XX 

 RIVER TERNS 



A SOJOURN of a few years in Upper India 

 usually teaches a European to make the 

 most of the cold weather as it gives place 

 to the heat of summer. There is a period 

 of a week or two in March and early April when, 

 although the days are very hot, the nights and early 

 mornings are cool, when the mercury in the ther- 

 mometer fluctuates between 104° and 68° F. If at this 

 season a man is energetic enough to rise at 5.15, shortly 

 after the birds awake, there are few more pleasant 

 ways of spending the ensuing three hours than by 

 taking what the French would term a promenade upon 

 the water. The ghding motion of a boat propelled 

 by sail or oar is always soothing, and is doubly so 

 when one knows that the breeze which then blows 

 cool upon the cheek will scorch the face seven hours 

 hence. The morning excursion on the water is ren- 

 dered especially enjoyable if it happens to take place 

 at one of the comparatively few parts of the Ganges 

 or the Jumna where the river-bed is narrow, so that the 

 water fills the space between the banks, instead of 

 being, as is more usually the case, a mere trickle of 

 water meandering through a great expanse of sand. 



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