THE HURDWAR FAIR. 9 



perhaps fortunately, no head appeared, for just as we expected 

 the elephant to be down upon us, with a loud snort it sud- 

 denly stopped short, and nothing more did we see or hear of 

 it but the rustling of the reeds as it made off. 



After three days' travel through the Doon, we quitted the 

 hill-tracts for the open plains, where we crossed the Ganges 

 at Hurdwar. The great holy fair at this place of Hindoo 

 sanctity, where countless thousands of pilgrims annually con- 

 gregate to purify themselves in the sacred river, was recently 

 over, and the vast crowds had dispersed, carrying with them, 

 far and wide, that terrible pest, cholera, which, as usual, had 

 broken out amongst this sweltering mass of humanity in, a 

 fearfully virulent form. I firmly believe that those dreadful 

 epidemics which sometimes almost devastate whole districts 

 of Hindustan and its neighbouring countries, emanate prin- 

 cipally from this source. 



After ten days' weary travel through a fiery atmosphere, 

 resembling the colour of pea-soup, myriads of flies, and with 

 disease rampant around, we hailed with intense relief and joy 

 our first sight of the outer hills of Kumaon, as they loomed 

 through the murky haze. Our last day's march, before re- 

 entering the mountains, was across the Terai. This belt of 

 dense forest and swamp extends, as is well known, for hun- 

 dreds of miles along the base of the Himalayas, varying in 

 breadth. From June till November its climate is deadly. 

 During the rest of the year it is comparatively healthy, when 

 game of many sorts and sizes, from a jack-snipe to a wild 

 elephant, may be found there, not to speak of the mahseer- 

 fishing in its rivers. There is always, however, a feeling of 

 restraint when boxed up in a howdah, as well as a certain 

 amount of dependence upon the elephant that carries you 

 and the mahout who drives it, which, in my humble opinion, 

 detract much from the enjoyment of this style of sport ; and 

 from the close heat of the atmosphere and the thickness of 

 the jungle, it can hardly be either pleasurably or properly 



