residing. Before people travelled, as they do now, the most absurd
stories of distant countries were reported and believed even by sensible
men. It was supposed that races of men existed, some with their heads
under their arms, others with three eyes, and that others, again, were
of gigantic stature; indeed, the tales of the Arabian Nights appeared
scarcely in any way to be exaggerations.

We were, at the time of which I speak, some way up the country; and as
Sir Charles was about to proceed to Calcutta, I had the advantage of
travelling in his society. An English gentleman is obliged to perform a
journey in India in a very different way, to what he would in England.
A family of moderate size has a hundred or more attendants, with numbers
of elephants, and bullocks, and horses, and, in some districts, camels.
It is a curious sight to see a party starting on the first morning of a
journey; the palanquins, and hackeries, and carriages, and long strings
of animals, varying in size from the mighty elephant to the little pony,
defile out from among the houses of the town. As there are no inns or
other buildings to afford shelter, it is necessary to carry tents, and
cooking apparatus, and furniture and provisions; then all the upper
servants have their attendants, and the guards theirs, in addition to
the drivers of the animals; so, as may be supposed, a very few officers
will require a whole army of followers. The more weighty articles are
packed in hackeries, which are the small carts of the country, drawn by
bullocks. Females, chiefly of the lower ranks, are conveyed in a
similar rough vehicle, covered over at the top. Trunks are also slung
across the backs of bullocks. Tents are carried by camels or elephants;
and lighter articles, liable to fracture, are borne on the heads or over
the shoulders of men. China and cooking apparatus are carried in large
baskets hung on poles by four men, like a palanquin. The _meter_ walks
along with his dogs in a leash; the shepherd drives his sheep before
him; and ducks and hens journey in baskets. There are spare horses led
by grooms, and watermen and water-carriers march alongside their
bullocks. Among the miscellaneous concourse appears the head-servant,
or _khansamah_, mounted generally on some steed discarded by his master,
while his inferiors either walk on foot, or get a lift in a hackery, or
on the back of a camel; but all trudge along with cheerfulness, and
alacrity.