respects they much resemble, the number is rated at, perhaps, taking all Rohilcund together, not fewer than one hundred thousand; all these men have everything to gain by a change of government, and both Mr. Hawkins and General Vanrenen said they hardly knew what it was that kept them down, considering the extremely inadequate force at present in these provinces. Twice, indeed, since the English have been in possession, their tenure of the country has appeared exceedingly precarious; and once, when Jeswunt Row Holcar advanced to the fords of the Ganges, the whole European population of Bareilly were compelled to take refuge within the walls of the gaols, which they were prepared to defend to the last extremity.

The natural remedy for this state of things would be to find a vent for a part of this superabundant population, by raising fencible regiments, who, as they are really faithful to those whose salt they eat, would sufficiently keep their countrymen in order, and materially relieve the regular troops in some of their most unpleasant duties. They should be cavalry, on something like the footing of our yeomanry corps; they should be commanded by the judges and magistrates, with the aid of an adjutant and major from the regular army; and should be officered, so far as captains and lieutenants, by the most respectable of the native gentry. Such a measure I am the more convinced, the more I see of upper India, would very greatly contribute to the efficiency of the police, and the popularity and permanency of the Company's Government.

A strong impression has lately prevailed in all these provinces, arising I cannot learn how, that the English were preparing to evacuate the country. The people, with whom Mr. Shore has had to deal, have pleaded this to justify their rebellion, or, at least, to account for their temerity.* Every movement of troops

The following circumstance is here alJuded to. A strong body of freebooters having committed various devastations in the neighbourhood of Saharun poor, a detachment under the command of Captain Young was sent against them, which was accompanied by

and officers towards the east has been regarded as a part of the same system of abandonment and abdication; and it is even thought that my travelling, with a certain degree of official splendour, in an opposite direction, as it has attracted considerable notice and curiosity among the inhabitants of these distant regions, has had the effect of giving them more favourable thoughts of the security and permanency of the British Government.

November 16.-I breakfasted and passed the day with Mr. Hawkins at what he calls his country-house,-a large and handsome building very prettily situated, with a farm of four hundred acres round it, little less neat and English-looking than if it had been in Norfolk. His trees are very fine, but the whole view is flat, though here again I was told I ought to see the mountains. In our return to Bareilly, I saw some interesting animals: a fine covey of wild peacocks arose at some little distance; a mungoose or ichnenmon crossed the track; and at Mr. Hawkins's door we found a beautiful and rare animal of the deer kind, which had just been sent him as a present from the hills. It is now about the size of a large fallow-deer, with upright horns, not palmated, but is still young, and is expected to grow so tall and stout as to bear a saddle. It is of a brown colour, mixed with grey and black, and its hair very thick, and as coarse and strong as hogs' bristles. Mr. Hawkins said he thought it would turn the edge of a sword. It is a gentle and tame creature, eating from and licking the hands of any one who caresses it. It is called goonh, and is considered a great rarity in the plains, though among the moun

the Honourable F. J. Shore, who held a civil employment in that district, with his suwarrs.

The banditti fled into the fort of Koonga, a place of considerable strength, which could only be entered by breaching; at the sugges

tion of Mr. Shore a tree was formed into a

battering ram, and directed against the gate, he himself manning the foremost rope. When the breach was sufficiently opened, Captain Young, Mr. Shore, and another officer entered, followed by their men. The contest was severe, from the superiority of the enemy's force, but decisive. Mr. Shore was opposed to several single combatants, and received two sabre wounds in the breast.-ED.

tains it is not uncommon, and sometimes used to carry the children of great men. It seems to be as yet unknown to European naturalists, at least I never heard the name, nor saw any drawing like it; were the horns palmated it would most resemble the elk.

I had been for some time in much doubt as to the expediency, after the many delays which I had experienced in my journey, of proceeding to Almorah, but what I heard during these few days at Bareilly determined me in the affirmative. Though an important station, it has never been visited by any clergyman; and I was very anxious not only to give a Sunday to its secluded flock, but to ascertain what facilities existed for obtaining for them the occasional visits, at least, of a minister of religion, and for eventually spreading the Gospel among these mountaineers, and beyond them into Thibet and Tartary. The former of these objects I have good hopes of being able to accomplish; a residence in these cold and bracing regions may, in many cases, do as much good to chaplains and missionaries, exhausted by the heat of the plains, as a voyage to Europe would do; and good men may be well employed here, who are unequal to exertion in other parts of our Eastern empire. To the second there are many obstacles, not likely, as yet, to be overcome; and in encountering which considerable prudence and moderation will be necessary. But there are facilities and encouragements also, which I did not expect to find; and if God spare me life and opportunities, I yet hope to see Christianity revived, through this channel, in countries where, under a corrupted form indeed, it is said to have once flourished widely through the labours of the Nestorians.* My opinion as to the advantage which might arise from such a visit was fully confirmed; and I found reason to believe that late as the season was, and much as I have to do, the pre

The Nestorians are a sect of ancient Christians, who take their name from Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, who lived in the fifth century, and whose doctrines were spread with much zeal through Syria, Egypt, Persia, India, Tartary, and China.-ED.

sent is likely to be the best, if not the only opportunity for such an excursion. The whole skirt and margin of the mountains are surrounded by a thick forest of nearly two days' journey, with a marshy soil and an atmosphere, during two-thirds of the year, more pestilential than the Sunderbunds, or the grotto Del Cani; a literal "belt of death," which even the natives tremble to go near, and which, during the rains more particularly, the monkeys themselves are said to abandon. After the middle of November this is dry, practicable, and safe; so that the very delays which have thrown my arrival in Rohilcund so late, have given me an opportunity which I may, under the usual circumstances of my visitation, never have again, of penetrating into Kemaoon. Above all, everybody tells me that, except in a case of real necessity, a journey into the Himalaya should never be undertaken by women and children: that camels, elephants, tents, and palanquins, nay, even horses, such as are usually ridden in the plains, must be left behind at Bamoury Ghât, and that nothing but mules, mountainponies, the "yak," or Thibet cow, and active unencumbered foot-passengers, can make their way along the track and beside the precipices which are to be traversed. This, if true, destroys much of the hope which has already reconciled me to leaving many interesting spots unvisited, that I might see them at some future opportunity with my wife and children; and though I have little doubt that these difficulties are greatly exaggerated, still it is plain that without a previous reconnoitering, I could never take them such a journey, in defiance of such assurances. the present excursion, Captain Satchwell, the acting commissary-general of the district, promised me the use of some mules, which Government were sending up to Kemaoon for the public service there. Mr. Boulderson, the collector, offered me the loan of an able and experienced pony; and I received a letter from Mr. Traill, the commissioner for the affairs of the hill countries, offering me every assistance in the last four mountain stages. Under

For

these circumstances I made up my mind not to miss the opportunity, and arranged to send off my tents, &c. on Wednesday evening, being the earliest moment at which my necessary arrangements could be completed.

November 17.-This day was chiefly taken up in packing. My plan was to take my whole caravan to Bamoury at

the first rise of the hills, where the air is good, and supplies are plentiful, and leave them encamped there till my return. Accordingly I sent off in the evening the greater part of my escort, servants, and animals, retaining only ten Sepoys, some bearers, my horse, and the suwarree elephant with his mohout and coolie.

NOVEMBER 18.-I went this morning from Mr. Hawkins's house to a village named Shahee, about sixteen miles, over a country like all which I had yet seen in Rohilcund, level, well cultivated, and studded with groves, but offering nothing either curious or interesting, except the industry with which all the rivers and brooks were dammed up for the purposes of irrigation, and conducted through the numberless little channels and squares of land which form one of the most striking peculiarities of Indian agriculture. The country is almost entirely planted with wheat, with a few fields of Indian corn, and the pulse called dâl. I looked out vainly all the morning for the mountains, which, at the distance of fifty miles, for the nearest range is no further, ought certainly now to be within sight. All I saw, however, was a heavy line of black clouds, in the direction in which I knew them to be; and when this gradually melted before the rising sun, it was succeeded by a grey autumnal haze, through which nothing was distinguishable.

At Shahee I found Mr. Boulderson, the collector of the district, encamped, in the discharge of his annual duty of surveying the country, inspecting and forwarding the work of irrigation, and settling with the Zemindars for their taxes. His tent, or rather his establishment of tents, was extremely large and handsome. That in which he himself lived was as spacious as those which were first sent me from Cawnpoor, with glass doors, a stove, and a canvas enclo

sure at one end, which, in Calcutta, would have passed for a small compound. He had a similar enclosure at some little distance, adjoining his servants' tent, for cooking; and, on the whole, my tent, a regulation field-officer's, and my whole establishment, which I had till now thought very considerable for a single man, looked poor and paltry in comparison. For such a journey as mine, however, I certainly would not exchange with him; and the truth is, that to persons in his situation, who have no occasion to go far from home, or to make long marches, these luxuries are less cumbersome than they would be to me; while, on the other hand, they pass so much of their time in the fields, that a large and comfortable tent is to the full as necessary for them as a bungalow. Mr. Boulderson had goodnaturedly waited two days at Shahee to give me time to overtake him, and now offered to accompany me to the foot of the hills at least, if not the first stage amongst them. In the passage of the forest, with which he is well acquainted, he says he expects to be of service to me. He strongly recommends our pushing on through the forest in a single march. The distance, he allows, is too great, being twenty-six miles; but he regards it as a less evil to ourselves, our attendants, and animals, than remaining a day and night at Tandah, the intermediate station, a spot at which no season of the year can be considered as quite safe either from fever or tigers. Against the former of these dangers I