general helper; so that, when the sarvans
(camel drivers), the bullock-man, and the
syces (grooms), were included, my establishment
numbered, in all, eight servants, whose
pay in the aggregate amounted to fifty rupees
(five pounds) per mensem. This, of course,
included their "keep," for they provided
themselves with food. The expense of keeping
the camels, the bullocks, and the ponies,
was, in all, thirty-five rupees (three pounds
fifteen shillings), per mensem; while my own
expenses, including everything (except beer
and cheroots), were not in excess of fifty
rupees, per month; so that I was thus enabled
to travel about India at a cost of not more
than two hundred pounds per annum, or two
hundred and twenty-five pounds at the very
outside. The reader must remember that in
almost every one of the villages in India,
fowls, eggs, rice, flour, native vegetables,
curry stuff, and milk are procurable, and at
very small prices, if your servants do not
cheat you, and mine did not; for I made an
agreement with my boy khitmutghur, to that
effect; indeed I entered into a regular
contract with him previous to starting, touching
the purchase of every article that would be
required during my journey. This boy was,
in short, my commissariat department. His
name was Shamsheer (a word, signifying in
the Persian language, "a sword"), but he
generally went by the name of Sham. He
had been for several mouths in the service of
the assistant magistrate of Bijnore; who, as
a very great favour, permitted the boy to
accompany me on my travels; he was so
clever, so sharp, so intelligent, and so active
a servant. He was not more than sixteen,
and very short for his age; but stoutly built,
and as strong as a young lion. He was,
moreover, very good-looking and had, for a native
of Hindoostan, a very fair complexion. He
had been for several years the servant, or
page, of an officer on the staff of a governor-
general, and he spoke English with
considerable fluency, but with an idiom so quaint,
that it was amusing in the last degree to
listen to him. He had been "spoilt" in one
sense of the word, while at Government
House, not only by his own master, but by
the whole staff, who had encouraged him to
give his opinions on all subjects with a
freedom which was at first very disagreeable to
me. But, ere long, I, too, encouraged him
to do so; his opinions were so replete with
such strong common sense, and were
expressed in such an original fashion. If an
inquiry touching a certain administration
had been called for by Parliament, what an
invaluable witness would that boy have been
before a Committee of either house—
provided he had not been previously "tampered
with!"

When all my preparations had been
completed, I took leave of my friends, and left
Bijnore at three o'clock one morning. My
destination was Umballah. I did not take
the main road; but a shorter cut across the
country, conducted by a guide who knew the
district well, and who was enjoined to
procure for me another guide as soon as his
information failed him.

By seven o'clock, we had travelled over
twelve miles of ground, and as the sun was
beginning to be very warm, I commanded a
halt. Our tents were then pitched beneath
a tope (cluster), of mango trees, whose
branches formed a dense shade. Having
bathed, breakfasted, smoked, and read several
pages of a Persian book, I fell asleep, and
was not awakened until noon, when Sham
came into my tent, and reported that there
was an abundance of black partridge in the
neighbourhood: he then proposed that I
should dine early—at one, P.M.—and at half-
past four take my gun; and, permitting
him to take another, sally forth in search
of the game. To this proposal, I at once
assented, and removing my camp stool to
the opening of my little hill tent, I looked
out into the fields, where I saw some men
ploughing. For the first time, during my
travels, I was struck with the appearance
of the instrument which the natives use for
tilling the soil; an instrument which, in
fact, closely resembles that used by the
Romans, according to the directions laid down
in the Georgics:

"Curvi formam adcipit ulmus aratri," &c. &c.

—and, at first, I felt some surprise, that an
implement so apparently ill-fitted for the
purpose for which it is designed, should
answer all the requirements of the cultivator.
The substitution of the English
plough for this native hùr, has been several
times projected by gentlemen who were
zealous in the cause of agriculture; but
without any success, or reasonable hope
thereof; for when we consider the cheapness,
and the great amount of labour always
available, the general lightness of the soil,
the inaptitude of the natives of India for
great, or continued physical exertion, the
inferiority of the cattle, all of which are
the marked characteristics of India, it would
not only be undesirable, but impossible to
introduce the English plough, generally, as
an implement of husbandry, an implement
requiring physical strength, manual dexterity,
and a superior breed of cattle for draught.
Rude and simple as the native hùr is, or as
it may seem to the casual observer, cursorily
viewing the operation of ploughing, it has
still many good qualities which render it
peculiarly suited to the genius of the Indian
cultivator; and it is not in any immediate
endeavour to improve it, or alter it, that any
real benefit can be conferred on the cause of
Indian agriculture. All the efforts, therefore,
that have been made in that direction
have been time and trouble expended to no
purpose. It has been said, that all improvement
to be real, must be spontaneous, or take