THE EXPEDITION AT TALNI. 9 



the (T.I. P. We had already received a promise of help and 

 liberal treatment before we left England, Mr. Thwaites having 

 corresponded with the secretary on our behalf. But the actual 

 arrangements took some hours to make. They resulted, how- 

 ever, in our having a special through carriage allotted for us 

 down to Talni instead of having to change at Bhusawal, and 

 a special goods truck was set apart for our instruments and 

 heavier personal luggage, all of which were at once placed in 

 the van and carefully locked up before our eyes, so that we were 

 assured they would not be tampered with until they were 

 actually delivered at our destination. In addition to these 

 favours a very substantial reduction was made to us in the 

 company's charges. We may add here that the same considera- 

 tion was shown us on our return, a special truck being detailed 

 for our instruments at Talni railway station when sending them 

 back to Bombay. 



Mr. Thwaites, having undertaken to be our forerunner at Talni, 

 started by the evening train, after about as busy a day as he had 

 ever experienced. The other four of us were to remain until 

 summoned by a telegram from him, and in consequence did not 

 leave until the evening of Wednesday, January 5th. In the 

 meantime Col. Adye made himself our guide to Bombay and 

 the neighbourhood. Now that we were actually in Bombay all 

 fear or thought of the plague seemed to vanish. On Tuesday 

 evening we drove through the native bazaar, and wondered, as 

 we viewed the crowds, if this was Bombay "empty and desolate/' 

 what it could be like when in the full tide of health and 

 prosperity. Col. Adye came to see us off on the Wednesday 

 evening, and we took leave of him, he promising to join us in 

 our camp the day before the eclipse. We never saw him again. 

 He attempted to fulfil his promise, but was taken ill on the 

 way down and was unable to complete the journey, and he died 

 in the week following the eclipse. This sad event had been 

 entirely unexpected by us, as he had written a long letter to 

 Mr, Smith only the day before he started to come down to us, 

 and it cast a great gloom over our last days in camp. 



There is no need for us to enlarge on the wonderful railway 

 line from Bombay up the Ghats. We travelled at night, of 

 course ; but a brilliant moon, now almost full, lit up the wild 

 mountain scenery like a northern day. The journey to Talni 

 took nearly eighteen hours, so that we did not arrive till about 

 three o'clock on Thursday afternoon. The country that we 

 traversed by daylight was very different from that which the 

 moon had shown us. We were crossing the great plain of 

 Central India, flat, bare, monotonous, and above all dusty ; and 

 we noted with many forebodings that, though the sky was 

 absolutely free from any trace of cloud, a bright dust-haze 

 whitened the entire sky. After passing Badnera, the last great 



