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told in a previous chapter how, on the 23d of May, the 1st Madras Fusiliers, commanded by Colonel Neill, an officer of great decision of character, reached Calcutta, and how the regiment was despatched with all the expedition possible to the North-West. Neill reached Banáras, the morning of the 4th of June, at a very critical moment. To understand the crisis it will be necessary to explain the state of affairs in that important centre.

The city of Banáras lies nearly midway between Calcutta and Dehlí, being 469 miles north-west of the former and 485 south-east of the latter. The normal population is about a quarter of a million, but the number ebbs and flows with the arrival and departure of pilgrims. The city lies picturesquely on the left bank of the Ganges, which, in 1857, was crossed by a bridge of boats. The district of which the city is the capital has an area of 998 square miles, and a population of, in round numbers, 900,000. It is bounded to the north by Gházípur and Juánpur, to the west and south by Mírzápur, and to the east by the Sháhábád district of Western Bihár.

At the time of which I am writing the garrison of Banáras consisted of half a company of European artillery — some thirty men — of the Sikh regiment of Lodiáná, and of the 13th Regiment of Irregular Cavalry: