f Calcutta. He is
acquainted only with Bengal civilians and other dwellers in (what is
irreverently styled) 'the ditch.'" Indeed, I fear that I am exposed to
the same reproach in your circle. I see no remedy for this evil, if I
am to remain constantly here.

[Sidenote: Projected tour.]

Starting from these premises he came to the conclusion, that 'it was better
to organise a tour on a comprehensive scale, even though it involved a long
absence from Calcutta, than to attempt to hurry to distant places and back
again during successive winters.' Accordingly, it was arranged that as soon
as the business of the Legislative Council was concluded, he should start
for the north, and travel by easy stages to Simla, visiting all the places
which he ought to see on his way. After spending the hot weather at the
Hills, he was to proceed early in the next winter to the Punjab, inspecting
it thoroughly, and returning before the summer heats either to Simla again,
or to Calcutta, as public business might determine. For the Session, if so
it might be called, of 1863-4, he was to summon his councillors to meet him
somewhere in the north-west, at some capital city, 'not a purely military
station, but where the Council might obtain some knowledge of local and
native feeling such as did not reach Calcutta.' The spot ultimately fixed
upon was Lahore, the capital of the large and loyal province of that name.
The earlier part of the tour was to be made chiefly by railway, with a
comparatively small retinue; but for the latter part of it he was to be
accompanied by a camp, furnished forth with all the pride, pomp, and
circumstance belonging to the progress of an Eastern Monarch, and necessary
therefore in order to produce the desired effect on the minds of the
natives.

[Sidenote: Railway to Benares.]

It was on the 5th of February, 1863, that the Vice-regal party left
Calcutta. They travelled by railway to Benares, which they reached on the
evening of the 6th. The first phenomenon which struck them, as Lord Elgin
afterwards wrote, was the 'very sensible change of climate which began to
make itself felt at some 250 miles from Calcutta.'

The general character (he said) of the country continued to be as
level as ever; but the air became more bracing, the surface of the
soil more arid, and the vegetation less rank. Hot mid-days, and cold
nights and mornings, are substituted for the moist and comparatively