| Description | Willim invites Amelia on an uphill ride, describing the journey to Darjeeling. The road twists in a thousand angles for a thirty mile journey, he writes. Johnny's [John Herschel's] first exclamation was that it 'cuts out Wales'. William continues to describe the hills, covered in trees, and their dangers and irrigation by split bamboos from rills and streams. They pass an 'Eagle's Nest' tea-planter's pavilion, and the bazaar at Kursiong, to a dak bungalow. He describes the hill ponies sent down by Dr [Archibald] Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling. The road to Chatakpoor [Chatakpur], where they spent the night, was grand. There was fog, and William again describes the road and terrain before their arrival at Chatakpoor by evening. He considers this as a miserable place; they has companions there, a Mr Macdonell with his boy Archie, on their way to England, who advised them to leave the usual road for the Sinchal hill. They slept on the floor before the fire and left in the morning fog. William gives an account of this damp ride before sunrise and William sees frost for the first time in six years. The letter pauses at 'To be continued in our next' before continuing 'We missed last mail...'. They had been hurrying about and William notes that they left Calcutta on 23 February where they had been for five days, three of them spent in bed. Johnny had order to go to Roorkee. They reached Benares on the 26th, Allahabad on the next day, and from there went to Cawnpore [Kanpur], where they saw the well. There was a report in the bazaar that Nana [Nana Saheb Peshwa II] had been captured with ten followers. They went to Lucknow on 1 March and back via Lucknow to Dehli, spending two days there. William found a letter there recalling him to Arrah to officiate as a magistrate. William would have chosen this one if he has been offered a choice. He gives a little background on the location, saying it has been reported as being quiet for a few months. After saying goodbye to John, he travelled, and gives an itinerary for his journeyings.
Paginated 33-40 |