LETTER IV. SAMBHALPUR, HARDA, 

 DELHI, AND PETERHOF 



SIMLA, April 23rd, 1909. 



I PRESENTED my Budget Statement on the last 

 day of March, and for six weeks previously I can 

 honestly say that I worked twelve hours out of the 

 twenty-four under very trying conditions. The 

 weather in Calcutta in March is always very trying ; 

 very hot and very damp. This year it was abnor- 

 mally bad, and there was a great deal of sickness 

 in consequence. Work under these circumstances 

 was exceptionally trying, and I must confess that 

 it was an enormous relief to me to get into the 

 train and turn my back on the capital of India, 

 although on the whole I cannot say that I dislike 

 Calcutta. Indeed, personally, I should be quite 

 prepared to live there all the year round if I had 

 two clear months' leave during the worst season 

 of the year. 



I left Calcutta on April ist, and went into the 

 Central Province in the hope of getting tiger. I 

 reached Sambhalpur on the 2nd, and was met by 

 the Deputy-Commissioner, a charming man of the 

 name of Moberly, who kindly ran my camp for 

 me and did all he could to find me sport. I had 

 to drive twenty-eight miles along a road part of 

 which had been washed away, and I did not reach 

 the camp till late at night. The position of the 



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