business in India. The natives have no idea of honour or truthfulness, and no regard for character-two defects which have hitherto stood very much in their way. They are, however, daily occupying a position of increasing importance in the commercial world of India.

There are a large number of Americans in Calcutta, and other parts of India, engaged in commercial and other pursuits. They live on terms of perfect friendship and equality with the English, and it would be difficult to find a pleasanter or more hospitable set of men. During the recent disturbances in Bengal, the American residents in Calcutta formed themselves into a military body and offered their services to the Governor-General, which were most gratefully accepted by his lordship. As long as alarm continued, they shared the duty of their English friends, and kept with them alternate watch and watch.

Having seen Calcutta pretty thoroughly, I began my preparations for a trip up-country-a plan which I had formed in China, but as to the feasibility of which I had at first entertained great doubts. Until within a few years there were no great roads opened in India, but since the completion of the Grand Trunk Road, which is fifteen hundred miles in length, from Calcutta to Peshawur, the extreme frontier station in the north-west, travelling has become comparatively rapid and easy. Under the old native rule, the roads were very few and bad. The only available conveyance was the palkee or palanquin, which continued to be employed by Europeans down to quite recent times, and is still used on all the lines of travel except the Trunk Road. Nothing can be more irksome than travelling in a palanquin, the confinement of which is intolerable during the heat of the day, so that the traveller must rest all day, and travel only at night for the greater part of the year. The only other way of travelling in old times was what is called "marching," much slower, but infinitely pleasanter than the palkee. Before the establishment of dâkbungalows by government, "marching" was the only way of making any considerable journey, and as it is still much employed when a whole family is on the move together, and by

the judges and other government officers in their circuits, I will describe the "march" of one of the officials as a specimen of this mode of locomotion. Every official in India has a number of tents, elephants, camels, &c., proportionate to the size of his establishment, always on hand. A day or two before he starts on his circuit, he informs his head servant of his intention, who makes all the necessary preparations. On the morning of the day the magistrate and his family start on elephants at four in the morning, but as soon as it becomes light enough to see the road, they dismount and continue the journey, either on horseback or in a carriage, where the road permits. By half-past seven they have arrived at their restingplace for the day, and the sun is now so hot that they are glad to take shelter in a small "breakfast-tent," which they find ready pitched, where breakfast is served up by the servants, who have preceded them on foot. Meanwhile the house they have left has been entirely stripped. Every article, however bulky, of utility or comfort, has been removed, and brought on by camels or on ox-carts, so that by the time breakfast is finished, and a cheroot or hookah has been smoked, the large tents, which answer in number and size to the rooms of the house, have been furnished, and the travellers have as comfortable a residence for the day as that which they have left. The encampment is generally set up in a tôp or grove, one of which is commonly to be found near the outskirts of every considerable native village. These tôps are generally composed of mango trees, and offer a sufficient shade, even to the traveller who cannot afford the luxury of a tent.

Both these modes of travelling, which, until within a few years, furnished the only means of proceeding up-country, were so slow, that had there been no other conveyances, I should have been obliged to give up my trip; as the steamboats up the Ganges are much slower than even the palanquin, and are, moreover, very uncertain in the length of their passages.

Fortunately, however, I found that companies had been established to run regular carriages along the whole extent of

the Grand Trunk Road, or at least, so far as the bridges are completed. Transit by these conveyances I found to be rapid, comfortable, and economical; and the facilities which they offered determined me to go up-country, at least, as far as Delhi.

There is yet one other way of travelling in India, to which I might have had recourse. I mean, the mail-cart, which is allowed to carry one traveller. These mail-carts are a square box, mounted on two wheels, and look very like the English dog-cart. They go along at ten or twelve miles an hour, stopping only to change horses; and for a few minutes, at each post-station. The seat is very hard, there is seldom anything in the way of a shade, only fifteen pounds of baggage can be carried, there is no rest, without waiting over a day; and, what is worst of all, the carts are always breaking down from the imperfection of their construction, the speed at which they are driven, and the viciousness of the post-horses. Altogether, I suppose it is the most uncomfortable mode of travelling yet discovered. Few people ever go by it, unless they are very much pressed for time. As for myself, I think it very unlikely that I should have had the pluck to face the fatigue, hunger, and exposure; and I should probably never have visited the capital of the Moguls, if the mail-cart had been the only conveyance within my reach.

CHAPTER XII.

TO BENARES.

Railway to Raneegunj-Indian Railways-Coal-A Dâk-Gárrhee─Dâk Companies-The Rights of Horses-Leopards and Jackals-Dak-Bungalows-Scenery-Comparison between Natives of India and China-Land-Tenure-Nullahs-People on the Road-Sahussuram-Two fine Tombs-A Dancing Cow-The village Zěmindar"Taking Leave”—Unsympathetic Character of Natives-Country between Sahussuram and Benares-Sĕroor.

I LEFT Calcutta on the evening of the first of November, 1856. Crossing the Hoogly to Howrah, I took the railway to Raneegunj, a distance of 120 miles, which we accomplished in nine and a half hours. It was dark when we started, and before morning, we had passed the limits of lower Bengal. I have since regretted not taking a train by day, as the country which this road traverses is one of the few parts of India where much cultivation or natural luxuriance of vegetation is to be seen. The carriages were very comfortable, and divided into compartments, on the European plan. I enjoyed a comfortable night's rest, the seats being arranged to draw out, and form a bed.

This railway is to extend to Delhi, and probably in time, to some place on the Indus, as Mooltan. It is to connect at Agra with a proposed road to Bombay, and is one of a great net-work of railways projected to connect all the important points in India. The road had been in construction twelve years, when I was there, and only these 120 miles were completed. Another section was nearly finished, but has been since that time much injured by the mutineers. In the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras, not 200 miles of road altogether had been completed. It is now seen that it was a great error of Government, not to have pushed forward more

rapidly the completion of these great highways, since the facility of transporting troops on them would have done much for the prevention or suppression of the recent mutiny. Independently of the use of the railways in a military point of view, they would no doubt have been eminently successful financially, as the navigation of the Ganges is very dangerous, and precarious as regards time; and the transportation of merchandize on camels or ox-carts by the Grand Trunk Road, could never compete with a railway in time or expense. These railroads were the first great public work that the Government of India intrusted to private enterprize, and it was supposed that the advantages presented by the scheme were so great, that private capital would be readily furnished for their completion, especially as Government guaranteed the stockholders a dividend of five per cent. It was found, however, that the rich natives, from whom much of the money was expected, were very backward in contributing to an enterprize of a kind in which they had previously had no experience, and from which any immediate return beyond the five per cent. guaranteed, was doubtful. The idea of any great public work being accomplished by private capital, is something quite opposed to a native's habits of thought—if he has any spare money, he hesitates about investing it permanently in land, or any other way, preferring to retain it in his own hands, and loan it to individuals on short time, and at a high rate of interest. In India, twelve per cent. a year can always be obtained, with the best security, and where the money is loaned to the poor ryuts by the month, at compound interest, and in sums of a few rupees, as is generally the practice of native bankers, the rate amounts to six or seven per cent. a month.

Raneegunj, the present terminus of the railway, is situated at the foot of the Rajmahal hills, a low, irregular range, bounding lower Bengal on the west. It has but few European residents, and they are all connected with the railway, dak companies, or coal mines. The coal obtained is of excellent quality, it is said, and if so, will supply a great want, as the Labuan coal is far from good.