THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 185 



mode of terminating one's own existence the most 

 frequently resorted to. 



Disused wells and wells in lonely and unfrequented 

 places were, I may add, much used in former days 

 by Thugs and robbers for the concealment of the 

 bodies of their victims. Occasionally they are even 

 now still so used. 



I find in my diary nothing more of interest to record 

 during the remainder of the rainy season ; I will, there- 

 fore, pass on to the cold weather. Owing to the higher 

 latitude, the cold weather commences here earlier than 

 at my two former stations ; it lasts longer, and while it 

 lasts it is cooler, more bracing and agreeable. 



It is now the middle of October ; the mornings are 

 delicious. After returning from my early ride, I can 

 walk about the garden till the sun is quite high without 

 any inconvenience ; then I sit in the summer-house, 

 read, and drink my early tea. The blue sky is above, 

 the flowers around, and, softened by the distance, there 

 falls pleasantly on my ear the monotonous droning hum 

 of the Persian wheel. 



The garden presents a pretty scene, but beyond it lies 

 one far grander. I pass the belt of trees that encloses 

 the compound, and see stretched before me the long, 

 glistening line of the far Himalaya. During the rains 

 the mountains were nearly always concealed behind a 

 thick bank of cloud ; now at morning and evening they 

 stand out clear in all their sublimity. The mountains 

 run from north-west to south-east ; and, seen from here, 

 they appear to form a boundary round nearly a fourth 

 of the horizon. They rise in successive ranges : the 



