Letters of Lord St. Maur and Lord Edward St. Maur, 1846-1869 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... hot season therefore especially to be avoided. I shall go to Madras by sea, thence ride along Neilgherries to Bombay and thence by sea again to some suitable port on the south of Persia and if possible much nearer than Bushire. I shall then ride up through Persia by Shiraz and perhaps lspaham to Theheran whence my route I think goes to Tabriz then to Tiflis, to which there are three routes, I shall probably choose the one by Erzeroum and Kars and shall travel right on to the Crimea where I shall again trust the treacherous sea. I shall then sail up the Danube to the nearest railway station and travel as fast as I can to catch a Channel steamer. I showed the great traveller Oliphant my route and he told me all about the only part of it which puzzled me i.e. the getting from Persia to Tiflis. Oliphant went among the Circassians but I shall travel through the Russian territory. I might otherwise be delayed for the Caucassus is besieged and the roads are therefore not always open. I see the 23rd, a part of them, have arrived in Calcutta I wonder whether Captain Millet is there or if he is coming out? or Captain King who commanded the St. Jean d'Acre last year is coming out in the Princess Charlotte. The discipline of the Bengal army was not perfect, but I have a very poor opinion of the Madras either as to discipline or supposed fidelity--they will not have a chance being always at their elbow ready to bayonet them to a man and very glad to do so. All good feeling between British and Sepoys is at an end; Bengal officers turn up their noses at the Madras Sepoys, for these feed twice a day. Every Sepoy scoops out a little hole in the middle of a magic circle and cooks in his own brass cook-pot and eats with his right hand (which throughout the...