58 SOANE VALLEY. Chap. II. 



and elephants to make the best of my way forward, 

 accompanying that gentleman, en route, to his residence at 

 Shahgunj, on the table-land. 



Both the climate and natural history of this flat on which 

 Sulkun stands, are similar to those of the banks of the 

 Soane; the crops are wretched. At this season the 

 dryness of the atmosphere is excessive : our nails cracked, 

 and skins peeled, whilst all articles of wood, tortoiseshell, 

 &c, broke on the slightest blow. The air, too, was 

 always highly electrical, and the dew-point was frequently 

 40° below the temperature of the air. 



The natives are far from honest : they robbed one of the 

 tents placed between two others, wherein a light was 

 burning. One gentleman in it was awake, and on 

 turning saw five men at his bedside, who escaped with 

 a bag of booty, in the shape of clothes, and a tempting 

 strong brass-bound box, containing private letters. The 

 clothes they dropped outside, but the box of letters was 

 carried off. There were about a hundred people asleep 

 outside the tents, between whose many fires the rogues 

 must have passed, eluding also the guard, who were, 

 or ought to have been, awake. 



