Page:Catholic Magazine And Review, Volume 3 and Volume 4, 1833.djvu/82

68 are always ready to plunder a weary traveller who falls asleep after his journey. They must carry a little money for food, and to pay the government tax at the temple. There are mile stones all along this new road, which we found a great comfort. Bissunpoor is 81 miles from Calcutta, and at 100, we came to a pretty little civil station called Bancoora. This was our first halt; and hitherto we had found the road passable, and from Bissunpoor the whole country appeared under cultivation, but only for rice, as it is very low, and in the rainy season the road is nearly impassable, being on a level with the fields. Bancoora is surrounded at a little distance by jungle, and is situated on a rising ground, with its public offices, jail and civilian's houses, a moderate sized town, looking very pretty as we entered it.

We now soon came to most wretched roads, and wild, dreary, jungly country, all the way to the next station, Hazareebagh, 137 miles further on. The roads over an undulating country were intersected by ravines ten feet deep, and as many wide; and up and down the ascents and descents nothing was seen but pointed rocks and hollows, with scarcely a vestige of earth upon them. Such is our grand military road from the lower to the upper provinces! Some parts of the road were pretty through the hills; but it was all forest, wild and jungly. At the several halting places, there were several small villages, and partial cultivation of rice and sugar cane, with small patches of mustard, linseed and sesame, from which they express oils by a rude process, squeezing the seeds in a wooden mortar by the aid of a bullock. Hazareebagh is an open spot on a level plain free from wood and jungle, and being high, I should think it must be healthy. There is no town, but some bazaars, owing to its being a cantonment for a local regiment.

Soon after we left this place, the rain came down in torrents, and continued with us at intervals till near the end of our journey, much to our annoyance and discomfort; and it twice obliged us to halt. We were allowed only forty-nine days for the journey, it being forty-two marches, allowing six days for halts, and one for crossing the Ganges; but we performed it in exact time. On the fourth march from Hazareebagh, we descended from the hills into the plains, by the famous Dunghye pass, winding through the forest down two very steep descents of considerable length. A thick heavy fog huinghung [sic] over the forest as we came through it, and half its beauty was thus lost to us. It is famous for tigers; but we saw none. The whole way from Bancoora is dangerous on this account; and two poor camp followers in our train were carried away by tigers early one morning. People do not travel singly on this road on this ac-