OF THE OLD WORLD. G5 



delighted to see the old Pill carefully watering what, 

 to the uninitiated, must have appeared like a garden 

 of straw, but we knew that a goodly store of " long 

 corks" (claret) and "Bass's" nectar, "may his shadow 

 never be less," was cooling in the wind for our even- 

 ing repast. 



We all adjourned to our different tents to enjoy 

 our bath, which the day's fag rendered particularly 

 refreshing. In no part of the world is the real luxury 

 of a bath so appreciated as it is in India. There you 

 bathe the first thing you get up in the morning ; 

 again, when you come back tired after a hot morning 

 parade ; again, before you sit down to dinner ; and, 

 in the hot weather, if you want to sleep well, you 

 will plunge into your bath just before you turn in 

 for the night. Are you overcome and oppressed by 

 the hot weather ? Take a bath. Do you return 

 tired to your tent after a hard day's fag under a hot 

 sun? nothing in the world serves sooner to dispel 

 fatigue and lassitude, than a few chatties (earthen 

 pots) of cold water thrown over the body. Trust an 

 old soldier, my gentle reader, there is some truth in 

 the cold water cure. 



Eefreshed and enlivened by our ablutions, we all 



met at dinner, "hungry as hunters," and the doctor's 



catering met ^vith our universal approbation. After 



the clattering of dishes and the popping of bottles 



had somewhat subsided, Mac astonished the doctor's 



weak nerves with an account of the tiger's lair, and 



at last worked up the old Scotchman to such a state 



£ 



