Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/322

 coloured chintz used for tents. The other large boat contains the servants, the horses, and the dogs. The sort of boat generally used for this purpose is called a surrī, which is a patelī that draws very little water, and is generally rowed from the top of the platform above the roof, on which the dāndīs live.

23rd.—Started from Ghurmuktesur Ghāt the moment it became possible to see the way down the river, and to avoid the sandbanks. At 3 the thermometer was 82°,—a most oppressive heat for one just arrived from the Hills. Lugaoed on a sandbank, and walked with the dogs until ten at night, when I went to rest and dreamed of thieves, because this part of the Ganges is dangerous, and I have no guard on board the boats. From a fisherman on the bank I have purchased fish enough for myself and all the crew, a feast for us all, and a piece of good luck.

Taking a walk with the dogs puts me in mind of the kennel I had in the Hills, and of Khobarah, the magnificent dog of the Himalaya, of whom his former master told me this anecdote:—"Sitting one night in my tent, the dog at my feet, a bearer, in a state of intoxication, entered and spoke to me; the voice of the drunken man was loud and angry: the dog seized him instantly by the throat, bore him to the ground, and held him there. He did not injure the man: it being night, I suppose the creature thought me menaced with danger. He quitted him the instant I bade him do so."

I gave this dog on quitting the Hills to a relative, desiring him to chain him up until he had made his acquaintance and ensured his friendship. My relative came to me a week afterwards highly amused, and said,—"The moment your dog was unchained he took possession of the verandah of my house. He is walking up and down lashing himself into fury; he keeps us all at bay, and I cannot enter the house; perhaps when he sees you he will become more composed, and allow me to go in to breakfast."

In 1844, Khobarah, the Hill dog, was still in prime health, taking care of the cows at night at Cloud End, near Landowr. The fate of my dog Sancho was pitiable: he was in the Hills