countries I have visited, where, as
somebody remarked, the very salamanders die of heat. At Agra, which is
the hottest part of India, we could scarcely write a letter, because the
ink dries in the pen before you can get it to the paper. I was obliged,
when our regiment was there, to lie down in the middle of the day,
during several hours, actually gasping for breath; and to make up for
that, we all rose at midnight. An officer of ours, who lived long in
India, got up always at three in the morning, after we returned home,
and walked about the streets of Portsmouth, wondering what had become of
everybody."

"I shall try not to grumble about weather any more," said Laura. "We
seem no worse off than other people."

"Or rather we are a great deal better off! At Bermuda, where my regiment
stopped on the way to America, the inhabitants are so tormented with
high winds, that they build 'hurricane houses'--low, flat rooms, where
the families must retire when a storm comes on, as trees, houses,
people, and cattle, are all whirled about with such violence, that not a
life is safe on the island while it lasts."

"That reminds me," said Lady Harriet, "of a droll mistake made yesterday
by the African camel, when he landed at Leith. His keepers were leading
him along the high road to be made a show of in Edinburgh, at a time
when the wind was particularly high; and the poor animal encountering
such clouds of dust, thought this must be a simoon of the desert, and
threw himself flat down, burying his nose in the ground, according to
custom on those occasions. It was with great difficulty that he could at
last be induced to face the danger, and proceed."

"Quite a compliment to our dust," observed Laura. "But really in such a
hot day, the kangaroos and tigers might feel perfectly at home here.
Oh! how I should like to visit the GEOlogical Gardens in London!"

"Then suppose we set off immediately!" said Major Graham, pretending to
rise from his chair. "Your grandmama's donkey-carriage holds two."

"Ah! but you could carry the donkey-carriage more easily than it could
carry you!"

"Shall I try? Well, if we go, who is to pay the turnpikes, for I
remember the time, not a hundred years ago, when Harry and you both
thought that paying the gates was the only expense of travelling. You
asked me then how poor grandmama could afford so many shillings and
sixpences."

"We know all about every thing now though!" said Harry, nodding in a
v