charnel-house was covered with blood, and long tresses of hair, shreds of dresses, and children's shoes and playthings, lay scattered around. On the walls they read the writings of the murdered victims, and the pillars were defaced with the marks of bullets and sabre strokes. On following the trail of blood to the well, they found the mangled remains of all that martyred company.

Turning away from this ghastly sight, the soldiers only asked to meet face to face the perpetrators of these horrible atrocities. But the Sepoys, cowardly as they were cruel, fled at the approach of the English; and those who were taken had to suffer for the whole. All the rebel Sepoys and troopers who were captured, were collectively tried by court martial and hanged."

But Nana Sahib, the leader in this terrible massacre, escaped justice; nor has the most vigilant search on the part of the Government been able yet to discover him.

The tragedy at Cawnpore gave a spirit of bitterness to both parties in the strife; and subsequently when the English forces captured Delhi, through the cannon-battered Cashmere Gate, the Sepoys were slaughtered unmercifully. While visiting Delhi, I was told that there was scarcely a

tree in the neighborhood of the city, but what, after the siege, had a rebel swinging to one of its branches.

At Lucknow also, the capital of Oude, where the most heartrending scenes were enacted, the British troops, on coming to the relief of their besieged comrades in the city, captured a walled enclosure, within which they found two thousand Sepoys, and they killed every man!

For one hundred and fifty miles between Cawnpore and Agra, we passed through the most abundant game country I ever saw. The land was flat and dry, and sprinkled here and there with trees, so that one could see a considerable distance, as when travelling on the prairies at home. The game abounded along the line of the railway more than elsewhere, attracted partly by the water in ditches near the track, and partly by the Ganges Canal, which has its terminus at Cawnpore, and comes at one point close to the railway. Its waters are fresh and cool, coming as they do four hundred miles from the melting snows and glaciers of the Himalayas; and its banks are ever fringed with verdure, even in the hot season.

There were flocks of adjutant birds and storks, walking back and forth with stately mien, and bob

bing their great bills to us in friendly recognition. Peacocks with flowing tails were perched on neighboring trees, or sat on some raised knoll of earth, sunning their brilliant feathers. Countless numbers of red and spotted deer stood gazing at us from the plains; sometimes they were in single pairs, but usually they were congregated in herds of two or three dozen, and guarded by sleek-looking bucks with big antlers. Jackals and wild hares darted here and there among the bushes by the roadside; and small birds of every kind and color perched on the telegraph poles. The Indian ostrich, or sehru, was more abundant than anything else on the plains; it is tall, with long slender neck, and sloping body of grayish-white color. These birds are very pretty, and are always seen in pairs.

Gypsies were also seen along the road, dwelling in temporary straw huts and tending flocks of cattle and goats. Wooded hills were seen in the distance, where bears and larger animals were to be found, including a wild cow with sharp horns, which is much hunted.

From the car window an occasional glimpse could be caught of the Grand Trunk Road, built in former years by the East Indian Company, and itself a marvel of enterprise and engineering; it

extends all the way from Calcutta to Lahore, a distance of more than twelve hundred miles. It is finely graded, and shaded most of the way by a double line of splendid old trees. There are other trunk roads which join with this, and previous to the construction of the railway, all the traffic and travel of the country passed over roads such as these. The old style of journeying could still be seen illustrated, by watching the queer-shaped covered carts, drawn by camels, plodding their way along the road, or by lines of donkeys carrying goods.

At Toondla Junction I changed cars for Agra; and forty minutes more brought me in view of the city's hazy outlines, and I found myself gazing down the river towards the dome and minarets of that matchless marvel of architectural beauty, the Taj-Mahal, whose misty form loomed up in the distance like an enchanted vision.

CHAPTER VIII.

AGRA, AND THE TAJ MAHAL.

THE "Dak-Bungalow" is one of the peculiar institutions of India, provided by the English Government for travellers, in places where hotel faciliities are wanting. As I had never tried the "Dak," I thought I would do so at Agra; and upon leaving the train, I took a carriage and drove four miles to the Bungalow. It was a one-story building, with a large thatched roof, and stood in the midst of a broad open space with trees about it. As I rode up, ten elephants were picketed under the shade of the trees trying to keep cool, and twisting their trunks and tails in a very vigorous manner. Any traveller may claim accommodations at the Dak-Bungalow for twenty-four hours, but if the building is crowded, he must at the end of that time give place to others. The rates are regulated by fixed tariff, and are very reasonable. At the season in which I travelled, I usually had the "daks" to myself, and the hotels also, for that matter; of the two I rather preferred the hotels when they could be had.

At the Agra "dak" every attention was paid