cords of history, its name and fame glimmering
faintly in the dim and distant perspective of ancient Hindostani legend
and mythical tales. Within the last few hundred years, Kurnaul has been
taken and retaken, plundered and destroyed, by Sikh, Rajput, Mogul, and
Mahratta freebooters, and was occupied in 1795 by the celebrated
adventurer George Thomas, who figured so largely in the military history
of India during the latter part of the last century. Here also was fought
the great battle between Nadir Shah and Mohammed Shah, the Emperor of
Delhi, that resulted in the defeat of the latter, the subsequent looting
of Delhi, and the carrying off to Persia of the famous peacock throne.
Splendid water-tanks, spreading banyans, feathery date-palms, and
toddy-palms render the suburbs of Kurnaul particularly attractive, these
days; but the place is unhealthy, being very low and the surrounding
country subject to the overflow that induces fever.

A letter of introduction from Umballa to Mr. D, deputy commissioner at
Kurnaul, insures me hospitable recognition and creature comforts upon
reaching the latter place at 9 a.m. Spending the heat of mid-day in Mr. D
's congenial society, recounting the incidents of my journey and learning
in return much valuable information in regard to India, I continue on my
journey again when the fiercest heat of the sun has subsided in favor of
the slightly more tolerable evening. The country grows more and more
interesting from various standpoints as my progression carries me
southward. Not only does it become intensely interesting by reason of its
historical associations in connection with the old Mogul Empire, but in
its peculiar aspect of Indian life to-day. Monkeys are hopping about all
over the place, moving leisurely about the roofs and walls of the
villages, or complacently examining one another's phrenological
peculiarities beneath the trees. About the streets, shops, and houses
these mischievous anthropoids are seen in droves, moving hither and
thither at their own sweet will, as much at home as the human occupants
and owners of the houses themselves.

Monkeys, being held sacred by the Hindoos, are allowed to remain in the
towns and villages unmolested, doing pretty much as they please.
Sometimes they swarm in such numbers that eternal vigilance alone keeps
them from devouring the fruit, grain, and other eatables displayed for
sale in front of the shops. When they get to be an insufferable nu