Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/47

 IV A R WITH HA WAR ALI 39

my leisure hours. How this was done some years ago I scarcely remember ; but for the last two years that I have been at Vellore I could relate the manner in which almost every hour was employed.

' Seven was our breakfast-hour, immediately after which I walked out, generally alone ; and, though ten was my usual hour of returning, I often wandered about the fields till one. But when I adhered to the rules I had laid down for myself, I came home at ten, and read Persian till one, when I dressed and went to dinner. Came back before three ; sometimes slept half an hour, sometimes not, and then wrote or talked Persian and Moors till sunset, when I went to the parade, from whence I set out with a party to visit the ladies, or to play cards at the commanding- officer's. This engaged me till nine, when I went to supper, or more frequently returned home without it, and read politics and nonsense till bed-time, which, according to the entertainment which I met with, happened sometime between eleven and two. I should have mentioned fives as an amusement that occupied a great deal of my time. I seldom missed above two days in a week at this game, and always played two or three hours at a time, which were taken from my walks and Persian studies. Men are much more boyish in this country than in Europe, and, in spite of the sun, take, I believe, more exercise, and are, however strange it may appear, better able to undergo fatigue, unless on some remarkably hot days. I never could make half the violent exertions at home that