396 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
days’ notice to the Post-Master-General, and the deposit 
of a sum of money sufficient to pay the bearers, which 
for the distance I had to travel amounted to about £20. 
The whole journey was accomplished in less than five 
- days, from which you may judge that I had not much 
time for sleeping, for to a ‘Griffin’, like myself, such a 
luxury is not to be enjoyed in a palankeen when on 
the way. To those who can take time, India is quite a 
delightful country to travel in, compared with South 
America. Along the whole of the principal roads, public 
* Bungalows, or Rest Houses, have been erected at the dis- 
tance of every ten or twelve miles, for the use of travellers, 
substantially furnished with chairs, tables, and bedsteads, 
and generally entrusted to the care of an old Sepoy. Tra- 
vellers are obliged to carry their bedding and provisions, 
for of the latter little is to be had at these places, 
except milk, eggs, and the requisites for a dish of curry 
and rice; but even these simple viands cannot always be 
obtained. 
During the three first days I encountered very heavy 
rains, and in consequence found it difficult to cross some - 
of the rivers, particularly one at Arcot, the bed of which 
is more than half a mile broad, with a quick-sand 
bottom. The whole country through is very flat, re- 
minding me much of the level plains — the northern 
provinces of Brazil. In such parts as can be irrigated, rice 
and other grains peculiar to the East are cultivated, while the 
more elevated and drier tracts give pasturage to oxen, buffalos, 
sheep, and goats. There is a very tolerable carriage-ro 
all the way, and a row of trees having been planted along 
each side of the greater part of it, the pedestrian traveller - 
constantly meets with a cool shade under which to rest. The 
trees principally selected for this purpose are numerous. 
varieties of Wild Fig, and the Tamarind. Some of the latter - 
are the largest and finest I have ever seen. My journey Was. 
