THE EXPEDITION AT BUXAE. 43 



circumstances nothing but the fabled magic of an Arabian tale 

 could conjure habitation on to that spot in the time. 



But as yet I knew not India nor the power of a Commissioner 

 and his Deputies. I could only read in the thoughtful faces of 

 our hosts that the task they were so ungrudgingly undertaking 

 on our behalf was little less than Herculean, and involving, as I 

 had reason to fear, much personal Sacrifice. I knew only too well 

 that this was so, three days after, when I stood in the same 

 mango grove surrounded by an imposing array of Indian tents, 

 all the equipment of camp life necessary and sufficient for our 

 whole party, an ideal observing ground in the centre, and two 

 clear days yet to the eclipse ! 



>L"K FIRST MKAL 



The original pioneers mustered on the ground in the course 

 of the day, and the accompanying illustration shows our first 

 meal al fresco. Our provisions at that period were likely to 

 have been scanty, but a royal birthday cake had sprung from 

 somewhere soon proved to be the thoughtful gift of Mr. 

 Chapman himself, who, moreover had engaged our necessary 

 -tart' of servants and had even sent us his own native cook, 

 that moment busy in our kitchen. At the far end of the 

 enclosure stood a noble Swiss cottage dining tent, which, as 

 also much of the camp furniture, I sadly fear was simply the 

 private property of Mr. Cargill. 



But half the charm of all lay in the fact that we ourselves 

 should have a share in arrangements as yet necessarily incom- 



