THE FIRST SIKH WAR. 23 



palanquin carriage, drawn by four mules and escorted 

 by jingling troopers, trots to the front. The artillery 

 thunder forth the morning gun as a signal that the 

 great man is gone, the guns rattle by, the cavalry 

 push on after them, and then at length our band 

 strikes up. 'Forward' is the word, and the red 

 (and black) column moves along, by this time as 

 completely obscured by the dense clouds of dust as 

 though they were in London during a November fog. 

 We are not expected to remain with our men, but 

 mount at once and ride in a cluster before the band, 

 or ride on a quarter of a mile or so in twos and 

 threes, complaining of the laziness of the great man's 

 people and of the dust and cold, as if we were the 

 most ill-used of her Majesty's subjects. As soon as 

 we're oif the ground, and the road pretty clear, I 

 dismount and walk the first eight miles or so, 

 this being the time to recover one's powers of 

 locomotion. The cold is really very great, especi- 

 ally in the hour before sunrise — generally about 

 one and a half or two hours after we start. It 

 soon gets warm enough to make one glad to ride 

 again, and by the time the march is over, and the 

 white city is in sight, the heat is very great, though 

 now diminishing daily. It is a sudden change of 

 temperature, truly, from near freezing at starting 

 to 90° or 100° at arriving ; and it is this, I think, 

 which makes us feel the heat so much in this climate. 

 In the daytime we get on very well, the heat seldom 

 exceeding 86°, and often not more than 84° and 82° 

 in tents. It sounds hot, but a house or tent at 

 84° is tolerably endurable, especially if there is a 

 breeze. My tent is twelve feet square inside, and 

 contains a low pallet-bed, a table, chair, two camel- 



