the vizier of Mandavi, and put the rajah to
flight. The leader then sent a message to the
English Resident, ordering him to accept 1809.
Mohammedanism or fight. He added that he was
come down to earth in the bodies of four great men, Adam, Jesus,
Ahmad and Mean Abdul Rahman, and concluded with a request for
three hundred rupees. Absurd as the matter sounds, it soon
assumed a serious aspect. The news of the rising reached Surat on
the 10th January, and the people at once flocked
out from the city to join the new prophet. The 1810.
Mohammedans in general began to assume a
threatening attitude, and attacked the Hindoos with the cry of “Deen.”
In fact there were the elements of a troublesome disturbance, which
in the judgment of the Resident required to be suppressed at once.
Accordingly four troops of the Seventeenth, under Major Supple, and
some infantry were called out and marched off to the village of
Boodham, where the prophet and the most devoted of his followers
were assembled. The Seventeenth outmarched the infantry, and
came up with the fanatics at daybreak on the morning of the 19th
January on the plain outside the village. The fanatics were
summoned to surrender and give up their leader; but they replied
with shouts of defiance. A feint attack was then made to intimidate
them; but they simply threw up clouds of dust in the horses’ faces
and dared the Seventeenth to the combat. Then the regiment
attacked in earnest, and there ensued what the Resident called a
“furious engagement.” The fanatics were armed with spears and
small hatchets attached to bamboo shafts, twelve or fourteen feet
long, with which they could inflict severe wounds; and they fought
like demons. If the Seventeenth had had lances in these days they
might have made short work of them; but, as things were, the
fighting lasted for some time. It was not until 200 of the fanatics lay
dead on the field that the bulk of them dispersed and fled to the
village, where, still undefeated, they renewed the fight against the
infantry and artillery. Finally the Seventeenth set fire to the village
and put an end to the affair; and the leader of the fanatics, having
been wounded in the first action, was captured by the infantry. Of the
Seventeenth, one corporal and two privates were
killed; all the officers, several privates and many of 1810.
the horses were wounded. Lieutenant Adams’
helmet was cut to pieces on his head.
In this same year a detachment of the Seventeenth, under
Lieutenant Johnson, accompanied Brigadier-General Sir John
Malcolm on his mission to Persia. On its return in December this
detachment brought with it a letter from Sir John to the Colonel, in
which the former went out of his way to express his high opinion not
only of Mr. Johnson, but of the non-commissioned officers, Sergeant
Willock and Corporals Carrigan and Batson, who were with him. It is
remarkable to note that non-commissioned officers of the
Seventeenth, employed with small detachments, have never failed
from the first to command the admiration of all strange officers whom
it has been their duty to serve. A curious memorial of this escort was
found in the ruins of Persepolis by an officer of the regiment
(Lieutenant Anstruther Thomson, now Captain Anstruther) while
travelling in 1888. Scratched on one of the lions at the head of the
main stairway are the death’s head and cross-bones with the motto,
and beneath it the name “Sergt. Robt. Willock”; and on the wall of
Xerxes’ house is cut the name of “Pte. M. Cloyne, 17 L. DS. 1810.”
Before we quit this year we must add two small extracts (copied
from the Calcutta Gazette) from the Dress Regulations, which gives
us a faint glimpse of the transition through which the British Army
was passing:—
10th October.—Clubs and queues are abolished in all ranks from
this date, and the hair is in future to be cut close to the neck. No
powder is to be worn on duty.
This is the first beginning of the short hair, which now particularly
distinguishes a soldier. Old as the queues were, the whole Army was
delighted to be rid of them, though there were antique officers that
regretted them to the end. At the beginning of the
great war with France the War Office, which was 1810.
decidedly negligent in the matter of feeding the
troops in Flanders, never failed to send them shiploads of leathern
queues.
8th November.—Scale epaulettes are to be worn exclusively by
officers of cavalry.
No shoulders have seen more vicissitudes of adornment than
those of the British officer.
In December of the following year the regiment
left Surat for new cantonments at Ruttapore, near 1811.
Kaira, in the northern division of Guzerat. On the
1st of January following Lieutenant-Colonel Evan Lloyd was
promoted to be Major-General, and retired from the
command. He was the last of the officers then 1812.
doing duty with the regiment who had served with it
in the American War. His successor was the Hon. Lincoln Stanhope,
who came from the 16th Lancers, and was blamed by his brother
officers in that corps, not without justice, for preferring “an arduous
campaign in Bond Street” to duty with his regiment in the Peninsula.
None the less he did good service enough with the Seventeenth.
The year 1812 brought with it a further change in the clothing. The
cord lacing and the innumerable buttons that had adorned the front
of the jacket were abolished, and another jacket with broad, white
facings, almost as wide as a plastron, was substituted in its stead.
Simultaneously the old helmet disappeared and the felt shako took
its place. The old white breeches and knee-boots were likewise
swept away to make room for French gray overalls, with a double
white stripe, and Wellington boots. These last may perhaps have
been introduced rather earlier than the other changes; the Wellington
boot, according to one authority, having been prescribed for Light
Dragoons in 1808. The old crimson sash of the officer made way for
a girdle similar to that worn at present. White welts to the seams and
a small pair of epaulettes, white for men and silver for officers,
completed the transformation. When the Seventeenth received this
new dress it is impossible to say; and the change is therefore
recorded under the year when it was ordered, though probably not
carried into effect until a year or two later. The fact
that the regiment was quartered in India, of course, 1812.
made in those days no difference as to the clothing
issued to it, except that white covers were worn over the shakos.
In September there arose a mighty famine in Guzerat, which
carried off thousands of natives. Simultaneously there broke out an
epidemic fever which was as fatal to Europeans as to natives. In the
four months, October 1812 to January 1813, four officers and 73
men of the Seventeenth were swept off by this fever; yet even this
was a small matter to those who could remember the ravages of
yellow fever in the West Indies.
 In the three following years strong detachments
of the regiment were employed in active service, 1813 to 1815.
apparently in expeditions against different hill-
tribes. Of the work done I have been unable to discover any record,
such expeditions being too common in the early days of British rule
in India to excite much interest. In December 1815 the regiment took
part in an expedition into the mountains of Cutch, whither no British
troops had hitherto penetrated. On the march they crossed the Ran
of Cutch, which separates Guzerat from the Cutch peninsula, and
being in the advanced guard were the first English soldiers to cross
it. The Ran being, from all accounts, merely a bed of sand which
comparatively lately had been the bottom of a sea, the accounts of
the march and the description of the country filled the Indian
newspapers of the period. The news of Waterloo and of the close of
the great war was exhausted, so a graphic picture of the Ran was
welcome.
The capture of a couple of hill forts, Aujar and
Bhooj, soon quieted Cutch; and the troops then 1816.
repassed the Ran to put down some local banditti
and disperse some piratical tribes on the coast. The central nest of
these tribes having been taken, the work was done; and accordingly
after the capture of Dwarka, on the coast to the south of the Gulf of
Cutch, the field force was broken up, and the Seventeenth returned
to Ruttapore. The losses of the regiment in the work of those three
years are unrecorded, and, except from disease, were probably not
worth mention.
Before quitting this year we must turn our eyes homeward for a
moment, where rather an interesting matter was going forward.
H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief, at the opening of 1816, had
become bitten with the notion of forming corps of Lancers in imitation
of the Polish Lancers which had done such good service to the army
under Napoleon. The first idea was to attach a troop of lancers to
each cavalry regiment, just as a small body of riflemen was attached
to a regiment of infantry. Lord Rosslyn offered the 9th Light
Dragoons for the experiment, and trained fifty picked men under the
command of Captain Peters. On Saturday, 20th April, these fifty men
were reviewed in the Queen’s Riding-house at Pimlico, before a few
select spectators who were admitted by ticket. The men were
dressed in blue jackets faced with crimson, gray trousers and blue
cloth caps, and carried a lance sixteen feet long with a pennon of the
Union colours. “The opposite extremity of the lance,” continues our
authority, “was confined in a leather socket attached to the stirrup,
and the lance was supported near the centre by a loose string.” Such
is an abridged account of the first parade of Lancers in England,
taken from an extract from the Sun newspaper of 22nd August 1816,
and copied into the Calcutta Gazette, whence probably it found its
way to the officers’ mess of the Seventeenth.

G. Salisbury.
Marching Order. Review Order.
PRIVATES, 1824–1829.
The new year brought the regiment to more
serious service in the field, namely, the Pindari 1817.
War. These Pindaris in their early days had been merely the
scavengers of the Mahratta armies; but they had been increasing in
numbers and power in the south of Hindostan and the north of the
Dekhan since 1811. Their most celebrated chiefs were two men
named Kurreem and Cheettoo, who had been captured by Dowlat
Rao Scindiah, but were released by him for a ransom in 1812. The
Pindaris then came out as an independent body, and began
incursions on a large scale. They invaded a country
in bands of from one to four thousand men apiece, 1817.
which on reaching the frontier broke up into parties
of from two to five hundred. They earned little but their arms; they
were admirably mounted, and thought nothing of marching fifty or
sixty miles in a day. They lived, themselves and their horses, on
plunder, and what they could not carry off they destroyed. In 1812
they were bold and strong enough to cross the Nerbuddha and
invade the territory of the Rajah of Nagpore, and in 1813 they
actually set fire to part of his capital. As they threatened further
depredations in the Gaikwar’s territory, a force of 600 native infantry
and three troops of the Seventeenth were sent to disperse them; and
these repressive measures had a good effect for the time. By 1814
their numbers were reckoned at 27,000 men, “the best cavalry
commanded by natives in India,” with 24 guns; and in the two
following years they became more and more dangerous and
troublesome. Holkar and Scindiah, being afraid of them, had both
made an alliance with them, and encouraged them secretly.
Moreover, the British Government was hampered in any attempt to
put them down by an engagement with Scindiah, which prevented it
from entering into any negotiations with the Rajpoots under
Scindiah’s protection. Unless British troops could follow the Pindaris
into Rajpoot territory it was of no use to advance against them, for
the only way in which the Pindaris could be suppressed was by
hunting them down to a man.
The capture of Bungapore in the Madras Presidency at last
brought matters to a crisis. Lord Moira, the Governor-General, called
upon Scindiah to disown the Pindaris and conclude a treaty with
England. Scindiah signed it cheerfully on the 5th November 1816.
That little farce over, he joined a general conspiracy of the Mahratta
powers to overthrow British rule in India. The Peishwar and the
Rajah of Nagpore, who had also recently signed treaties of alliance
with England, together with Holkar were the principal leaders of the
movement. Then the Governor-General bestirred himself in earnest.
He collected the Bengal, Madras, and Central
armies, and fairly surrounded the whole Pindari 1817.
country, the Malwa in fact, with 80,000 men. Over
and above these a force, under Sir W. Grant Keir, advanced from
Bombay to block up one corner on the Bombay side. It was to this
force that the Seventeenth was attached, joining it at Baroda.
The Baroda force under Sir W. Keir marched on the 6th
December. On the second day’s march the rear-guard was attacked
by a body of Bheels—a race which, though “diminutive and wretched
looking,” were “active and capable of great fatigue,” as befitted a
gang of professed thieves and robbers. They were driven off by a
squadron of the Seventeenth under Colonel Stanhope himself, but at
the cost of an officer, Cornet Marriott, and several men and horses
wounded. Sergeant-Major Hampson received an arrow in the mouth
from a Bheel archer. He calmly plucked the arrow out, drew his
pistol, shot the Bheel, and then fell dead—choked by the flow of
blood. This affair won the Seventeenth the thanks of the General in
field orders.
Of the subsequent movements of the Seventeenth in the war I
have found great difficulty, from the impossibility of getting at the
original despatches, in obtaining any knowledge. The great battle of
the campaign was fought against Holkar’s troops at Maheidpore on
the 20th December. The Seventeenth was not present at the action,
though Colonel Stanhope was thanked in orders and despatches for
his service as D.Q.M.G., and though immediately after it the
regiment was ordered off to reinforce Sir J. Malcolm’s division for the
pursuit of Holkar. On the 23rd January 1818 a
treaty was make with Holkar; and the war then 1818.
resolved itself into a pursuit of the other members
of the conspiracy, and in particular of the Pindaris. In fact the work of
the Seventeenth was a foretaste of that which it was to experience in
Central India forty years later; equally difficult to trace from the
rapidity of the movements; equally hard to recount from the dearth of
material and the separation of the regiment into detachments; above
all equally hard on men and horses, perpetually harassed by long
forced marches which led only to more forced marches for weeks
and weeks together. I have only been able to
gather that the men suffered not a little from the 1818.
extraordinary changes of temperature, varying from
28½ to 110 degrees during the march; and that on a few odd
occasions their services were such as to call down the special praise
of the divisional commander. These commendations are the more
valuable, inasmuch as petty, though brilliant actions were very
common in Central India during the early months of 1818.
The first of these in which we hear of the
Seventeenth is an action at Mundapie, wherein four 19th Jan.
squadrons of the regiment surprised the Pindaris,
and cut down 100 of them, with the loss of one private wounded. The
gallantry and rapidity of the attack, by the testimony of the General,
alone saved the Seventeenth from heavier casualties. We hear next
of a detachment of the regiment engaged at the capture of Fort
Pallee; and next, at a more important affair, we find
the whole of the Seventeenth fighting against the 9th Feb.
most renowned of the Pindari leaders, Cheettoo
himself. The action recalls the history of the detachment which
served under Tarleton in Carolina. It appears that
Colonel Stanhope obtained information that a large March.
body of Pindaris was within a forced march of him.
He at once sent off a detachment in pursuit, which after a thirty mile
march came upon the enemy, evidently by surprise, and cut down
200 of them. Cheettoo himself, conspicuous by his dress and black
charger, narrowly escaped capture, and owed his safety only to the
speed of his horse.[11] Captain Adams and Cornet Marriott, who had
already distinguished themselves in the rear-guard action with the
Bheels, were prominent on this occasion, and with the whole
detachment received Sir W. Keir’s thanks in division orders. On the
14th March, when Sir W. Keir’s force was broken up, two officers of
the Seventeenth, Colonel Stanhope and Captain Thompson, were
selected by the General for special approbation and thanks.
After a short rest in cantonments the regiment,
towards the end of the year, resumed the chase of 1819.
the Pindaris. The new year found them marching
into the province of Candeish, excepting a detachment of eighty-six
convalescents who, on their recovery, joined Sir W. Keir’s force in
Cutch. While there it must have experienced the frightful earthquake
of June 1819, which destroyed most of the Cutch towns and killed
thousands of natives. Of the general movements of the Seventeenth
I have been unable to discover anything. It appears that before the
end of the year the regiment was back again in cantonments, and
that it moved up to Cutch again in May following, still engaged at the
old work. Colonel Stanhope was then entrusted
with a force of between five and six thousand men, 1820.
destined, it was said, for the invasion of Scinde.
After six months’ encampment between Bhooj and Mandivie, the
Seventeenth returned to cantonments, and the force generally was
broken up. Colonel Stanhope, with a few troops which he had
retained, reduced the pirate fort of Dwarka, where Cornet Marriott
(now promoted Lieutenant in the 67th Foot) was mortally wounded.
He was acting as Brigade-Major to Colonel Stanhope at the time, the
Seventeenth not being present at the engagement.
Two more years at the Kaira cantonments brought the regiment to
the end of its first term of Indian service. It marched to Cambay in
November, reached Bombay by water in December, and finally
sailed for England on the 9th January 1823. It had landed at
Calcutta, in 1808, 790 men strong; it had lost in fourteen years, from
disease and climatic causes alone, exclusive of men invalided and
killed in action, 26 officers and 796 men; it had received in India 929
men and officers. It went home, after leaving behind it volunteers for
different regiments, under 200 strong of all ranks. Such were the
effects of cholera,—for 1818 was a bad cholera year,—general
ignorance of sanitary matters, and of English clothing in the Indian
climate.
GEORGE, LORD BINGHAM
(EARL OF LUCAN)
Lieutenant-Colonel 17th Light Dragoons (Lancers)
1826–1837
 CHAPTER XI
HOME SERVICE, 1823–1854

On their way home the Seventeenth touched at

St. Helena, where they found an Army List, and 1823.
therein learned for the first time that they had
become a regiment of Lancers. Such were the fruits of the inspection
held at the Queen’s Riding-house in Pimlico six years before. There
also they heard of the death of their Colonel, Oliver Delancey, who
had held that rank since 1795. He had entered the army as a Cornet
in the 14th Dragoons in 1766, and joined the Seventeenth as a
Captain in 1773. He had therefore held a commission in the regiment
for close on fifty years when he died in September 1822. He had
gained some slight reputation as a pamphleteer, and he was for
many years a Member of Parliament, but it was as a soldier and an
officer in the Seventeenth that he had made his mark, in the New
England provinces and Carolina. He was succeeded by Lord R.
Somerset, a distinguished Peninsula officer.
On the 18th May the regiment arrived at Gravesend, and marched
to Chatham, where all the men, with the exception of some fifty,
including non-commissioned officers, were invalided or discharged.
At Chatham they returned their carbines into store; it was nearly sixty
years before they received them again; and, in accordance with
regulation, ceased to shave their upper lips. It must have been rather
a curious time, that last half of 1823, between the growing of the
moustaches, the learning of the lance exercise, and the constant
influx of recruits. In those days it was, as a rule, rare for a regiment
to receive above a dozen recruits in the year; and
though the heavy mortality in India had caused the 1823.
rapid passage of many men into the ranks, yet we
may guess that the fifty old soldiers, many of whom had probably
brought back with them a liver from the East, were not too well
pleased at being flooded with five times their number of recruits. The
spectacle of 250 bristly upper lips must in itself have been somewhat
disquieting. But recruits came in fast. Before the year was out the
regiment numbered 311 men, or little below its reduced
establishment, viz. six troops of 335 men with 253 horses.
The acquisition of the lance, of course, brought with it a certain
change of dress. Lancers being of Polish origin, the Polish fashion in
dress was of course imperative. The shako was discarded for ever,
and a lance cap of the orthodox shape introduced in its place; the
upper part thereof white as at present, and the plume, as ever since
1759, red and white. The officers, besides a huge pair of epaulettes,
wore aiguillettes of silver, and were generally very gorgeously attired.
For we are now, it must be remembered, in the reign of King George
IV., and therefore every uniform is at its zenith of expense and its
nadir of taste. Hence, the first lance caps were so high and heavy
that they were a misery to wear; and the jackets, though in pattern
unchanged, were made so tight that men could hardly cut the sword
exercise.
From this point for the next thirty years the
history of the regiment is merely that of home duty 1824.
in England and Ireland; and as the changes of
quarter are recorded in the Appendix, there is no need to repeat
them here. Let it, however, be noted that the Seventeenth took the
London duty for the first time in 1824, and that in
the following year it found itself once more at 1825.
Chichester, where we hope that it was welcomed
by the Mayor and Corporation.
In 1826, George, Lord Bingham, who had
exchanged into the Seventeenth eleven months 1826.
before, succeeded Colonel Stanhope in command
of the regiment. We shall meet with him again as Lord Lucan twenty-
eight years hence; not without results. Lord Bingham retained the
command until 1837, and brought the regiment up to a very high
pitch of efficiency. He was a keen soldier, who had taken the pains to
study his profession; a very rare thing in those days; and had even
taken the trouble to join the Russian army in the war of 1828–29
against the Turks, in order to gain experience of active service. He
came to the Seventeenth at a time when such a commander was
especially valuable, for the slack period of the British army, perhaps
inevitable after the exertions of the great war, was telling heavily on
the cavalry. The drill was stiff, unpractical, and obsolete—designed,
apparently, to assimilate the movements of cavalry and infantry as
far as possible to each other. It was so useful (this was the pretext
alleged) for officers to be able to handle horse and foot with equal
facility. “It is hardly credible,” writes a critic in 1832, “that the late
regulations did not contain a single formation from column into line,
in which one or more of the squadrons had not to rein back as a
necessary and essential part of the movement.” Even when this was
altered, officers were still posted in the ranks instead of in front of
their troops. At this time, too, and for years after, changes of
formation were always carried out to the halt. A regiment that
required to take ground to the right, wheeled into “columns of troops
to the right,” to the halt; then advanced as far as was necessary,
then halted, and then wheeled into line, once again to the halt. In
many regiments “field cards” were issued, “drawn out in all the pride
of red ink,” with each movement numbered and marked in its regular
succession; and thus the programme for the day of review was
rehearsed for weeks beforehand.
Lord Bingham had not long been in command
before the uniform of the regiment was again 1829.
changed. When the change was made I cannot
with accuracy say; but in 1829 we find the white lapel-like facings on
the jacket done away with, and a plain blue jacket with white collar
and cuffs preferred in its place. The old red and white plume also
disappears at this period for ever, and a black plume is worn in its
stead.
A year later King William IV. came to the throne
and made yet another change. Whether from 1830.
jealousy of the colour of his own service, the Navy,
or from whatever cause, he clothed the whole Army, except the
artillery and riflemen, in scarlet. The Lancer regiments, one and all,
were accordingly arrayed in a double-breasted scarlet jacket with
two rows of buttons and gorgeous embroidery, and blue overalls with
a double scarlet stripe. The plume for the officers was of black
cocktail feathers; and as the cap was very high, and measured ten
inches square at the top, and the plume was sixteen inches long, it
may be guessed that heads were sufficiently covered. Large gold
epaulettes and gold cap-lines with large gold tassels completed the
dress. Those were merry days for the army tailor, if not for the Army.
That there were curses both loud and deep from the service we need
not doubt; but the King at least permitted the Seventeenth to retain
its facings, which was more than he allowed to the Navy. With almost
incredible want of tact the sailor-king altered the time-honoured white
facings of the Navy to scarlet. Happily neither of these changes
lasted long; though the appropriation of gold lace to the regular army,
and the relegation of silver to the auxiliary forces, has continued to
be the rule up to the present day. As a finishing touch to the trials of
the Lancers at this period, a general order compelled the shaving of
the moustaches which had been so carefully cultivated for the
previous eight years.
From 1828 to 1832 the Seventeenth was
quartered in Ireland. In the latter year they 1828–32.
encountered an old Indian enemy in Dublin, namely
Asiatic cholera, by which they lost three men. On crossing to
England in June they were isolated for some months, lest they
should spread the disease from their quarters.
In the following year the regiment was reviewed
by King William IV. in Windsor Park. After the 1833.
review the King invited the officers to dinner, and
reminded them then that he had inspected the Seventeenth half a
century before at New York. It is noteworthy that one officer, who
was still borne on the strength of the regiment, had served with it at
that time. Sir Evan Lloyds’ name still appeared on the roll as senior
lieutenant-colonel; and thus there was at least one man who could
say that he had worn both the scarlet and gold and the scarlet and
silver. Nor must we omit to add that among those who witnessed the
review on that day was the future colonel-in-chief of the regiment,
Prince George of Cambridge, then a boy of fourteen. Thus the lives
of two colonels of the Seventeenth actually bridge over the gulf
between the American War of Independence and the fifty-eighth year
of Queen Victoria. Sir Evan Lloyds’ name remained on the
regimental list from 1785 until 1836, when he was appointed to the
colonelcy of the 7th Dragoon Guards.
The year 1834 witnessed the abolition of a time-
honoured institution, namely, the squadron 1834.
standards. A relic of feudal days, which had kept its
significance and its value up to the first years of the great Civil War,
the troop or squadron standard had long been obsolete. In fact it is
rather surprising that such standards should ever have been issued
to Light Dragoons. Nevertheless they survived to a time within the
memory of living men in all cavalry regiments, and are fortunately
still preserved, together with the blue dress and axes of the farriers
and other historic distinctions, in that walking museum of the British
cavalry, the Household Brigade.
The year 1837 found the headquarters of the
Seventeenth at Coventry for the first time since 1837.
1760, when it had but just sprung into existence.
On this occasion we may hope that it was allowed to remain in the
town during the race meeting. It is somewhat of a coincidence that
the regiment should have opened the two longest reigns on record,
those, namely, of King George III. and Queen Victoria, in the same
quarters. In this same year Lord Bingham retired from the command,
and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pratt, who in his turn
gave place after two years to Lieutenant-Colonel St. Quintin.
In 1840 the Light Dragoons and Lancers
discarded the scarlet which had been imposed 1840.
upon them, and reverted once more to the blue
jackets and the overalls of Oxford mixture, which had been ordained
in 1829. In 1841 the Seventeenth, after a three
years’ stay in Ireland, was moved to Scotland; its 1841.
first visit to North Britain since 1764. Coming down
to Leeds in the following year it received a new
colonel in the person of Prince George of 1842.
Cambridge, the present Colonel-in-Chief of the
regiment and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Under his command
the regiment was employed in aid of the civil power to suppress
serious riots in the manufacturing districts in August 1842. In the
following year, headquarters and three troops of
the regiment being stationed at Birmingham, there 1843.
occurred an accident which, after fifty years,
sounds almost incredible. The men had just left barracks, in watering
order, for the exercise of the horses, and were about to pass under
an arch of what in the infancy of railways was called the “Liverpool
line,” when an engine, with its whistle shrieking loudly, passed over
the arch at a high speed. In an instant every horse swung violently
round, dismounting almost, if not actually, every man, and the whole
hundred of them stampeded wildly back through the streets to their
stables. Many of the men were injured, some so seriously that they
had to be carried back to barracks; and all this came about through
the now familiar whistle of a railway engine. The incident gives us a
momentary glimpse of one feature in the England of half a century
ago.
Next year the regiment took part in the review
held by the Queen in honour of the Czar of Russia. 1844.
Another ten years was to see it fighting that Czar’s
army, and helping to break his heart. The vicissitudes of a regiment’s
life are strange, and the Seventeenth had its share thereof in the
forties: first putting down rioters at Leeds; then marching past the
Czar at Windsor; then rushing across to Ireland to maintain order
there during the abortive insurrection headed by Smith O’Brien; and,
finally, escorting Her Majesty Queen Victoria on her
first entry into the city of Dublin. The year 1850 1848.
brought it back to England once more, where, after
one bout of peace manœuvres at Chobham, it at 1850.
last received orders, for the first time for thirty-four
years, to hold itself in readiness for active service. The warning
came in February 1854, and the scene of action was destined to be
the Crimea.