Peninsula Railway. At the same time, it would be unwise to assume that my good fortune may continue to be typical. The authorities are plainly apprehensive of increasing delay as Christmas approaches. The best advice that can be offered to people proposing to attend the Durbar is : Start as soon as you can, unless you are fortunate enough to have a seat in a special train. To consignors of goods one would say : Send your packages off at once if you wish them to arrive at all.
After leaving Bombay, it does not take long to realise that one is moving northward. You reach for your overcoat as the train slowly climbs the Thai Ghaut in the gathering twilight, and when you turn in for the night, you see to it that there are not too many open windows in the carriage. Next morning you waken to find that you are passing through the thick jungles of the Vindhya Range, and have reached a climate where beer off the ice ceases to be a joy. The people on the wayside platforms are swathed in blankets and shawls, and look as miserable as the Hindu usually contrives to appear in chilly weather. All day long the monotonous plains of Central India are traversed. They are dreary enough now, while still green after the late rains; but one rather wishes that the troops of visitors from England might have to cross them once during the torrid desolation of May. In the course of the morning Bina is reached; and the sole discernible attraction about Bina is that it is the place where you
