MADRAS. 23 



short period. The whole of the quarters being occupied, we 

 had tents allotted to us, pitched in the compound, or ground 

 attached to the building, which were destined to be our 

 residence until our appointment to different regiments up the 

 country. 



Everything was new and interesting to us except the heat 

 and the mosquitos : the richness of the tropical vegetation 

 the picturesque costumes of the natives the luxuries of an 

 oriental tiffin, so different from what we had been accustomed 

 to, with its endless variety of curries, and pale ale, and 

 Madeira accompaniments, and all the delicious fruits peculiar 

 to this part of the world. 



I presented my letters of introduction, and received the 

 usual conventional dinner invitations ; attended the Gover- 

 nor's and Commander-in-Chief 's levees, and in the course of a 

 lew weeks was appointed to do duty that is to say, learn 

 niy drill and the first elements of military science, of neither 

 of which I had the slightest previous knowledge, with a regi- 

 ment stationed at Wallajabad, a cantonment situated at 

 about fifty miles distance up the country. 



I was ordered to join a large detachment of cadets and 

 soldiers, both native and European, under the command of 

 an officer en route to different stations in the Presidency, and 

 having provided myself with the usual complement of sable 

 domestics, purchased a tattoo (or pony), procured a subaltern's 

 tent from the Government stores, and filled my bullock 

 trunks and cowry baskets with what was considered neces- 

 sary for use and comfort, I fairly started on my Indian 

 career. 



As I am not about to fatigue the reader with the oft- 

 repeated description of Indian scenery, and all the phases of 

 an Indian military life of those days, but merely recapitulate 

 a few of my own adventures, I shall merely add that our 

 mode of travelling was by short marches of from ten to 



