MARCH TO UMBALLA.

265

greatly attached to his stepmother, he paid large sums to the Church of Rome to procure her canonization, which honour was accordingly conferred upon her. The ceremony on that occasion was described to us by a lady who was living in Rome at the time, and on whom, knowing the Begum's history, it had made a vivid impression. Dyce Sombre also caused the Italian sculptor, above named, to execute a very elaborate monument to her memory, in which his own ungainly statue in full uniform contrasts strangely with beautiful Italian groups of veiled figures, weeping round the statue of the little Begum; an anomaly which the aggrieved sculptor seems to have revenged by infusing a touch of the ludicrous in some of his other statues.

Our stay at Meerut was happily curtailed by a sudden order that the cavalry should march to Umballa, to grace the state reception of the Ameer of Afghanistán. For the first few days. their march lay along the line of railway, and the daily "play" of all disconsolate wives was to make amusing expeditions to the camp and see the marvellous rapidity with which the direst confusion gave place to most perfect order; more especially in the great mess-tent, where snowy linen, and plate and glass, and an elaborate bill of fare, would scarcely allow you to remember that the good "Brownies" who had produced it all had just come off a weary march, and that their cooking-range consisted of a row of stones and mud ovens in the open air! Weather never discomposed their equanimity, and in drenching rain everything was as well served as in the sunshine; a proceeding which would puzzle European chefs and footmen, more especially if clad in white linen drapery and turbans.

There were, just at this time, a good many days of soaking rains, with heavy thunderstorms, which must have made a camp life unutterably disgusting; but it was considered greatly to the advantage of the troops, as tending to cool the atmosphere; and though there were some delays, to allow the heavy wet canvas to dry, before the camels could resume their loads, there is little doubt that to this cause they were greatly indebted for so clean a bill of health at Umballa.

CHAPTER X.

A GRAND DURBAR.

Seharanpore-First sight of the Himalayas-Umballa-Gorgeous Rajahs— Elephants-Camels-Reception of the Ameer-A Durbar-Travelling to the Hills-Indian Post Horses-The Foot-hills-Detention at a Resthouse-The Mountain Battery-A Storm-An Art Critic-Scarlet Rhododendrons-Simla.

THE journey from Meerut to Umballa which cost the cavalry and artillery ten days under canvas, and ten morning marches before sunrise, was accomplished by the rest of the world in an afternoon by rain. The line was still so new as to be liable to considerable irregularity. On the present occasion we waited three hours before our train appeared. Happily, being a cheery set, we cared little; and the railway officials had the more time to master the intricacies of our baggage. I listened with much amusement to my sister's explanation: "You see I have tickets for four horses and two dogs. Two of the horses are cows, and one of the dogs is a goat, and the other is a cat!" I bethought me of Punch's picture of an old lady whose menagerie had been thus classified-all, save her pet tortoise, which, "being an insect," did not require a ticket. She looked as much disgusted as did one of my friends on being told that her lovely green frogs and pet salamander were vermin !"

Late in the afternoon we passed Seharanpore, where we had already spent some pleasant days. It is one of the headquarters of the Government Stud Department, which has immense stables

“ "PERSIAN WHEEL" WELL.

267

here; whence, at the periodical sales of rejected horses, wide-awake individuals recruit their private stables greatly to their own advantage. Seharanpore is famed for its gardens, whence all India is supplied with plants and seeds. Here an old well, of the sort called Persian Wheel, struck me as extremely picturesque. The water is drawn from an immense depth by an endless chain of great red earthen jars, fastened between two ropes, and passing over a wheel, which is in connection with another wheel, turned by bullocks, and driven by brown men in white turbans, the whole overshadowed by fine old trees. One of the ropes, being new, was adorned with a large bunch of flowers as a votive offering to the Spirit of the Well.

Before us stretched a wide hill-range, bounding the intervening plain. It did not seem to us very grand; very much like the Ochils from some points near Stirling. Only we knew that these were indeed the low spurs of that mighty range we had come so far to see, and that those little patches and peaks of glittering white were our first glimpse of the eternal snows of the Himalayas.1 One mountain in particular, the Chor, we were afterwards taught to look up to with reverence, but I cannot say that was our first impulse.

It was late and dark when we reached Umballa. Our luggageticket was mislaid in the confusion, and there was no end of tantalising trouble, and going to and fro, before we were allowed to rescue one atom of our property, which lay piled before our eyes. We forcibly carried off one box of nursery goods, and the authorities, after wearisome delays, allowed the rest to follow us. Tired and hungry, we at last found ourselves safe in a large empty bungalow, of which a friend had kindly allowed us the use. The house was literally empty, so we had commissioned a furniture agent to supply such things as were actually necessary. The sudden influx of strangers made all such supplies meagre in the extreme; and you can imagine nothing more dreary than a large, empty Indian bungalow, where the uncarpeted floors and bare whitewashed walls make every voice and footstep resound; every

66

1 Himalaya,

"the abode of perpetual snow"-from the Sanskrit hima, snow," and alaya, an abode." Himmavat means the " snow-covered."

room acting as a passage to its neighbours, and no curtains to veil the ill-fitting doors.

However, when morning returned, with its flood of warm sunshine, we no longer thought it dreary, but turning plaids into table-cloths, and filling every native bowl and hubble-bubble vase, on which we could lay hands, with loads of roses and jessamine, we soon made our quarters cosy enough. Afterwards, when we saw how every nook and cranny of the town was crowded with strangers, we felt thankful indeed for our large cool rooms and shady garden, where orange and pomegranate-shrubs (those "busy plants," as old George Herbert calls them) mingled their white or scarlet blossoms with their own ripening fruit, and where, more beautiful than all, the tall beauhinia or camel's foot (so called from the shape of its leaf) showered down exquisite blossoms like large white geraniums, with lilac markings.

Here we often lingered in the cool evening watching the vivid sheets of lightning, while crashing peals of thunder made the night solemn, and harmonised the various camp-sounds on every side, bands playing, bugles calling, voices of men and of camels. One native regiment quartered near us seemed to be for ever marching to the sound of a very musical little French horn. In short, we soon made aural acquaintance with our many neighbours.

On one side stretched the great Maidan, a fine, wide plain, affording scope for all manner of military evolutions. The troops were camped all round the edge of this plain; and the mass of white canvas cutting against the background of dark foliage, the Himalayas lying blue in the distance, and the brilliant foreground of native figures gorgeously attired, combined to make a very fine picture. At the farther end of the great plain lay the GovernorGeneral's camp, a white city of tents, all ready for his reception; and a little farther was that of the Commander-in-Chief, both overshadowed by the Union Jack.

Such a plain would on most occasions have been veiled by its own dust, stirred up by the ever-moving crowds and galloping troops. Fortunately, however, the nights of heavy rain, which

conduced so much to the discomfort of those under canvas proved not merely a safeguard of health, but a great addition to the enjoyment of the days.

Besides, we were indebted to those kindly showers for a glimpse, often repeated, of a genuine, unmistakable mirage. For the sun's hot rays drew from the moist earth a tremulous haze of misty dew, which hung quivering over the plain; and the dark, distant trees and white tents not only seemed raised, so as to float above the mist, but their inverted images lay clearly reflected thereon, as on the bosom of some quiet lake.

We had arrived on a Saturday, and our Afghan allies were not expected till Wednesday, nor was Lord Mayo to arrive from Calcutta till the following Saturday; so we had time enough to explore the neighbourhood, and to admire all the magnificent natives and their gorgeous suites. Sixteen "burra " Rajahs, very great men, had assembled, besides innumerable lesser potentates, each bringing his military escort; his elephants with magnificent howdahs; his camels and gorgeously caparisoned horses, covered with a network of silk and jewels, in addition to their jewelled trappings and long sweeping yak's tails. Some of the horses were partly dyed pink, others stained russet with henna, a few were adorned with anklets of gold and gems.

But a good deal of this splendour was reserved for the show days, and it must be confessed that many of these great men cut but a poor figure on first arriving, as most of them chose to drive into Umballa in their English carriages, which, as a rule, were of the shabbiest. Their followers too, were, naturally enough, travel-stained and weary, and trudged along, in anything but orderly style, to the intense dismay of our servants, who had striven hard to impress upon us the overpowering magnificence that was to dazzle our bewildered sight. These men have a good deal of the old Highland pride in the greatness of their chiefs, and never lose a chance of extolling their wealth, and apparently with good reason.

The greatest man of all was the Rajah of Putialah, whose camp was said far to outshine that of the Governor-General.

The