a stone elephant has been placed, admirably reconstructed from the fragments into which it had been destroyed. Bernier, who visited the city in Aurungzebe's reign, refers to the stone elephants standing at either side of the gate of the palace, and this is one of them. Removed thence and broken into a thousand fragments It remained forgotten and buried underground for more than a century and a half, until having been re-discovered it was set up here, A.D. 1868. The city is surrounded by a wall of heavy red sandstone masonry, entered by numerous gates, which retain the names given to them by Shah Jehan. The ridge on which the British army stood in 1857 is 1200 yards distant. We had 7000 men, including T Goorkhas, Sikhs, and the Irregular Horse: within the walls were 60,000 mutineers, whom their former leaders were wont to describe and believe in as the best of soldiers, well trained, and supplied with parks of artillery and munitions of war. They kept up so galling a fire on the overworked besiegers that, urged by Nicholson, the Council of War decided on an immediate assault. First in council and first in war, on the 14th September, 1857, he advanced to the Cashmere Gate at the head of a storming party one hundred and fifty strong, followed by the rest of the first column of eight hundred and fifty men. Many as are the tombs round Delhi, this is the only one which touches the hearts of all Englishmen. It is enclosed by a railing, with cypress trees at either end. "The grave of Brigadier General John Nicholson, who led the assault of Delhi, but fell in the hour of victory, mortally wounded, and died 23rd September, 1857, aged 35. "The post of honour and of danger was claimed by General Nicholson. He had been sent down by the Chief Commissioner to 'take Delhi.' It was no disparagement to those to whom rank gave a priority in that army to say that all eyes were turned to him. His arrival in camp gave a new vigour to the troops, a new hope to the Punjaub; even jealousy, where it existed among those whom he superseded, rose into emulation in the hearts of the nobler ones." * “In this assault it was Nicholson-Nicholson of the Punjaub— who was the leading and guiding spirit; he who, struck down by a mortal wound after he had forced the Cashmere Gate, sent from his dying bed the loudest and deepest remonstrances against retiring for retiring was talked of." + "The Chief Commissioner does not hesitate to affirm, that without John Nicholson Delhi could not have fallen."‡ "Anxiety and suspense," wrote Colonel Edwardes, "about Delhi, reached its climax on the 14th September, the day fixed for the storm; and when the telegraph at last announced that + Malleson's Recreations of an Indian Official. Sir Richard Temple. * Browne's Punjab and Delhi. desperate feat of arms, and General Nicholson dangerously wounded, it did not sound like victory. And day by day, as gate after gate and quarter after quarter of the rebel city was mastered by that band of heroes, the question still was, 'Is Nicholson any better?' On the 20th Delhi was completely in our possession, and every English heart thanked God for it. There seemed a hope, too, that Nicholson might live. On the 23rd, that hope was extinguished; and with a grief unfeigned, and deep and stern, and worthy of the man, the news was whispered, 'Nicholson is dead.'”* Leaving Delhi by rail for Umballa, a large military station, and by dawk to Kolka, on the ascent of the Himalayan Hills; thence riding to Kussowlie, a military station, after a night at Hurrypore, another day's ride brings you here. Simla, 7000 feet above the sea, is about fifty miles from the foot of the Himalayan range. On one side, over the intervening heights, is seen the horizon of the burning plains; on the other, rising over billows of mountains, the magnificent peaks covered with eternal snow. Here, enjoying a delightful climate, in the evenings a wood fire is welcome. * Browne's Punjab and Delhi. LETTER XII. } SIMLA TO LAHORE. LAHORE, 15th April, 1870. NOTHING is spoken of here but the distressing heat; yet heat is what we require; when it deserts us, blazing fires are called for, and rooms warmed up to the temperature of the lower regions, namely, the plains. Experience teaches that exercise makes all climates the same, and after a walk of seven miles before breakfast one is almost as well braced up as in the atmosphere of Simla. From your knowledge and study you would appreciate the wonders of the East. For. ""Twixt us thus the difference trims, Using head instead of limbs ; You have read what I have seen. Using limbs instead of head, I have seen what you have read ; Caste, the subject of your inquiry, is an endless theme. Its forms are so multitudinous that no one has yet satisfactorily explained their raison d'être, but perhaps on legitimate deduction they may be proved to end in defining the limits of the law of marriage between any two classes of human beings. Its obligations and restraints, the divisions it maintains, and the fear it instils, are considered by many as advantageous to the well-being of the community. It is, they say, an invisible police, which could not be withdrawn without dangerous consequences; and Christianity, which aims at its destruction, does not substitute an equivalent check. The power of caste is incredible. Returning from Simla by the Thibet road to Kolka, I was carried ́in a jompon by four coolies, with a relay of four more. The first day they walked from Simla to Solon, twenty-six miles, leaving at 11 A.M. and arriving at 7 P.M., with only one stoppage of half an hour. At Solon, for caste reasons, they would not eat the bread made there, and supped on a handful of corn roasted with a little flour. Starting at six next morning, two hours were lost at Durrhumpore, waiting for the servants, who could not keep up with the coolies. Here, for the same reason, they ate nothing, beyond a repetition of their night's miserable meal, then proceeded, though fatigued, and changing their relays frequently, without relaxing speed, until they completed the journey of fifty-six miles. While resting a few moments, the bearer mentioned their want of food, when, on offering the head man a tin of biscuits, he drew himself up proudly, and shaking his head, said, "Ne, ne, Sahib, sub Hindu hai," "No, no, Sahib, we are all Hindoos." "If it please you to dine with us." "Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you," is what the Hindoo says, and death would be preferable to a breach of this precept, even to the extent of touching any vessel from which one not of his own particular caste had eaten or drunk. Starving as these poor people often are, you might place rich viands before them with perfect security. What exercises so extraordinary an influence? The fear of expulsion, excommunication in its worst form, eternal separation from wife, children, family, friends-a sentence worse than death; to walk about the earth a thing accursed. General G. Le G. Jacob, in his work "Western India," relates having been asked by the regimental doctor to use his influence with a sick sepoy, to induce him to take brandy medicinally. "I found him quite sensible, and glad to see me, but nothing could shake his resolution. The doctor wants me to drink brandy,' |