Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/223

 thing went wrong. What a distance I have marched! how generally barren, flat, and uninteresting the country has been! I saw a very fine banyan tree a day or two ago, but the general face of the country is a sandy plain, interspersed with a few green fields near the wells, and topes of mango trees: in one of these topes my tent is pitched to-day. My beautiful dog Nero is dead. What folly in this climate to be fond of any thing!—it is sure to come to an untimely end.

Feb. 3rd.—Encamped at Kerkowdah; at this spot my relative, Capt. E. S, met me, to conduct me to his house at Meerut. How changed we were! our first impulse was to laugh at each other; when last we met we were happy young creatures, playing at games of every sort on the lawn at Somerford Booths. Our voices, the expression of our countenances, were, perhaps, the same; in other respects the alteration was so great, how could we help laughing at each other?

4th.—Arrived at Meerut, pitched my tents in the Compound, i. e. the grounds around the house.

6th.—The Governor-General and the Camp arrived.

7th.—Attended a ball given by the officers of the artillery to the Governor-General; Lord Auckland and the Misses Eden were gracious, and had I not been suffering from illness, I should have enjoyed the party.

9th.—Drove to the Sūraj Kūnd, or Spring of the Sun, a remarkably large tank; a little further on are a great number of satī mounds of peculiar construction. In the evening attended a ball, given by the station to the Governor-General and his party.

12th.—Dined with General and Mrs. R to meet the Governor-General and his party; the dinner was given in one great tent, which held eighty guests at table. In the evening the party went to a ball given by the Buffs to the Governor-General; the room was gay and well-lighted, ornamented with rays of steel, formed of bayonets and ramrods; a sort of throne was decorated with the colours of the regiment for the Governor-General. The dancing was carried on with spirit; the finale an excellent supper.