disorder
and the punishment of any who may be rash enough to disturb the
general tranquillity. But it is also my duty to extend the hand of
encouragement and friendship to all who labour for the good of India,
and to assure you that the chiefs who make their own dependents
contented and prosperous, establish thereby the strongest claim on the
favour and protection of the British Government.

I bid you now, Princes and Chiefs, farewell for a time, with the
expression of my earnest hope that, on your return to your homes,
health and happiness may attend you.

[Sidenote: Muttra.]

Proceeding northwards from Agra, up the valley of the Jumna, they arrived,
after three days' march, at Muttra.

The mornings (he wrote) are cool, almost cold; and were it not for
clouds of dust, the marching would be pleasant, although the country
traversed is flat, and not very interesting.... Muttra itself is
interesting from the sanctity which the Hindoos attach to it. Special
blessings are earned by those who bathe in the river here; and the
town is consequently largely resorted to by pilgrims. A great many
fairs are held at Muttra during the year, which enables the Hindoos
who resort thither to combine devotion and business. To ride through
the narrow streets of the sacred town on an elephant, and find oneself
on a level either with the upper stories of the houses which are
frequently decorated with elaborately carved oriel windows, or with
the roofs on which holy monkeys in great numbers are disporting
themselves, is a very curious spectacle.

[Sidenote: Delhi.]

On the 23rd of February the camp left Muttra; on the 3rd of March it was
pitched under the walls of Delhi--'unquestionably the place of greatest
interest' visited in this part of the tour.

The approach to it through ten miles of a desolate-looking campagna,
thickly strewn with funereal monuments reared in honour of the
sovereigns and mighty men of former dynasties, reminded me of Rome.
The city itself bears traces of more recent calamities. The Palace has
been a good deal maltreated, and the Jumma Musjid (Great Mosque), a
magnificent building, has only just been restored to the worshippers.
Beyond the town, and over the place where the camp was pitched, lay
the heights which were occupied by the British troops, and signalised
by so many deeds of valou