for himself a fine two-storied house, with glazed-in verandahs, on a plateau of Aya Pathar, found it a delightful residence for the hot weather; and Naini Tal had become the summer headquarters of the North-West Provinces Government. The Lieutenant-Governor had his residence there, as well as other officials, and it soon attracted the many sufferers from the heat of the plains, and was the resort of retired servants of John Company who preferred to live out their days in the country to which they had got used, and which they loved as their home and the scene of hard and interesting lifelong work among the friends they trusted.

The difficulties of supplying a colony so large, and including invalid troops, where even the Mem Sahib's piano had to be carried up by coolies, were becoming aggravated. Government therefore decided to construct a cart-road to connect so important a station with the plains. In those days of activity and fresh awakening after the terrible troubles of the Mutiny, there was very little red tape or routine about the Government. Men of the right stamp had shone out, and worked the machine, while the inefficient and slow had dropped out of authority. Conspicuous as one who had formed and administered the provinces of Garhwal and Kumaon from their acquisition, with brilliant success, was the well-proved and honoured Colonel Henry Ramsay, C.B.,* Commissioner of Kumaon and Garhwal. He had saved his division by his prompt action in promising the Gurkha sepoys the contents of the treasury at Almora, when the fate of India was hanging on a thread as it were, during the worst period of the Mutiny, when not a European soldier was near to protect the hundreds of women and children, refugees from Mussooree and the plains. He was the acknowledged

* Afterwards Hon. Sir Henry Ramsay, K.C.B.

autocrat of the hill provinces, and beloved by his faithful paharis. He not only ruled and protected the people, but also developed with skill and energy the resources of the district. He carried out extensive irrigation works at the foot of the hills, bringing vast areas under cultivation, and constructed good roads everywhere; he also, as Conservator, managed the extensive forests, containing fine timber for building and construction: His energy and ability knew no bounds. To be posted to the appointment under so able a chief on this work was a piece of good fortune to the writer of these recollections. To carry out his wishes and instructions was a pleasure, and to secure the friendship and good opinion of such a man was to attain distinction. That all his officers loved him was no wonder, as his commands were always intelligible, and he never interfered except to assist. That his subjects, the long misgoverned hill-men, worshipped him as their Mabap (father and mother) and Garib Parwar (Protector of the Poor) is a matter of history.

Naini Tal became my headquarters while the road was being engineered and constructed. November I was the usual date for commencing operations at the foot of the hills, and as the weather became hotter the camp and road operations were moved higher up. In April and May the real hot weather was on, and the work on the highest portions of the road, twenty-five miles in length, was carried on at an elevation of 7,000 feet, where the climate was hot, but the air comparatively fresh and delightful. The position for the tents was chosen near running water, and generally shaded by the thick foliage of spreading trees. June I was the signal for breaking camp and retiring to the shelter of a comfortable bungalow at Naini Tal. The natives will not work at this season, and migrate to their villages in the upper

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hills before the rains commence. Though not comparable to Simla, Naini Tal, when the season is on, is pretty well crowded with seekers after health, both civil and military, who soon put off the languid and washed-out expression of last arrivals, and manage to enjoy themselves considerably. The Lieutenant-Governor holds his tiny court, and the Mall is enlivened by crowds of the fair sex, in bright summer costumes, carried in jampans and dandis. Hill ponies are numerous, as everyone possesses one or two, and excursions to the neighbouring heights are frequent. But when the rains come, then there is a damper over everything. When the monsoon comes up with steamy cloud, and the thunder bursts and rolls around the hills, echoing from summit to summit for hours and days together, and the torrents descend till every path runs like a river, and tons of shingle are carried across the Mall and cover it up, then one is pleased to have a good staunch roof overhead, although the noise on the sheet-iron is deafening. Eleven inches in two days has been known to fall, and 200 inches may fall in six months. Then one must look out for landslips. The fate of the entire cricket ground and hotel and assembly rooms, and the library well stored with books, which used to be the scene of many hours' recreation and amusement, alas! is too well known, and the terrible tragedy that ensued; but that was years after the time of this narration.

My recollections of Naini Tal are mostly pleasant ones, and when I look at the old photographs and groups of cheerful well-known faces of good men and true friends, standing or sitting in rows by the old, well-remembered club-house, it seems that those were happy days. Alas! that if fate should ever take me to visit again the valley of the deep green lake, and to walk by that well-known path to the club I was so familiar with, I should not see

one single face I left behind me there, and not one would know me or stretch out a hand to grasp mine. Still, the forest-clad hills would be the same, and the scene little altered. The memory of those happy years and the good kind friends will always remain, and Naini Tal will always be to me one of the fairest spots on earth.

CHAPTER II

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST

THE five great stars forming the shoulders and belt of Orion, with the sloping line of little stars representing the sword, shone in the blue-black heavens with a brilliancy seldom seen except in the clear atmosphere of the hills in the time of what is commonly called the cold season. A 12-foot-by-12 'sholdarry' tent, pitched on a terrace on the slope of the hillside facing the south, with a pleasant fire of glowing logs just opposite its open door, looked like a forest home of the most agreeable kind. The cloudless starlit sky and still atmosphere, windless and not cold, made it quite delightful to sit under the canopy of heaven just outside the tent door, with the light of a lamp behind and the warmth of the wood fire in front. The remains of an excellently cooked dinner, consisting of pheasant or curried fowl, were cleared away by a native servant with snow-white puggaree and neat winter serge livery. The favourite spaniels, Ruby and Flora, lay under the table, well inside the tent, keeping one eye open to watch in case the prowling leopard might come too near, knowing well that one spring and blow of its cat-like paw would make short work of poor doggie.

The stillness was only relieved by the musical sounds of the distant stream, whose murmuring seemed to rise and fall on the ear. The faint noise of many waters came