CHAPTER III.


_Jaunpore--A shooting-party--Scenes in camp and on the march--A Nepaulese
dinner--Ghazipore--The Company's stud--Indian roads--Passage of the
Gograh--Jung Bahadoor's mode of despatching an alligator_.

Being anxious to visit Jaunpore, I left Benares one evening after dinner,
and accomplished the distance, 36 miles, with one set of bearers, in
seven hours and a half.

The first object that attracts the eye of the traveller as he enters
Jaunpore is the many-arched bridge thrown by the Mahometans over the
Goomte, and considered the finest built by them in India; on each side
are stalls, in which sit the vendors of various wares, after the fashion
of old London Bridge. On an island in the middle of the river was
discovered a huge figure of a winged lion guarding an elephant, which
would suggest some connexion with the sculptures found at Nineveh, and
must date much further back than the erection of the bridge.

Passing through a serai, which was filled with travellers, we reached the
fort, built, it is supposed, by Khan Kan, or one of the kings of the
Shirkee dynasty, about the year 1260. From one of its turrets we had a
magnificent view of the town and the surrounding country, while
immediately below is seen the river, spanned by the picturesque old
bridge, unmoved by the fierce floods which so constantly destroy those
arched bridges that have been erected in India by Europeans.

The appearance of the town is diminished in size, but increased in