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ever, there are many sanctuaries erected to the different gods, the most of them being open canopies or domes, resting on pillars, and none above twenty feet in height. The idols are generally smeared with red paint, a token that they have recently been worshipped. There were multitudes of beggars, some of whom asked for alms in the name of Vishnu, and others in the name of Allah, the latter being Mussulmen. In one street we passed a house where the piercing shrieks of a fife and the dreadful clatter of a drum announced a marriage festival, and not far off, two women, seated in front of a door, howled incessant lamentation for a corpse within: Destruction and Reproduction, both the attributes of the god Shiva, in whose name a beggar at that very instant demanded charity.

There is a picturesque orchard of mango and date trees on the eastern side of the town, but the soil is too thin on the uplands around it to support much vegetation. The garden of the Resident is artificially made. His residence, which I visited, is a stately stone mansion, with large and lofty rooms, furnished in superb style. He maintains a great state, which he may well do on a salary of £4,000 a year, in a country where labor and the ordinary necessaries of life cost next to nothing. The wages of a field-laborer here are two annas (six cents) a day, he finding his own food. Women receive one and a half annas, and boys one anna daily. House servants are better paid, as they are obliged to wear rather more garments, but, as each has his particular business, eight or ten are required to do the work of a small family.

I found the weather unpleasantly cold, coming from the

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latitude of Bombay. During the nights the temperature was so low that thin cakse of ice frequently formed on shallow pools. From the supplies thus collected, the English residents are furnished with ice during a part of the hot season.

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The Mail-Cart--Setting out from Indore-Night Travel-Stupidity of the NativesMussulmen-Nearly an Accident-Scenery of the Road-A Polite EnglishmanMiseries of the Journey-A Tiger Party-Budjrungurh-Goonah-A Free Use of Hospitality-The Thugs and Robbers-Second Halt-Miss Burroughs-Going OnThe Plain of Hindostan-Approach to Agra-A Landmark.

At sunset on the 11th of January, I took leave of my hospitable hosts at Indore, and again ventured upon unknown seas. I had taken passage for Agra in the mail-cart, a vehicle precisely resembling the banghy cart, but with the advantage of greater speed. The distance to be travelled was 380 miles, and the fare 50 rupees, which is considered very cheap in India, but would be very dear in any other country. The average rate of speed is from eight to nine miles an hour, so that the mail reaches Agra in a little more than two days from Indore; but as few mortal frames would be equal to such work, travellers are allowed to make the journey in several stages, by stopping at any of the dawk bungalows on the road and waiting for the next day's mail.

The mail cart is propelled by two horses, one of which is an outrigger. This facilitates the ascent of slight elevations.

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in the road, except when the two animals choose to move in different directions, which is by no means a rare occurrence. However, I found that I could retain my position on the box without holding fast with both hands, and this was a great improvement on the banghy cart. We set off at a full gallop, over a hard, well beaten road, and through a rolling, open country. The twilight died away and the young moon went down before we reached Dewas, twenty-four miles from Indore, and thenceforth we galloped by starlight. Ever the same rolling upland, thinly inhabited and scantily cultivated; broad belts of jungle, more dreary and stunted than in the regions south of the Nerbudda, and crossed by frequent abrupt nullas. Occasionally we passed low ranges of stony hills, where the rate of our speed caused a most intolerable jolting. The native villages, slumbering under the broad arms of peepul and banyan trees, were picturesque enough in the gloom, which hid their dirt and deformity, while the grotesque cones of their temples were the only objects that showed with any distinctness. The silent driver always blew a discordant blast on his horn while passing through these villages, and on approaching the post-stations, which are from five to seven miles apart. We always found a few sleepy grooms in waiting with the fresh horses, which were slowly harnessed to our cart, and after going through their exercise of backing and rearing, sprang forward with a galvanic start, and an impetus which did not cease until we rew up at the next post.

Thus the night wore away. watching the Great Bear, as he

My only amusement was in

slowly wheeled around the

pole-star, for in my previous watches I had learned to

measure the nours of the night by his progress. The driver now and then made a remark, very profound, no doubt, if I had understood it. I always assented, to avoid discussion, which would have been embarrassing, and if he addressed a question to me, invariably answered: "I don't know." There is no use in telling these people that you don't understand their language, for they jabber away to you just the same as ever. It is much better to make a short and despotic use of the few words you know, and restrict the conversation to those remarks which are indispensable. As we proceeded northward, I noticed that Arabic words were frequently used. The form of salutation was the usual "salaam aleikoom" of the East, and the driver exclaimed, each time that he mounted the cart: "in the name of the most merciful God." In addition to this, he frequently touched the rim of the wheel and his forehead alternately several times with his fore-finger-probably as a charm to prevent accidents, and I devoutly hoped it might be efficacious, for we had no other safeguard. Had the axle snapped, as in the case of the banghy-cart, I should not have gotten off so easily.

When morning came, there was so little change in the features of the landscape that I could have believed myself still in sight of Indore, and yet we had made more than a hundred miles during the night. I was quite benumbed from the coldness of the air, and began to feel the effects of the jolts I had undergone. Soon after sunrise the driver discovered that one of the linch-pins was broken off, so that the wheel kept its place from mere force of habit. He asked me whether he should proceed, but as I knew he only put the question for form's sake, since the mail could not be detained,

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