services which had commenced almost from his landing at Calcutta, fresh from Addiscombe, forty-six years ago. In the battles and sieges of the Panjáb; as chief engineer of that province, when so much had to be done upon its transfer to English rule; as chief engineer of Lord Clyde's army during the Mutiny; in the pursuit of Tantia Topee; in China, where he planned the capture of the Taku Forts, and was second in command of the expedition; and in Bombay as Commander-in-Chief,-the officer of whom I write had rendered services which might have made half-a-dozen great reputations; so that, even as peerages go, his was fully due by the time he had taken the heights of Magdala. I was much indebted to his Excellency and his military secretary, Colonel Dillon, for maps, advice, &c., in regard to my Tibetan journey; and their genuine kindness of disposition at once established confidence and gave a charm to all intercourse with them. The relationship between these two distinguished officers has been a long and close one. Colonel Dillon's popularity is somewhat diminished by the fact that devotion to his work hardly allows of his going into society; but his value to the Commanderin-Chief and to the Indian army is very great. Of the other Simla celebrities whom I had the pleasure to meet with I can only write briefly. Mr C. U. Aitchison, the Foreign Secretary, has more of the European statesman about him than almost any other Indian civilian; and one cannot fail to see that he has a great deal of weight of brain, and of that quality which is most easily described by the phrase "long-headedness." He was one of the very first of the competition wallahs. Some very excellent men came forward at first under the competition system, and continue to do so occasionally; but of late the system has become one of cram, and the best men from the universities and elsewhere are chary of entering into a competition in which success can only be hoped for by disregarding the aims. and methods of a liberal education, and putting one's self under a system of mental development analogous to the physical training which Strasburg geese are compelled to undergo. Lord Dalhousie, who had a keen eye for young men of ability, selected Mr Aitchison as his private secretary at an early period of the latter's career, and few positions can afford so wide and complete a view of the methods and results of the Indian Government. The heavy crushing work of the Foreign Office has been borne by Mr Aitchison in a manner which proves his tenacity of purpose and strength of constitution; but there is too much reason to believe that its overwhelming demands had undermined the strength of Mr Le Poer Wynne, one of the most accomplished and promising of the younger Indian officials, whose sudden death a year ago deprived Mr Aitchison of one of the most useful and valued of his associates in the Foreign Office. Mr Chapman, the Financial Secretary, is a fine specimen of the bluff, independent English gentleman, who will take his own way wherever possible, and fearlessly avow and carry out his opinions. He also upheld the unhappy income-tax ; but in other questions his usually sound judgment and independence of character have proved most useful, especially in the stand he has made against the Ritualists--or Anglo-Catholics, as they prefer to be calledwho had become more daring and triumphant in India than they had ever been in England. Mr Forsyth, when I was at Simla, was preparing for his second Yarkand mission, and I did no more than make his acquaintance, but was struck by a certain lofty protesting manner he had; for he was still under the cloud of the Kuka executions, and of the sentence of removal from his commissionership, and of general disapproval of his conduct in connection with the Kukas, passed upon him by the Government of India, when its ruling spirit was Sir John Strachey, in the period between the Viceroyships of Lord Mayo and Lord Northbrook. The ex-commissioner, however, has now performed his pilgrimage; he has washed away his sins, real or alleged, in the sacred waters of the Yangi Hissar, and, as Sir Thomas Forsyth, clothed in the garments of a Knight of the Star of India, he can move again freely in the arena of Indian politics. I saw a good deal more of the lamented Dr Stoliczka, and well remember his saying, in a common foreign idiom, "I am awfully glad that I have been allowed to go to Yarkand." He was destined never to return from the sterile regions of Central Asia ; but perhaps, as human life goes, even that was a reason for being glad. I was surprised to find so youthful a figure in the vir sapiens, doctissimus, Dr W. W. Hunter, who has been harassing the souls of Indian officials and editors by his system of spelling, which, however, is his only in that he has modified a long-existent system, practically applied it, and carried it out for the Government. This gentleman is as agreeable in society as in his charming books, and it is only to be regretted that he does not trust more entirely to his culture and talents for both social and official success. Major Fenwick, the journalist, who makes Simla his headquarters, is a man of bold, independent spirit, with an immense amount of humour, a lively imagination, and great literary knowledge. In the Rev. John Fordyce of the Union Church I found an old friend, who had created a high reputation for himself by his combination of prudence and zeal. Nor can I omit to make mention of Mr Edmund Downs, whose courageous attempt to reach Kafiristan in disguise had brought him into public notice; and of two Bombay officers, Colonels Ker and Farquharson, who did a great deal to make my stay at Simla agreeable. Douglas CHAPTER VIII. SIMLA AS A SANITARIUM. COMMENCEMENT OF SIMLA-LORD DALHOUSIE-POPULATION—ADVAN- CENTRAL ASIAN ROUTES THE hill on which Simla is situated was first made known by the visit to it in 1817 of the brothers Gerard, two Scotch officers who were engaged in the survey of the Sutlej valley; and the first house was built upon it in 1822 by the political agent of the district. About that latter year it was purchased, by exchange, by the British Government, from the Rana of Keonthul, and made into a regular sanitarium. The first GovernorGeneral who visited it was Lord Amherst, in 1827. Jacquemont described it as having sixty houses for Europeans in 1831; and Lord Auckland was the first Governor-General to spend a summer there-that of 1841. The annexation of the Panjab gave a great impetus to the development of this hill-station. Lord Dalhousie liked to establish the headquarters of his government there in summer, because that allowed him to reside much during the rains in the drier region of Chini, which suited his health. Lord Lawrence ac |