20 



CHAPTER III. 



THE FIRST SIKH WAR. 1845-1846. 



After a somewhat stormy voyage of about three 

 months, remarkable chiefly for the death of his 

 favourite little dog/ and utilised by himself in the 

 reading of many books and gaining some little 

 knowledge of Hindustani, William Hodson landed 

 at Calcutta on August 20, 1845. At Madras a few 

 weeks earlier he had been kindly received by the 

 Governor and his family, with whom he spent some 

 pleasant days, in spite of the weather and a touch 

 of illness. "It is hot enough, certainly," he writes 

 home ; "but this house is delightful, and the people 

 very kind. Their house being full, I sleep in a 

 large tent pitched on the lawn or compound out- 

 side, which is both pleasant and cool." He was 

 "much disappointed with the natives. I fancied 

 them a much finer race. At a distance they are 

 picturesque enough, but they are not contrived for 

 a near view." 



The climate of Calcutta he found " very trying : 

 hot rains and close stifling weather, which reduces 

 one's strength terribly." Sir Lawrence Peel, Arch- 



^ The poor little creature had been shut up during a gale, and 

 afterwards fell into convulsions from excess of joy at seeing its 



master again. 



