to Futtygurh and on
the other side to Agra we found very bad. The story of our difficulties
is well remembered by us, but it must be given very concisely. At one
place a wheel of our conveyance broke in the middle of a stage, and
after some delay we succeeded in getting an Ekka, a small native
conveyance drawn by a pony, on the narrow platform of which the members
of our party who could not walk were squatted as they best could; while
the rest of us walked. We sent on word of our trouble to our missionary
friends at Futtygurh, who kindly arranged to get us on to their
hospitable abode, and to get our conveyance repaired. Three days after
leaving Futtygurh our best horse died, from sheer fatigue in drawing our
conveyance through the sand. This threw us on having it drawn by
bullocks at the rate of a mile and a half, or at the utmost two miles,
an hour, over a very bad road, which jolted us frightfully.

[Sidenote: WALLED VILLAGES.]

As we travelled we saw many things which drew our attention and excited
our interest. Most of the villages along our route were surrounded by
high mud walls, and had only one entrance by a great strong gate, which
was shut at night, reminding us of the insecurity from which this part
of India had emerged when it came under British rule within the memory
of men then living. Villages thus fortified, if sufficient watch was
kept, were quite secure against the sudden raids of Mahratta horsemen,
or the attacks of robbers, to whose unwelcome visits they were always
exposed. The former state of insecurity was also suggested by the number
we met armed to the teeth, by shield on the breast, sword at the side,
and matchlock on the shoulder. The insecurity had to a great extent come
to an end, but the habit of going armed continued.

Along the road at convenient distances there were Suras for the
convenience of travellers, which people in England, when speaking of
Eastern lands, call Caravanserais. These are generally open spaces,
surrounded by mud walls, with sheds at their sides for people who are
willing to pay a very trifling sum for the luxury of sleeping under
cover, and, if they like, for having their horses near them. Carts and
oxen are always in the open. Sellers of grain and wood are always there
with everything native travellers require. If a bedstead--a low
four-footed article with rope for its bottom and mattress--be preferred
to the bare ground, it can commonly be procured for three-hal