HAUNTS AND HOBBIES OF 

 AN INDIAN OFFICIAL 



CHAPTER I. 



ANTS 



SOME few years after the Mutiny, I was appointed 

 to a station up the country. The station stood on 

 the bank of the Ganges. In the early days of our 

 rule it had been to some extent a seat of government. 

 It was the headquarters of several of the chief civil 

 offices, and a strong military force was maintained 

 at it, but as time passed the importance of the station 

 had declined. One by one the great offices had been 

 removed elsewhere, and the number of the troops had 

 been reduced. Just previous to the Mutiny they con- 

 sisted only of a portion of a native regiment. The 

 station, however, was still a tolerably large one ; but 

 the many unoccupied houses and uncared-for gardens 

 gave to it a rather deserted and melancholy appearance. 

 I arrived at the station about the middle of the 

 month of May, the very hottest period of the year. 

 Some few days were occupied in selecting a house and 

 settling myself in it ; and then one afternoon, when 

 B 



