124 WANDERINGS OF A 



the ground ; several human skuUs bore deep sabre-cuts, and in 

 one secluded spot we came on an entire skeleton. It has been 

 asserted that aU the British were buried, so that the bones we 

 saw bleaching on the field were possibly those of the enemy. 



A nobler picture of filial and heroic devotion is not en- 

 rolled in history than the death of the younger Pennycuick, 

 who, on seeing his brave old father fall while leading on the 

 brigade, rushed forward to save him from the Sikh tulwar, and 

 fell himself, fighting fro patre pairiaque. There was no lack 

 of courage on that fatal day amongst the officers and men of 

 the British army. 



An of&cer who shared in the fight informed us that the 

 night after the battle was one of awful suspense, for nearly 

 half the British force lay dead or wounded in the jungle, and 

 at the mercy of a cruel and relentless enemy. Peace to the 

 ashes of the noble fellows cradled together on the field on 

 which they fell ! History records what the peaceful naturalist 

 even cannot pass unnoticed, and in the wild jungle the white 

 obelisk will mark the spot, and many a British soldier will 

 point to the little graveyard, and say, " There lie the brave men 

 who fell on the field of ChiUianwallah !" 



After a pleasant march of nearly two mouths' duration, we 

 arrived at Eawul Pindee, which is situated on a slightly un- 

 dulating plain about 24 miles from the Himalayas. The 

 country around is intersected and much broken up by ravines 

 and watercourses, and the surface is covered with kankur, a 

 calcareous concretionary deposit now in course of formation, 

 mostly in nodules, but here and there forming masses of con- 

 siderable thickness. 



Sixteen miles from Eawul Pindee stands the remarkable 

 round mound called Maunikyala tope, which is composed of 

 blocks of stone forming a dome 70 feet in height, with an 



