Forty-one years in India | Page 6

ROUND KABUL IN DECEMBER, 1879
XXXII. CROSSING THE ZAMBURAK KOTAL. (_From a Painting
by the Chevalier Desanges, engraved upon wood by W. Cheshire_)
XXXIII. PLAN OF THE ROUTE TAKEN FROM KABUL TO
KANDAHAR
XXXIV. SKETCH OF THE BATTLE-FIELD OF KANDAHAR
XXXV. PORTRAITS OF THE THREE COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF
IN INDIA (SIR DONALD STEWART, SIR FREDERICK ROBERTS,
AND SIR ARTHUR HARDINGE). (_From a Photograph, engraved
upon wood by Swain_)
XXXVI. PORTRAIT OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS OF

DUFFERIN AND AVA, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.M.S.I., G.M.I.E.,
F.R.S., VICEROY OF INDIA. (_From an engraving by the Fine Art
Society of a portrait by the late Frank Holl, R.A., re-engraved upon
wood by George Pearson_)
XXXVII. PORTRAIT OF HIS HIGHNESS ABDUR RAHMAN,
AMIR OF AFGHANISTAN. (_From a Photograph, engraved upon
wood by Swain_)
XXXVIII. MAP OF CENTRAL ASIA
XXXIX. PORTRAIT OF LADY ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR.
(_From a Photograph by Messrs. Johnson and Hoffmann, engraved
upon wood by George Pearson_)
XL. PORTRAIT OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUESS OF
LANSDOWNE, K.G., G.C.M.G., G.M.S.I., G.M.I.E., VICEROY OF
INDIA. (_From a Photograph by Messrs. Cowell, Simla, engraved
upon wood by Swain_)
XLI. PORTRAIT OF FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS ON HIS
ARAB CHARGER 'VONOLEL.' (_From an Oil-painting by Charles
Furse, made from an Instantaneous Photograph, and engraved upon
wood by E. Whymper_)
* * * * *

FORTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA.
CHAPTER I.
1852
Voyage to India--Life in Calcutta--A destructive cyclone
--Home-sickness
Forty years ago the departure of a cadet for India was a much more

serious affair than it is at present. Under the regulations then in force,
leave, except on medical certificate, could only be obtained once during
the whole of an officer's service, and ten years had to be spent in India
before that leave could be taken. Small wonder, then, that I felt as if I
were bidding England farewell for ever when, on the 20th February,
1852, I set sail from Southampton with Calcutta for my destination.
Steamers in those days ran to and from India but once a month, and the
fleet employed was only capable of transporting some 2,400 passengers
in the course of a year. This does not include the Cape route; but even
taking that into consideration, I should doubt whether there were then
as many travellers to India in a year as there are now in a fortnight at
the busy season.
My ship was the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Ripon,
commanded by Captain Moresby, an ex-officer of the Indian Navy, in
which he had earned distinction by his survey of the Red Sea. A few
Addiscombe friends were on board, leaving England under the same
depressing circumstances as myself, and what with wind and weather,
and the thought that at the best we were bidding farewell to home and
relations for ten long years, we were anything but a cheerful party for
the first few days of the voyage. Youth and high spirits had, however,
re-asserted themselves long before Alexandria, which place we reached
without incident beyond the customary halts for coaling at Gibraltar
and Malta. At Alexandria we bade adieu to Captain Moresby, who had
been most kind and attentive, and whose graphic accounts of the
difficulties he had had to overcome whilst mastering the navigation of
the Red Sea served to while away many a tedious hour.
On landing at Alexandria, we were hurried on board a large mast-less
canal boat, shaped like a Nile dahabeah. In this we were towed up the
Mahmoudieh canal for ten hours, until we arrived at Atfieh, on the Nile;
thence we proceeded by steamer, reaching Cairo in about sixteen hours.
Here we put up at Shepherd's Hotel for a couple of days, which were
most enjoyable, especially to those of the party who, like myself, saw
an eastern city and its picturesque and curious bazaars for the first time.
From Cairo the route lay across the desert for ninety miles, the road
being merely a cutting in the sand, quite undistinguishable at night. The

journey was performed in a conveyance closely resembling a
bathing-machine, which accommodated six people, and was drawn by
four mules. My five fellow-travellers were all cadets, only one of
whom (Colonel John Stewart, of Ardvorlich, Perthshire) is now alive.
The transit took some eighteen hours, with an occasional halt for
refreshments. Our baggage was carried on camels, as were the mails,
cargo, and even the coal for the Red Sea steamers.
On arrival at Suez we found awaiting us the Oriental, commanded by
Captain Powell. A number of people met us there who had left England
a month before we did; but their steamer having broken down, they had
now to be accommodated on board ours. We were thus very
inconveniently crowded until we arrived at Aden, where several of the
passengers left us for Bombay. We were not,