Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/407

 CHAPTER XXVIII.

PILGRIMAGE TO THE TĀJ.

"RESOLUTION OVERCOMES GREAT DIFFICULTIES ."

"You will require the patience of an angel, or of a whole heaven of angels, to reach Agra in a pinnace. I was a month in a boat that I built for the very purpose of threading this Meander, to which that of Troy was a nālā, as straight as an arrow. I fear your voyage will be much protracted, but as for the wind, you are sure to have it favourable two or three times a day, let it blow from what quarter it will, for you will have your course during the twenty-four hours to every point of the compass, and these cold days too! Here am I shivering in the warmest room in my house!"

W. L. G, Khasgunge.

The Seagull—The Patelī—Chapātīs—Sujawan Deota—Burriaree Rocks—Thieves—Parbosa—Temple of Parisnāth—Darogahs—Utility of a Pellet-bow—The Cane River—The Leak—A Storm—Kalpee—Belaspoor—Alligators in their own Wildernesses—River Shells—Passage through the Rocks—A Pilot—Badowra—Fossil-bones—The Chumbal River—Bhurrage—Burning the Dead—A Woman drowned—Cutting through a Sandbank on a Chain Cable—A Leak—White Ants—Picturesque Scenes—A Tufān—The Mem Sāhiba's Speech—River Dogs—Presents of Sweetmeats.

Dec. 1834.—To look forward to the cold season is always a great pleasure in India; and to plan some expedition for that period is an amusement during the hot winds and rains. We had often determined to visit the Tāj Mahul at Agra—the wonder of the world.

Our beautiful pinnace was now in the Jumna, anchored just below the house, but the height of the banks and the lowness