London on his arrival, this was his first trip by rail, but, as his place
was in one of the close first-class carriages, he saw nothing of the
machinery by which the motion was effected, "though such was the rapidity
of the vehicles, that I could distinguish nothing but an expanse of green
all round, nor could I perceive even the trunks of the trees. Every now
and then we were carried through dark caverns, where we could not see each
others' faces; and sometimes we met other vehicles coming in the opposite
direction, which occasioned me no small alarm, as I certainly thought we
should have been dashed to pieces, from the fearful velocity with which
both were running. We reached Southampton, a distance of seventy-eight
miles, in three hours; and what most surprised me was, being seriously
told on our arrival, that we had been unusually long on our way. I was
told that this iron road, from London to Southampton, cost six crores of
rupees, (L.6,000,000.)" The town of Southampton is only briefly noticed as
well built, populous, and flourishing; but he had no time to visit the
beautiful scenery of the environs, as the entertainment took place the
following afternoon in the cabin of the Oriental, "which is a very large
vessel, well constructed, and in admirable order, and is intended to carry
the _dak_ (mail) to India, which is sent by the way of Sikanderîyah,
(Alexandria.)" Our friend the khan, however, must have been always rather
out of his element at a feast; unlike his countryman, Abu-Talib--who
speedily became reconciled to the forbidden viands and wines of the Franks,
and even carried his laxity so far as to express a _hope_, rather than a
_belief_, that the brushes which he used were made of horsehair, and not
of the bristles of the unclean beast--Kerim Khan appears (as we have seen
on a previous occasion) never to have relaxed the austerity of the
religious scruples which the _Indian_ Moslems have borrowed from the
Hindus, so far as to partake of food not prepared by his own people; and
on the present occasion, in spite of the instances of his hosts, his
simple repast consisted wholly of fruit. The cheers which followed on the