Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/284

 abound in the Hills. I must not take my pet dog out riding with me; at this time of the year wild beasts are numerous, and render it dangerous.

We have a great number of visitors every day in the Hills; people have nothing to do but to run about calling and amusing themselves. A third earthquake has taken place; but, as usual, I on my gūnth was unconscious of the quaking of the earth. A storm of thunder, lightning, and hail has cooled the air, and it is very pleasant weather. The Hills look so beautiful at night, when they are on fire; the fire never spreads, but runs up to the top of the Hill; they fire them below in several places at once, to burn the old long grass, and make way for the new to sprout up.

11th.—A letter from Allahabad tells me, a most severe storm took place there on the third of this month,—more severe than the one in which the Seagull was wrecked; it only lasted an hour. It blew down one of the verandahs of our house, un-*roofed the cow-house, the meat-house, the wild-duck-house, the sheep-house, &c.: the repairs will not cost us less than seven hundred rupees (£70).

13th.—Accompanied Mr. R to see the Botanical Garden, which is small, but interesting: I ate cherries from Cashmere, saw a very fine Hill lily from the interior, and gathered many beautiful flowers. Some peaches, from the Dhoon valley, very large and fine, like English peaches, were sent me to-day.

18th.—Our party being engaged to dine at Cloud End to-day, under the old oak tree, we got up at 6, when we found the Hills covered with thick white clouds from the bottom of the khuds to their summits; the clouds were so thick, and we were so completely in the midst of them, you could not see beyond the verandah; the thunder rolled, and the sheeted lightning flashed. After a while the wind blew off the clouds, and the Hills re-appeared, but only for a few moments, when fresh clouds rolled up from the valley, and every thing was again hidden in the white foggy cloud. The rain fell heavily, straight down from the heavens: I trust the rains have set in this day; without them the famine, and the sickness which is raging in the plains below, will continue.