thumb, a huge cawâbbed capon, which from its gigantic proportions, and the sprawling, untrussed state of its limbs, exceedingly resembled a young grilled Hindoo.

No dish appeared a second time, each being carried off as it reached the foot of the table: series after series came in, and we might have been dining until this moment, had not his lordship requested their forbearance just as they were ushering in the fiftieth course. I omitted to say that the table appurtenances were furnished by the Resident. Thus ended the first and only feast that I was ever bidden to by the disciples of Brahmah: and if in culinary qualities it fell short of the Mussulman tables which had been spread for us during our tour, it was at least infinitely more productive of food for merriment.

We rose from this amusing though fatiguing banquet, with heads aching from the savoury vapours of the smoking hecatombs heaped by our profuse hosts upon the altar of our appetites, and with sides aching from the cachinnatory convulsions we had undergone, the semi-suppression of which was even more arduous than its unrestrained indulgence would have been.

From the banqueting-hall we were conducted to a veranda, where we were entertained by a splendid display of fireworks. I remarked, not without amusement, that the courtiers eyed us with cautious curiosity after dinner; and seemed rather to avoid entering into conversation; and I immediately concluded that, in accordance with the natives' generally-received idea of the proneness of Europeans to vinous excesses, they imagined, as a matter of course, that we were all more or less under the influence of the merry god.

The pyrotechnic spectacle being concluded by about 11 o'clock, we arose, and, taking a final farewell of the young Scindia, mounted our elephants, and proceeded towards camp, accompanied by the prince Hindoo Rao and a party of the Mahratta nobles. I was just complacently calculating on an uninterrupted retreat to my tent, from which I had been now absent nine hours,-the fagged elephants even

showing by their alert motions their sympathy in our homeward aspirations,-when the cavalcade was suddenly arrested (at the entrance of what appeared to us through the dusk to be an extensive plantation of rather formal-looking shrubs) by the artificial forest bursting forth into leaves and fruits of vivid flames; a miracle of vegetation which instantly routed our astonished elephants; who, turning about, made off at a frightful pace through the town-no matter of mirth in a dark night. As soon as my animal was prevailed upon-by half a dozen digs on the head, the tenderest of which would have brained an ox,-to return to the cavalcade, my friend the chief-whose name, a tissue of dissonant consonants, I cannot recollect-offered to show me that prejudice, even in elephants, is vincible by education. At a single word of encouragement, his beautiful animal carried him into the midst of the blazing and crackling forest, and, on a hint from his master, wrenched up by the roots one of the trees which had already shed its golden fruits, and stood in the way of those which were still unexhausted. After this exhibition the prince and his followers took leave, and we reached our camp without further molestation. With what joy did I throw off my heavy, embroidered dress, and commit myself to the refreshing offices of my faithful bearers, after a long day of constant excitement and exposure to the sun. To the ministry of these toilet assistants I was, like many of my countrymen, for the first year of my life in India, resolutely averse: but finding all my efforts to exclude them from my presence unavailing, I at length surrendered at discretion, and gave up all right and title to dress my own person: a cession of privileges which certainly saves the yielder a great deal of unnecessary and uninteresting labour, in a climate where the pulling on of a boot is a work of inordinate exertion, and the tying of a cravat is accomplished in the sweat of the brow.

Jan. 6th.; therm. 6 A.M. 34°. Head-quarters camp broke up from Gwalior; and we saw the last of that gaunt and frowning fortress as we entered the rocky defile of the

Pass of Antree; beyond which, near a village of the same name, our canvas home was erected for the day. After having extracted three days' novelty and amusement from the Mahrattas, I was not sorry to exchange the restless and bustling Tumâsha of Scindia's court for the pleasant morning march, constant variety of scenery, and evening fieldsports of our roving camp.

In taking leave of this eccentric people, however, it is but justice to pay them the passing compliment of confessing that my personal acquaintance with them, slight as it was, tended to raise them a hundredfold above the standard of my preconceived opinion. The wandering horde of lawless freebooters who, like a flight of locusts, spread for so many years their desolating influence over the fertile provinces of India, have at length, emulative of the more respectable bee, quietly alighted in one swarm, and gradually settled down into a regular government; contenting themselves with the revenues drawn from their own states, instead of playing the highwayman in the dominions of their neighbours: an amelioration in civil government, as well as in moral policy, for which they are indebted more perhaps to the overawing influence of the British power than to the march of honesty in themselves. Be the cause, however, what it may, the effect is beneficial. In Mahratta ethics, meum and tuum are no longer so confounded and blended as to be scarcely distinguishable one from the other property is respected, as the rich Munny Ram's unviolated coffers attest; hospitality and good faith towards strangers are in pretty good practice; and heads rest with a tolerably secure tenure on their own native shoulders.

I was not sorry to see the last of his hectoring highness Hindoo Rao; whose swaggering carriage, haughty air, and overbearing character made him no great favourite at Headquarters; and I was more inclined to be gratified than to sympathize with him when the following anecdote, in which one of his most violent passions, that for the sex, was thwarted in the most provoking manner, was related to me.

The prince had purchased at an extravagant price a young slave girl, with the fame of whose extraordinary beauty he had become enamoured. A young roué Mussulman, a half-brother of the royal purchaser, heard of the fair maiden's arrival, and contrived to get the first introduction to her. The elder brother was furious on hearing of this exploit; but the mishap was irremediable, and his only consolation was in revenge. The reprobate sprig of royalty was seized, bound, and most cruelly bastinadoed in the presence of the wronged brother.

CHAPTER IX.

Bundelcund Dutteah - Amaba Jhansi

-Burwah-Sauger -OurchaPaharee Banka - Kaitah Chirkari - Banda- Zoolficar Ali-An hour's sport- Kallinger — British siege of Kallinger - Shere Khan's siege

Last day in camp- Dâk journey — Allahabad — Embark on the Ganges Voyage down the Ganges - The budgerow Mirzapore Chunar Benares Sporting intelligence-Gazypore - Buxar - Dinapore - Deega Farm - Bankipore - Patna-Monghir― Seeta's Well — Janguira― Boglipore- Colgong― Sicrigully — Rajemâl — Suja's palace - Bogwangola River Pubna - Dullaserry river-Borigunga river — Dacca - Ruins of Dacca-Nawaub Shums-Ood-Doulah- A day's sport.

On the 8th we crossed the river Sind, leaving the territories of Scindia behind us, and entering Bundelcund, a province cut up and subdivided into numerous petty principalities, or baronies, the greater proportion of which are not more productive in revenue than the unpretending estates of some of the richer commoners of England.

The following morning we were welcomed by the Rajah of Dutteah, who escorted the Commander-in-Chief through his capital to the camp, which was pitched without the walls. The city of Dutteah is extensive, commandingly situated, and surrounded by a beautifully-built stone wall. On a lofty, rocky foundation, in the centre of the place, stands an ancient palace of very elegant architecture. The

Rajah chiefly resides in a more modern building lower down in the town. Dutteah is one of those principalities which were confirmed to their hereditary chieftains when the province of Bundelcund was ceded to the Company, under condition of reciprocal support. The revenue of the state is about ten lacs of rupees or 100,000l. pounds. It appears surprising that, with so inconsiderable a sum, the chief can support an army, three great fortresses, and a considerable retinue. The Rajah has always been considered a true and faithful ally of the Company; and as a proof of their confidence in his friendship, the government have presented him with a couple of brass guns, a gift which, in the eyes of the natives, implies the most implicit trust. He has defended himself more than once successfully against the inroads of Scindia, whose overpowering force, however, would have, long ere this, swallowed up his little kingdom, had not the all-potent Egis of British protection been extended in his defence.

Dutteah is altogether the prettiest spot and most habitable place I have yet seen in the plains: gently-undulating hills, plentifully supplied with wood and water, surround the town; and the royal Rumnah is well stocked with game of every species. On one of these eminences, four miles from the walls, there is a curious cluster of temples, built by a now almost extinct sect of Hindoos, called Jeines. Their persuasion bears, I believe, some affinity to that of the Buddists. Though they are now in the minority, they still uphold their creed as the orthodox Hindooism, and look upon the majority of the Hindoos as ignorant dissenters.

We paid a visit of ceremony to the Rajah in the afternoon; but to have described one visit to a native prince is to have sketched the leading features of all Indian court levees. The Dutteah chieftain is a fine-looking, respectable old man, and a ci-devant great sportsman. For sylvan amusements he is, however, now disqualified by excessive corpulence and lameness from a distorted foot. His minister is a fine specimen of patriarchal beauty, and retains all his faculties at the age of ninety.