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176 of Ava been more reasonable — would probably have been among the early acts of Lord Amherst's Administration, was destined to be the closing scene.

'On August 4,' Lady Amherst writes, 'our miserable family embarked on the Mookie at 5 o'clock in the morning. On this day Lord Amherst has resolved on resigning his situation as Governor-General, and has written to Mr. Canning to that effect. . . . The idea of rejoining my children in England is a great comfort to us all.'

The pleasure of the earlier part of the Ganges voyage was spoilt by the heat and the fevers. Lady Amherst was a victim as well as the Governor-General.

A great deal of the diary is now taken up with descriptions of scenery, jungles, rhinoceroses, alligators, beautiful mountains, islands and flocks of storks. Various accidents happen to the fleet; the dispensary boat goes over with Mr. Luke the apothecary, who is saved, but a 'year's supply of calomel and tartar emetic are unfortunately lost!' Sometimes the party goes on shore visiting native temples and tombs and ascending adjacent hills. On September 2 they arrive at Bhágalpur and are hospitably entertained at the house of Mr. Ward, the judge. There is an interesting account of his bodyguard of eighty men, still called the Hill Rangers. Only a few years ago these men, who belonged to a fierce hill-tribe, went about the country plundering and devastating. They had now become our defenders instead. 'Their strict observance of truth is quite remarkable,