Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/189

Rh from Paris. Among other subjects of conversation the native chiefs expressed their astonishment that the English, who are so far superior to them in most sciences, should be so far behind them in that of music.

Crossing the Ganges into Oudh on Nov. 27 they arrive at Fatehganj, a beautiful town two miles from Lucknow. While the Governor- General and his Court were travelling in state along the highways, Lady Amherst is horrified to hear of other travellers also advancing along the road to the Temple of Jagannáth, but in a different fashion. One man she tells us had crawled like a serpent from the other end of India, at the rate of a mile a day, and had been a year on his journey. Many of the poor pilgrims never reached their destination: a still larger number never returned, but died of fever and famine by the roadside.

The English party are at Lucknow on December 1. By the end of the year they have returned to British territory. On January 3, 1827, they are at Soron, a very ancient and holy city, and there Colonel Gardner, of whom we have heard before, gives them a review of his native troops. 'The beauty of the horsemanship was past expression, their feats of activity were astonishing.'

We may here break the thread of Lady Amherst's narrative to explain the political aspect of this visit to the capital of Oudh. Ghází-ud-dín Haidar was by no means the worst of the line of Wazírs; he had