LA HAUTE EG OLE. 



deep-cut l>ed beneath. The white minarets of a mosque 

 towered in the distance above the fog, and beneath lay the 

 temples of Muttra, with their broad stone steps sloping to 

 the water's edge. It was the first pretty picture our 

 eyes had lit on for weeks, and came like an oasis in the 

 wilderness. 



The Arab horse which the Aligarh Tehsildar sent me was 

 selected as being quiet and ' warranted to carry a lady." 

 He is a confidential animal, and with a new pair of forelegs 

 might be a pleasant hack ; but, whether from weakness or 

 pure " cussedness," he stumbles at every other step, and 

 comes on his head regularly every two or three minutes. 

 Alan says all Arabs stumble at any pace but a gallop. This 

 one sustains the racial reputation, and added to it by turn- 

 ing a complete somersault as I was cantering into Muttra. 

 Fortunately he selected a soft place, and, beyond a crushed 

 hat and a coating of white dust, I was not much the worse. 



The dak bungalow is a mile or more from the town, but 

 close to the military cantonment, and closer still to the 

 cemetery, which is next door. At the beginning of the 

 century, Muttra was on the frontier of the old East India 

 ( Yimpany's territory ; and this burial-ground contains many 

 monuments to officers killed in the fights at Deeg and 

 Bhurtpore. Some of the tombstones have quaint inscrip- 

 tions. One is to •• Mrs. Jones, the dearly loved wife of Mr. 

 Jones, aged thirteen years." 



