THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 45 



on over-night and is pitched ready for your arrival in the 

 morning, in the deep shade of some mango grove, near a 

 populous village which supplies all your wants; starting after 

 the morning cup of hot coffee to ride slowly along through green 

 fields and grassy plains; and looking on the forest-covered hills 

 on the blue horizon only as an agreeable vanishing point in 

 the landscape, or as unpleasantly complicating the questions 

 of liquor excise and police administration ! It is amazing 

 what a difference the point of view makes. The man who 

 has dwelt for years among the forests, and their simple wild 

 inhabitants, will regard nearly every question that arises in a 

 wholly different light from him whose experience has lain 

 only among the corn fields of the plains, and their tame and 

 settled tillers. And each of them will probably arrive at a 

 conclusion as little comprehending the whole bearings of the 

 question as the other. 



The climate of Central India in the cold season, that is, 

 from November to March, is almost perfect for the life of 

 combined outdoor exercise and indoor occupation which forms 

 the healthiest sort of existence in India. The midday sun, if 

 a little hot for hard work in the open air, is just sufficient 

 to make the temperature under canvas delightful, while the 

 mornings and evenings are cool and bracing, and the nights 

 cold enough to make several blankets a necessity. In Janu- 

 ary ice will generally be found on water that has been exposed 

 all night. Nothing can in my opinion exceed the exhilarating 

 effect of a march at such a season, with pleasant companions, 

 through a country teeming with interest in its scenery, its 

 people, and its natural productions, such as is this region of 

 the Narbada valley. 



Of the history of the country and its people something has 

 been given in the last chapter. The valley was not long ago 



