MORADABAD.

429 Being a brahmin he could only receive nourishment, and particularly water, from one of his own caste, and there was no such person attached to the hospital. He was quite sensible, but very feverish, and seemed to think himself left to die. I encouraged him as well as I could, and wrote a note to Mr. Simms, begging him to get a brahmin for him, which he might easily do from the regiment quartered in the place. The poor camel-driver thought himself better, his fever having intermitted. The hospital is a very comfortable one for this climate, a large thatched bungalow, all in one room like a barn, with sufficient air, and very well verandahed round. The beds were clean and comfortable, and there seemed no want of any thing, but that peculiar attendance which the prejudices of the Hindoos require, and which, I was given to understand, would on my application be immediately supplied.

Mr. Parry Okeden called on me in the course of the day. He considered the banditti, whom they had been pursuing, as completely dispersed. They followed them a day or two, and once were very near surprising them in their bivouac, where they found the embers still hot, and the pitchers for cooking not all empty. They had issued promises of reward for the apprehension of the ringleaders, but did not expect much result from the

measure.

I had an opportunity here of seeing the way in which ice is made all over upper India. A number of broad and very shallow earthen pans are placed on a layer of dry straw, and filled with water. In the night, even the small degree of frost which is felt here, is sufficient to cover these with a thin coat of ice, which is carefully collected and packed up. The quantity produced must be, however, very small, and the process an expensive one. Vines seem to thrive well here, but they do not prune them close enough. They are very beautiful objects, but a vine to be productive should be trimmed till it is downright ugly. Here the climate might answer very well. In Kemaoon it does not; the rains setting in so early that the fruit has not time to ripen. On the whole, I am rather struck with the apparent similarity in many points of productions, scenery, &c. of Rohilcund with Bengal. The climate is certainly different, yet in other respects they resemble each other more than any parts of India which I have yet visited. Rohilcund, however, in every thing but rivers has much the advantage.

I saw frequently, during the last week, the nest of the treewasp, about the size of, and nearly similar in shape to those of the English, but hanging like large withered fruit from the branches of trees. I have not seen any of the insects themselves, at least to distinguish them, nor have I been able to learn whether,

and in what respects, they differ from their brethren who hive in banks and hollow places.

Like almost all the nobility of India, the Nawâb of Rampoor is a mere drunkard and voluptuary. He had, lately, a very clever managing_steward, under whom his little territory prospered greatly. But, like the king of Oude, he has now got rid of him, and his Jaghire is pretty much administered according to the ancient Indian maxim:

"The good old rule, the simple plan,

That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can!"

Rampoor is described as a large town, chiefly remarkable for the sort of fortification which surrounds it. This is a high thick hedge, or rather plantation of bamboos, set as close to each other as possible, and faced on the outside by a formidable underwood of cactus and bâbool. The only places of entrance are narrow paths defended by strong wooden barriers, and the defence is one which, against irregular troops, is said to be extremely efficient, since neither cavalry nor infantry can be brought up to act against an enemy whom they cannot see, but who fire at them from between the stems of the bamboos, under cover of the thorny and almost impenetrable bushes without.

December 13.-This morning we left Moradabad, and marched ten short coss, about sixteen miles, to Tyleepoor, a paltry little village, at a considerable distance from the necessary supplies, but which was the best halting place within our reach: that laid down in Paton's route being above twenty miles, a distance too great to march without some real necessity. There is a good deal of waste land between Moradabad and Tyleepoor, and the soil seems poor and barren. There are also some marshy pools, and we forded a small river.

I had another sepoy very feverish to-day, and suspect that he had been ill some time, and had concealed it for fear of the hospital. I know not whether fortunately or otherwise, they have acquired a marvellous opinion of my medical skill. This renders them very willing to take my remedies, but it may lead them to trust to me too far. I gave this man a dose of calomel and jalap, being afraid of James's powder, as it was near night, and he had to march next day.

I read Hindoostanee prayers this evening with Abdullah and the new catechumen, Jaffier Beg, who has rather risen in my favourable opinion. He has evidently taken a good deal of pains in studying the four Gospels, the only Christian books which he has yet seen; and his questions were very numerous. He joined in the Lord's Prayer with much seeming devotion, and said he

understood the other prayers which I read. I am, however, vexed more and more at the little ground which I gain in the language; and at the little time which I have for improving myself. Yet the one is the consequence of the other; and for the last I have no remedy, now that I have neither secretary nor assistant, and have so much of my day taken up by travelling and the necessary preparations for travelling. Lushington and Archdeacon Corrie were considerable helps to me in writing, &c. but I do not know that their presence at all forwarded my progress in Hindoostanee.

December 14.-This day's march was ten coss, to a small and poor village named Muhaisna; where we had some difficulty in obtaining supplies, and found the ryuts disposed to grumble and be uncivil. One of the men, who was fiercest and loudest, was a remarkable tall and fine-looking young man, with a silver bracelet of a singular form on his arm, which struck me from its classical character, being two serpents twined together. They complained that hay had been taken without paying for it, which did not appear to have been the case; and at last the principal farmer of the village owned that their outcries were from fear of what would be taken, rather than from any mischief which my people had already done.

In our way we passed through the outskirts of Amroah, a considerable town, with some neat mosques and extensive gardens, with walls and summer-houses, and surrounded with large plantations of sugar and cotton. The generality of the country, however, is poor, sterile, and ill inhabited, with more waste land than is usual in India. The sown land, too, appeared suffering exceedingly from drought, which, indeed, is the case with all Rohilcund.

This station of Muhaisna was a bad one in another respect. The only grove of trees was on a broken piece of ground intersected with gullies, and so overgrown with weeds that the tents could not be pitched there; and I was obliged to encamp on the plain near two fine peepul-trees, which, however, were by no means sufficient for the comfort of the people, and the numerous animals of our cofila. The groves of fruit-trees are the surest marks, I think, of prosperity about an Indian village; and in this part of Rohilcund their rarity, and, generally speaking, their insignificant size, show that the land is either naturally almost irreclaimable, or that, lying near the Ganges, and the frontier exposed to the usual stream of invasion, the country has not recovered the horrors of that time, when the Maharatta was their near and triumphant neighbour. A strong proof of the recollection which the calamities of that time has left behind is, that when the people of Bareilly were informed not long since that the money raised by

internal duties was to be laid out for the improvement of their town, they expressed a general wish that their walls might be repaired. On asking "what enemies they feared?" they replied that all was quiet at the moment, but they could not tell but the Maharattas might one day return.

I had more applications to-day for medicine, and, putting wor rying in place of beating, found I was in as fair a way to be forced into considering myself an able physician as Sgagnarelle, in the Médecin malgré lui. The sepoy declared himself quite well; which emboldened one of his comrades to complain of being feverish; and a ryut, hearing the application, came forward also to beg something for sore eyes. He was not, however, content with my medical aid, for immediately afterwards he said in a low tone that a man had been killed in the village of which he was thannadar, and he should get into trouble unless I stood his friend!

The weather was so cool and cloudy that I hoped rain was coming; I did not indeed wish for a decided fall before I got into Meerut, yet even this I would have gladly borne, to see the poor dry clods moist and hopeful.

December 15.-This morning we came, a march of eight coss, to a village named Tighree. Half-way we passed another village named Gujrowlie, with a tolerable serai, where one of my horses had been sent on before to give me the advantage of a change, as usual in Indian travelling. The country thus far was cultivated, not well, nor fully, but still there were marks of cultivation, though every thing was grievously parched for want of rain. The remainder of the distance lay through a desolate tract, once evidently well inhabited, as was apparent by the few palm-trees scattered up and down, but now, and probably for many years, waste and overgrown with high grass-jungle.

Tighree itself is a poor place, a small village, with a few patches of corn round it, in the midst of the wilderness, without any tree, except one or two scattered palms, and scarcely space enough between the young wheat and the jungle to admit of our encampment. The day was hot, and the people and animals suffered a good deal for want of shade, added to which, all our supplies were to come from Gurmukteser, a distance of three coss, so that it was almost noon before either grass for the horses, or fuel or food for the men arrived, and much later before the poor camels and elephants got their boughs. The jemautdar, however, and tusseldar of Gurmukteser, were civil, and, at length, furnished us with every thing, except that the kid which they sent had the rot and was uneatable. There was no fire-wood in the neighbourhood, but the tusseldar sent a cart-load of dung-cakes, and would take no repayment, saying it was no more than dustoor. There was little to tempt me out here, and it was more from dustoor,

than any thing else, that I walked in the evening to see the village, which I found neat, though small and poor. The cottages in Upper India have generally the mud walls of their front whitewashed, and a rude painting of flowers or some figures of men, animals, or divinities, painted on each side of their doors, a circumstance which I never remarked in Bengal or Bahar, and which has a lively and agreeable effect. They have also, generally, on one side of this door, a small platform of clay beaten hard, raised about a foot and swept very clean, on which the family usually sit in the cool of the day, and where at such times their spinning and other household works are carried on.

The jemautdar of Gurmukteser, who accompanied me in this walk, said that the Ganges, at present, was distant about two coss; but that during the rains it came up close to this village. He said that Tighree and the jungles round it were celebrated as hunting-ground all over this part of India; that there was great abundance of wild hogs, deer, and all other animals except elephants. These require a deeper forest and large trees, both for shelter and nourishment. I asked if there were many tigers. He said plenty; but that there was a very wonderful thing in the neighbourhood; that there were two Hindoo Yogis, who lived in different cells in the wilderness, about two coss from the village, in opposite directions, of whom the one was never hurt by the tigers though living in the neighbourhood where they most abounded, and where no other man would pass a night for half Rohilcund; while, to the other, a tiger actually came every night and licked his hands, and fondled and lay by him for hours. At first, from my imperfect knowledge of the language, I fancied it was the same sort of story which I had heard concerning the saint's tomb at Sicligully; but on asking if it was where the Yogi was buried, he explained himself very clearly, that the saint was still alive, that he was very old, and went quite naked, with a long white beard and hair,-that his dwelling was a little hut among the long grass, not far from the road side, in the way to Gurmukteser, and that there were people who had been there at night and seen him and his tiger together. He added that he lived by charity, but never asked for any thing except he was actually hungry, which was seldom the case, as, from his high reputation, he was generally supplied. I asked the jemautdar if he had seen the tiger. He answered "No, because he had never been there at night, but that there was no doubt of the fact." I asked, "If I were to go there now, (it was growing dusk,) should I see him?" He answered that I might have done so, if the holy man had been at home, but that he had gone the day before to Amroah, and that I must have passed him on the road. In fact, the saees who had been sent on to Gujrowlie, said that he had VOL. I.-55