NATURALIST IN INDIA. 315 



the Hazara country, among the lower Himalayan ranges, 

 KW. of Eawul Pindee, several of the baggage elephants died 

 very suddenly, but whether owing to climate or change of 

 food could not be ascertained. The drivers told me that the 

 climate of the hills does not agree with the animal. 



A residence at Peshawur, after a sojourn in other parts of 

 the Punjaub, is not by any means pleasant ; and perhaps, of all 

 other stations, this is the least invitmg to the naturalist, 

 but not in any way from the absence of objects of interest as 

 the unfortunate circumstances that prevent Europeans from 

 travelling in the vaUey or surrounding mountain-ranges. My 

 excursions were therefore confined to a few miles around the 

 station, and even on these occasions it was always doubtful 

 whether or not an Afredee or one or other of the bloodthirsty 

 hill-men, might not be lying in wait with matchlock or tulwar, 

 ready to despatch you. This year matters assumed a more 

 than usually serious aspect from the assassination of the 

 chief commissioner, Colonel Mackeson, by one of the lawless 

 and fanatical natives of the surrounding mountains, who 

 stabbed him in the verandah of his house. Unintimidated by 

 frequent and severe chastisements, these tribes continued their 

 depredations among the peaceful inhabitants of the valley, and 

 sneaked at night into the British lines, where they coolly mur- 

 dered sentries on their posts. One morning, whUst searching 

 for birds within a stone's throw of the military cordon that 

 constantly surrounded the camp, my attention was directed 

 to a group of natives assembled about a small mud-hut in a 

 hollow, where a person had earned a livelihood by grinding 

 com with a hand-mill. It was a wretched little hovel ; never- 

 theless, for the sake of the few handfuls of flour, one of these 

 ruffians had murdered the poor old man, whose body, despoiled 

 of clothing, lay half out at the doorway, presenting frightful 



