DEPARTURE FROM JAULNAH. 85 



was not exactly safe or agreeable at that time, we proposed 

 to avoid encamping near any that bore a bad character, and 

 rather select some solitary spot that presented a probability 

 of finding game of any kind; arid as we carried with us, in 

 the shape of my " maty," one of the most accomplished curry 

 manufacturers in the station, and one that could reduce 

 anything in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or 

 the waters under the earth, into an excellent dish of the 

 national entree, there was no great fear of our starving. The 

 greatest inconvenience we had to fear was the heat, against 

 which we had little or no artificial defence; but we trusted 

 by long marches to get over the three hundred miles we had 

 to travel, or at least that part of it that lay between the in- 

 tervening military stations on our road, and where we were 

 sure to meet with every comfort and hospitality. 



It was without one feeling of regret, but, on the contrary, 

 with the most unalloyed pleasure, that I bade adieu to the 

 torrid plains of Jaulnah, where I had passed more than the 

 last two years of my life, and where so many of my com- 

 panions had found their last resting-place to festivities I 

 had no longer any appetite to enjoy, and to the dull, ordinary 

 routine of a military life, without any of the opportunities of 

 a campaign, or any probable chance of one, to add excite- 

 ment, glory, or profit to it. I longed once more to breathe 

 the healthy atmosphere of my native land, and, with the 

 means, to partake of and enjoy all those blessings of society 

 from which I had been severed by an early expatriation, and 

 which were not to be found in an up-country station in 

 India. Indeed, animated with such feelings, I do not believe 

 any temptation in the world would have induced me to 

 remain. 



However, in spite of all the annoyances and miseries of an 

 Indian life, the officers were cheerful and sociable, and I fancy 

 tolerably happy, on the whole. They led an indolent and 



