INTRODUCTION. 13 



as for small game— such as Duck, Snipe, Quail, 

 Florican (a small Bustard) — there was hardly a 

 better station to be found in the Bombay Presidency. 

 Then again there was excellent pigsticking and 

 coursing with greyhounds; so that I look upon these 

 two and a half years of my boyhood life as about 

 the happiest in the whole of my military career. 



Ahmedabad was the Headquarters of the Northern 

 Division, and was commanded by General Sir 

 Charles T. Van Straubenzee. Owing to the facilities 

 I had of meeting the General in the sporting field 

 I began to know him very well, and, when he was 

 appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay 

 Presidency /r^ tem, in 1865, he offered me the post 

 of one of his aides-de-camp on his staff, of which I 

 gladly availed myself. 



Getting official orders soon after this, I joined 

 him at the hill station of Mahableshwar, which is 

 about 5,000 feet above sea-level, and the recognized 

 Headquarters of the Bombay Commander-in-Chief 

 and staff during the hot weather. Just after leaving 

 Ahmedabad a most virulent epidemic of cholera 

 broke out, and many men of my regiment died, as 

 well as one officer — so I was lucky to be out of it. 



When the rains set in we all came down to Poona, 

 which is on a plateau 2,000 feet above sea-level, and 

 one of the gayest military stations in the Presidency 

 during the season, viz., the monsoon months; dinner 

 parties, balls, gymkhanas, horse racing, boating, etc., 

 etc., being the order of the day. I must say I 

 had a splendid time, but only too short-lived, for in 



