found that the pole was sent on in a cart, and there was nothing but the bullock yoke, so we drove on discomfited. Then we came to an empty buggy and put a trooper to guard it and sent another back to tell G. it was there, but it turned out that it belonged to of the body guard, who has been in constant scrapes and is under arrest, so G. could not well take that. However, H. found his own horse for hin, and altogether we got into camp in very good time, but half the people came in late with all sorts of difficulties. Camp conveyances are very good for ten or twelve miles, but always fail on a long march; the bearers get tired and out of sorts. We pass Mrs. —, your likeness, every morning, with her bearers guarded by two sepoys, because they will put down the tonjaun and run

away.

Merahoon, Monday.

It was lucky we had our halt at FuttehporeSickrey. Except Delhi, it is the most interesting place we have seen, and there is more to sketch, and in these hurried journeys I do not think it any sin to sketch on Sunday. There is a tomb of marble here, carved like lace-it

would make such a splendid dairy for Windsor Castle, it looks so cool and so royal-and there is a beautiful gateway, the arch of which is ninety feet high; and then there are some remains of the Emperor Akbar, which give a good idea of the magnificent fellow he was. The throne in

which he sat to hear petitions

stands in the

centre of a hall, with a cross of stone balconies, abutting from it, to four open arches.

His

ministers were placed at each end of that cross, their seats looking out on the courts below, so any grievance that was stated to them, or against them, they were obliged to announce at the full extent of their voices, else the Emperor could not hear them, and the petitioner below was made certain that his grievance was rightly stated. This throne, &c., is most beautifully carved, as you will see whenever I send my sketch books home. There is also a lovely carved room, all over European devices, supposed to have been built by the directions of a favourite wife, whom he imported from Constantinople. In the centre of the court, a pucheesee board (pucheesee is a sort of chess) is laid out in squares of marble, and there is a raised seat on which Akbar sat and played the games; the pieces were all female

slaves splendidly dressed, and whoever won carried off the sixteen ladies.

Agra, Wednesday, Dec. 18.

We came here yesterday and went off the same afternoon to see the Taj, which is quite as beautiful, even more so, than we had expected after all we have heard, and as we have never heard of anything else, that just shows how entirely perfect it must be. You must have heard and read enough about it, so I spare you any more, but it really repays a great deal of the trouble of the journey. We passed the day in the tents, as they were more convenient for G.'s levee, and in the afternoon came on to this delightful house, which was Sir Charles Metcalfe's and is now Mr. H.'s, who has good-naturedly entrenched himself in one wing and settled us in the rest. It is beautifully furnished, and so clean and quiet. I really love it-it is so pleasant not to feel dusty.

Friday, Dec. 20.

We went yesterday to see Secundra, where Akbar is buried, and his tomb of beautiful white marble is up four stories of grotesque buildings, well worth seeing, so much so that, as G. had a

durbar to-night and could not go out, F. and I went back alone, and had rather a rest, in sketching there, for two hours, but it is impossible to make anything of these elaborate Mogul buildings, they are all lines and domes, and uncommonly trying to the patience. We are attempting to buy Agra marbles and curiosities, but somehow cannot find many, and those we ordered before we came down are not half done, but they will be very pretty. I have got two little tombs, facsimiles of Shah Jehan's and his wife's, with all the same little patterns inlaid. Valuable-but I wish they were not quite so dear. We were at home on Thursday night-there seem to be a great many people at Agra. Mrs. H., who was a Miss A., is very pretty and nice. We stay here till the 1st, and this fortnight of rest from tents is a great comfort. My small health is uncommonly good just now.

CHAPTER XXII.

Agra, Sunday, December 29, 1839. I HAVE let a week pass by this time, partly because since we have been here, we have given a ball and four large dinners, seen a great many sights, had a ball given to us and a déjeûner at the Taj, and also that an awful change has taken place in our plans, one that it makes me sick to think of. We are going to stay here for the next ten months: to whom G. offered the Lieutenant-Governorship and who knew all his plans and who had acuteness enough to carry them on, began by accepting, and ended by declining in consequence of domestic calamities which he was unable to explain.' They say that Mrs.

is gone out of her mind. I really think it must have been at the notion of coming here. It is too late in the year to make any new arrangements, and there is so much of im