ing; and, although
the scenery is nothing like as grand as in the Himalayas, there are
exquisite views to be had, and it is more restful and homelike. We
made many warm friends and agreeable acquaintances, who when our time
in Madras came to an end presented my wife with a very beautiful
clock 'as a token of esteem and affection'; we were very sorry to bid
farewell to our friends and to our Nilgiri home.

Each cold season I made long tours in order to acquaint myself with
the needs and capabilities of the men of the Madras Army. I tried hard
to discover in them those fighting qualities which had distinguished
their forefathers during the wars of the last and the beginning of
the present century. But long years of peace, and the security and
prosperity attending it, had evidently had upon them, as they always
seem to have on Asiatics, a softening and deteriorating effect; and I
was forced to the conclusion that the ancient military spirit had died
in them, as it had died in the ordinary Hindustani of Bengal and the
Mahratta of Bombay, and that they could no longer with safety be
pitted against warlike races, or employed outside the limits of
southern India.

It was with extreme reluctance that I formed this opinion with regard
to the successors of the old Coast Army, for which I had always
entertained a great admiration. For the sake of the British officers
belonging to the Madras Army, too, I was very loath to be convinced of
its inferiority, for many of them were devoted to their regiments, and
were justly proud of their traditions.

However, there was the army, and it was my business as its
Commander-in-Chief to do all that I possibly could towards rendering
it an efficient part of the war establishment of India.

Madrassies, as a rule, are more intelligent and better educated than
the fighting races of northern India, and I therefore thought it could
not be difficult to teach them the value of musketry, and make them
excel in it. To this end, I encouraged rifle meetings and endeavoured
to get General Officers to take an interest in musketry inspections,
and to make those inspections instructive and entertaining to the men.
I took to rifle-shooting myself, as did the officers on my personal
staff,[3] who were all good shots, and our team held its own in many
exciting matches at the different rifle meetings.

At that time the importance of musketry training was not so generally
recognized as it is now, especially