the tent-pegs by the impatient classies, unkennelled me by daybreak, and I had a pleasant gallop over a well-cultivated country to the village of Bekunpore, taking, on the road, a last look at the lofty mosques of the once haughty, now humbled Delhi. The plain over which I passed swarmed with deer, antelope, hares, and foxes. In the afternoon we had some excellent coursing with English greyhounds. The hares of India are small, but very stanch, and have one more chance of escape than their brethren in Europe, namely, by running to ground. The foxes are also diminutive and very beautiful. Before a pack of hounds they do not live long, as they are not strong enough to run straight--but they afford excellent sport with the greyhounds, turning much sharper than the hare.

The following day, on the road to Boor-Barore, we passed the picturesque ruins of an ancient and extensive serai; objects which are much more frequently met with in he Mussulman States than in those provinces which have remained subject to Hindoo rule. Few monuments of the munificence or taste of the latter people are now to be seen, though it is difficult to say whether they ever existed, or whether they have not been defaced and destroyed by the Mohammedan conquerors of the soil.

Nov. 25th.-Head-quarters arrived at Meerut, which I have already named as the most considerable British station in the northern provinces: and the Commander-inChief had scarcely reached the camp, ere he received invitations to dine with her Highness the Begum Sumroo, and to a ball given by the General of Division, Sir J. Nicolls. I have already made mention of the Begum, on the occasion of our visit to her at her Jaghire of Sirdhana: but I believe I have not yet described her; and as her Highness is, beyond dispute, one of the most extraordinary characters in India, I cannot let her pass without a sketch.

Her Meerut residence is at a short distance from the cantonments. As we entered her gates, his Excellency was

* Tent-pitchers,

N

received with presented arms by a heterogeneous bodyguard drawn up along the approach, and on the steps of the portico, by the old lady herself. In person she is very short, and rather einbonpoint: her complexion is unusually fair, her features large and prominent, and their expression roguish and astute. Her costume consisted of a short full petticoat, displaying a good deal of her keemcab trousers, from under which peeped a very tiny pair of embroidered slippers. Of her hands, arms, and feet the octogenarian beauty is still justly proud. She wore on her head a plain snug turban of Cashmere, over which a shawl was thrown, enveloping her cheeks, throat, and shoulders; and from the midst of its folds her little grey eyes peered forth with a lynx-like acuteness. During the repast, which was served in the European style, the old lady smoked a very splendid hookah, a similar one being offered to his Excellency. The party consisted of about 60 persons, and the Begum, who considers herself now on an equality with the lords of the creation, was the only lady at table. Indeed, if the absence of all the softer qualities, and the possession of the most fiery courage, stubbornness of purpose, and almost unexampled cruelty can give her a claim to be numbered among the hardier sex, her right to virility will scarcely be disputed. The history of her life, if properly known, would (according to Colonel Skinner, and others who have had opportunities of hearing of and witnessing her exploits) form a series of scenes, such as, perhaps, no other female could have gone through.

The above-mentioned officer has often, during his service with the Mahrattas, seen her, then a beautiful young woman, leading on her troops to the attack in person, and displaying, in the midst of carnage, the greatest intrepidity and presence of mind. The Begum has been twice married, and both her husbands were Europeans. Her appellation of "Sumroo" is a corruption of the French word Sombre, the nom de guerre of her first lord, Remaud, who bought her when a young and handsome dancing-girl, married, and converted her to the Roman Catholic religion. Her second

husband, named Le Vassu, was an independent, roving adventurer-a sort of land pirate; became powerful in his own right, if right it can be called, and possessed a considerable army. It is of this man that the following anecdote is related, which is "wondrous strange-if it be true :" it was the closing scene of his life, and the first in which our heroine played any very distinguished part. I have said that her husband had become possessed of wealth, power, and a numerous army; of these his ambitious wife coveted the undivided possession, and she thus accomplished her purpose.

A mutinous disposition, on the subject of pay, having manifested itself among Le Vassu's body-guard, the Begum, then about 25, exaggerated the danger to her husband, and got intelligence conveyed to him that the rebels had formed a plan to seize and confine him, and to dishonour his wife. They consequently arranged to escape together from the fury of the soldiery, and at night started secretly from their palace in palankeens, with only a few devoted guards and attendants. The whole of the following scene was projected by the ambitious and bloody-minded lady. Towards morning the attendants, in great alarm, announced that they were pursued; and our heroine, in well-feigned despair, vowed that, if their escort was overcome and the palankeens stopped, she would stab herself to the heart. The devoted husband, as she expected, swore he would not survive her. Soon after the pretended rebels came up, and, after a short skirmish, drove back the attendants and forced the bearers to put down the palankeens. At this instant Le Vassu heard a scream, and his wife's female slave rushed up to him bearing a shawl drenched in blood, and exclaiming that her mistress had stabbed herself to death. The husband, true to his vow, instantly seized a pistol and blew out his own brains. No sooner did the wily lady hear the welcome report than she started from her palankeen, and, for the first time exposing herself to the gaze of men, claimed homage from the soldiery. This her beauty and promises of speedy payment of arrears soon ob

tained for her; and she assumed, in due form, the reins of government.

Well knowing, however, that so inconsiderable a state as hers could not exist long in those troublesome times without some formidable ally, she prudently threw herself under the protection of the Company, who confirmed her in the possession, with the condition that it should revert to the English government after her death. The old lady seems disposed to make the most of her life-lease. Her revenue is, I believe, 100,000l. sterling, and she has amassed considerable treasures. I never heard how her other husband was disposed of, but we will, in charity, suppose that he died a natural death. His tomb is at Agra.

During her long life many acts of inhuman cruelty towards her dependants have transpired, one of which is thus narrated :-The Begum, having discovered a slave-girl in an intrigue, condemned her to be buried alive. This cruel sentence was carried into execution; and the fate of the beautiful victim having excited strong feelings of compassion, the old tigress, to preclude all chance of a rescue, ordered her carpet to be spread over the vault, and smoked her hookah and slept on the spot, thus making assurance doubly sure. It may be from this anecdote that the something similar act of barbarity of Madame Montreville, in the 'Surgeon's Daughter,' 'Chronicles of the Canongate,” is taken.

The Begum Sumroo, at the epoch of the last siege of Bhurtpore, followed our army and pitched her tents in the neighbourhood of the Head-quarters camp. The martial old Amazon was most eager to share our glory (and prizemoney), and harassed the Commander-in-Chief with daily importunity that she might be permitted to support the British army with her handful of vagabond retainers—a reinforcement which was politely declined.

Her Highness afterwards protested a great friendship for his Lordship, sent him her portrait, and insisted upon a return of the compliment. The picture, a work of a native artist who resides at Meerut, and has made respectable pro

gress in the art, was an exceeding good likeness; and my fingers always itched to transform her hookah snake into a broom, with which adjunct the old dame would have made no bad representative of Mother Shipton.

At the dinner the Begum seemed in excellent humour, and bandied jokes and compliments with his Excellency through the medium of an interpreter; but towards the conclusion of the repast she seemed quite worn out; a faint, sickly smile alone indicating that she understood what was said to her.

The feast being ended, an European officer in her service walked round the table and invested each of the guests with a long massive necklace of tinsel.

The two following days Head-quarters halted at Meerut; our mornings being employed in reviews, and our evenings in dinners and balls, provided for the entertainment of the Commander-in-Chief by the inhabitants of this gay colony.

Nov. 28th.-Head-quarters again en route, and its course directed toward the Rohilcund stations of Moradabad and Bareilly. Three easy marches brought us to the ghaut of Ghurmuktesur, an euphonous title given to the ferry which at this point crosses the Ganges. Though the spot which we occupied is at this season nearly half a mile from the water's edge, during the rains the great river rolls its swollen flood over the ground where there is at this moment an encampment of nearly 5000 souls. Both banks of the stream are bordered for some miles in width with a thick jungle of grass and bush, abounding in tigers, and the favourite resort of the sportsmen of Meerut during the months of April and May; but at this time of the year, the high grass, luxuriant from the late rains, not yet having undergone its annual burning, the attempt to find the game is almost hopeless; as, on the approach of the elephants, the tiger steals away under the thick impervious covert, in which he has paths invisible from above.

This morning the thermometer stood at 42° in my tent at 6 A.M., and at 80° at 2 P.M.—a striking difference of