in regular rows, with a well or tank of spring water, and a place to
bathe in built in the centre, where the weary and way-worn traveller
could bathe and wash away the heat and dust of the road, and cool his
parched throat with a draught of the pure element, gather as much of the
rich fruit as he may wish, to appease his appetite if hungry; then, in
the soft mossy grass, beneath the overhanging branches which effectually
protect him from the heat and glare of the sun, enjoy a sound sleep,
awake refreshed and proceed on his way rejoicing. In European countries
where hotels and places of accomodation are to be met with at every
turn, this may appear of little moment, but in the East where there are
no such places to obtain food or shelter from the powerful rays of the
sun, this is an inestimable boon. On enquiring how these Topes or groves
came to grow in places so far distant from any other cultivation, I was
informed that they were planted by rich high caste natives, as a penance
that was imposed upon them by the Brahmin priests for sins of omission
or commission against their creed. By the way, I heard the other day a
good story concerning these said Topes. It appears that a certain ensign
of the Company's service, who had been furnished with his commission and
outfit by an elderly maiden aunt of a serious and pious turn of mind,
whose positive injunctions to him on leaving England were that he was
not to attempt to impose upon her with any account of dangers,
difficulties, or surprising adventures that were not strictly true, for
she hated liars, and would cut him out of her will if she detected him
indulging in anything of the sort; but requested that he would write to
her a full, true and particular account of his first battle, should he
be engaged in one.

"At the commencement of his first campaign he wrote to the old lady a
long descriptive letter, but unfortunately he did not pay sufficient
attention to his orthography, and so came to grief, for one paragraph of