We Left Delhi Again At About Six P.M., After Loitering About The
City For A Short Time, Among The Teeming Bazaars, Some Parts Of
Which Were Picturesque And "Eastern" Enough.
Outside the city walls,
the country was ruined and dilapidated in the extreme; demolished
houses and wasted gardens telling their tale of the loss of Delhi,
and our struggle for its recapture.
MAY 26. - During the night, we got over seventy-three miles, and
reached "Kurnaul" at seven A.M. The bungalow we found unusually
comfortable, being a remnant of the old regime, and one of the few
which escaped from the hands of the rebels during the mutiny.
The country here begins to improve in appearance - more trees and
cultivation on all sides; and the natives appear finer specimens
than their more southern relations. The irrigation, too, seems to be
carried on with more systematic appliances than further south - the
water being raised by the Persian wheel, and bullock-power introduced
in aid of manual labour.
MAY 27. - Arrived at Umballa at three A.M., and found the staging
bungalow full. The only available accommodation being a spare
charpoy in the verandah, F. took a lease of it, while I revelled in
the unaccustomed roominess of the entire carriage, and slept till
six, when we got into our lodgings. Although so near the foot of
the Himalayas, the weather was so oppressive here that exploring
was out of the question; and at six P.M., changing our carriage for
palankeens, or dolies, we commenced a tedious and dusty journey to
the village of "Kalka," the veritable "foot of the hills," where we
were met by a string of deputies from the different "DRY-LODGINGS" in
the neighbourhood, soliciting custom. The first house we came to was
guarded by an unmistakeable English hotel-keeper, of some eighteen
stone; and so terrible was the appearance she presented, with her
arms akimbo, rejoicing in her mountain air, that in our down-country
and dilapidated condition, we felt quite unequal to the exertion of
stepping into HER little parlour; and passing her establishment -
something in the small bathingplace-style of architecture - we went
on to the next, very much of the same order, and called the "Brahminee
Bull." Here, to my dismay however, standing in the selfsame position,
weighing the same number of stone, and equally confident in the
purity of her air as her neighbour, stood another female "Briton,"
with the come-into-my-parlour expression of countenance, regarding us
as prey. Under the circumstances, exhausted nature gave in; though
saved from Scylla, our destiny was Charybdis, and we accordingly
surrendered ourselves to a wash, breakfast, and the Brahminee
Bull. During the day, we had a visit from a friend and ex-brother
officer, whom we had promised to stay with, at "Kussowlie," on our
road up. Kalka was not HOT, but GRILLING, so that a speedy ascent to
the station was soon agreed upon. Not caring to risk a sun-stroke,
I resigned myself to the traditional conveyance of the country, a
"jhampan," while the other two rode up; but here, for the second
time, it was "out of the fryingpan into the fire." Such an infernal
machine as my new conveyance turned out never could have existed in
the palmiest days of the Inquisition.
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