79 



and high-spirited. The villages have commonly little mud forts 

 attached to them, which on the late reduction of the country by 

 the vizier, frequently made a gallant defence, even against our re- 

 gular troops acting with, him :. those forts are now mostly dis- 

 mantled. As we left the Jumna and approached the Ganges, we 

 found the country more populous, better cultivated, and abundant 

 in cattle, the late famine having raged with much less violence in 

 this part of the Douab. I wish also to impute it in some measure 

 to the better government of our ally the vizier, under British in- 

 fluence. 



Caunpore is the Company's most remote northerly military 

 station, except Futty-Ghur. It does not seem to be judiciously 

 chosen; for, if with a view to protect the Douab, Etaya appears 

 to be preferable : if to support the vizier's government in Luck- 

 now, the opposite side of the river seems to claim the preference. 

 The brigade stationed at Caunpore, consists of about ten thousand 

 men, including infantry, cavalry, and artillery; from which I un- 

 derstand the force at Futty-Ghur is a detachment. 



Thus, from Mr. Cruso's journal, contained in- about five hun- 

 dred folio manuscript pages, and the valuable communications 

 from Sir Charles Malet, I have conducted the embassy from the 

 Taptee to the Ganges; a journey exceeding eight hundred miles, 

 chiefly through a country hitherto but little known. It is not my 

 intention to enter into military details at the different cantonments 

 in the Bengal provinces, nor to particularize the manners, customs, 

 amusements, and local habits in the British character, Avhich are 

 fully discussed throughout the remainder of the journal. The 



