CHAPTER XL 

 THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 



THE garden attached to this house is very large 

 and extremely pretty. It is indeed, I think, one 

 of the very prettiest of the English gardens in Upper 

 India. It abounds in orange, lemon, and pomegranate 

 trees ; and also, due to the more northerly latitude, 

 there are grapes and peaches as well. Roses in pro- 

 fusion border the paths, and scattered over the lawn 

 there are many oleanders and other flowering shrubs. 

 In the centre of the garden there is a very large 

 thatched summer-house ; and the water by which the 

 garden is irrigated is raised from the well by means of 

 to me the novelty of a Persian wheel. 



I had returned from my drive the other morning, and 

 was sauntering through the garden. When near the 

 summer-house I came on a grasshopper, one of that 

 curious variety termed by Europeans the " praying 

 mantis." He was on the path, seated on his hind legs ; 

 his long body was erect, and his front legs raised with 

 the feet joined, exactly like the arms and hands of a 

 man in an attitude of devotion. The little creature 

 allowed me to approach quite near, even to touch it. 

 Then of a sudden it gave a spring, shot high into the 



