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My Diary in India, in the Year 1858-9 (1860)
My Diary in India in the Year 18589 - 1860 Author:William Howard Russell Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. A day of calm enjoyment.—The Trunk Road.—A fine piece of loot.—General Rose.—Barbarous savages and civilized Christians.—Divine sen-ice.—Travelli... more »ng arrangements.—A parcel of telegrams.—Mrs. Sukeeram.—Remains of the station of Eytah. —Approach Delhi.—The descendant of Akhar.-—A house of bondage.—Selimghur.—Ruined streets of a deserted city.—An agreeable change.-—Visit to the King of Delhi.—Poverty in a ralace.—Jumma Bnkht.— Orientalized matter of fact.—The ex-King's countenance.—Our dealings with the Moguls.—Our representative's humility.—The latest begum.—A civilized evening. May 26th, Wednesday.—A day of calm—positively calm enjoyment. The weather, we were told, was actually overcast outside, and the thermometer was not at more than 90 in our room, and at 130 outside. Baird has severe fever. Alison looks unwholesome, but is pronounced non-contagious. After another Sardanapalitic breakfast, we lie on our char- poys all day, and doze away, with punkahs fanning us, and kuskus-tatties working. At dusk my dooly is brought down, and I am carried down to the mosque in the Serai to dinner. It is hot, and so we do not sit long after dinner, and I am carried back to the Fort to bed. May 27th, Thursday.—The Trunk Road up and down is unsafe. The Commander-in-Chief has literally not a man to escort him down to Cawnpore. A few days back one Ruheem AH made a dash across the Ganges, out of Rohilcund, with some hundreds of sowars, and in the night came upon a gharry, in A FINE PIECE OF LOOT. 39 which were Major Waterfield and another officer. They cut the former to pieces; the latter had an escape little short of miraculous, after a desperate fight, and got away in the dark. Under these circumstances we shall have to stay here for some little time. Poor Hodson's hor...« less