Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/187

 CHAPTER XIII.

REMOVAL TO CAWNPORE.—CONFESSIONS OF A THUG.

"WHAT VARIETY OF HERBS SOEVER ARE SHUFFLED TOGETHER IN THE DISH, YET THE WHOLE MASS IS SWALLOWED UP IN ONE NAME OF sallet. IN LIKE MANNER I WILL MAKE A HODGE-PODGE OF DIFFERING ARTICLES."

1830—Removal to Cawnpore—Failure of Messrs. Palmer and Co.—An Appointment at Cawnpore—Removal from Allahabad—The Mowa Tree—Futtehpore—Dead Body in a Well—The Kutcherry—Confessions of a Thug.

Jan. 1830.—The failure of Messrs. Palmer and Co., early in this month, caused the greatest consternation in India, and fell most severely on the widows and orphans of military men, who, having left their little portions in Palmer's house, had returned to England.

9th.—My husband gave over charge of his office to Mr. N, who had returned from the Cape, and we began to speculate as to our destiny.

March 1st.—My husband, having applied to remain up the country, was informed he might proceed to Cawnpore as acting-collector for eight months, on condition that he consented to give up the deputation-allowance, to which he was entitled by the rules of the Civil Service. The conditions were hard, although offered as a personal favour, and were accepted in preference to returning to Calcutta.

Cawnpore, 150 miles from Allahabad, and 50 from Lucnow, a large station, is on a bleak, dreary, sandy, dusty, treeless plain, cut into ravines by torrents of rain; if possible, the place is considered hotter than Prāg.