MRS. MONTAUBAN'S WANDERINGS IN INDIA AND EUROPE.

CAN it be that the grand tour is extending to Hindostan ? Will Delhi and the Great Mogul take the pas of Rome and his Holiness, and a presentation to the "representative of the house of Tamerlane" be necessary to the candidate for bon ton ? Mrs. Montauban, indeed, does not tell us that she went to India on a mere pleasure tour; we hear something of the "Colonel Sahib" during the dilemmas of a wandering in the wilderness of ..._ajahstan, (between Guzzerat and Delhi) ; and the fair traveller was much among the military at the stations. But surely no military man can take actual service in the East for only "a year and a day " ; besides which, Mrs. Montauban, on her return, ran over Italy and part of Germany. No—it was a family jaunt—a beginning without an end; and visions of Trips to the Three Presidencies, Tours in

the Himalaya, Explorations of the Battle-field of the Sutlej, with battles fought interminably over again, rise before our alarmed future.

Mrs. Montauban deals much in blanks; the date of the year and some- times the name of a steamer are only represented by a dash : but we learn that at a period in 184— she proceeded from Paris to Marseilles, and thence took steamer to Alexandria; calling at the usual intermediate stations. At Cairo, the season of the floods luckily prevented a visit to the Pyramids ; so she passed on to Suez; and thence to Bombay, in a densely-packed steamer, badly "found" in the eatable department, and in a sulky captain. She next travelled to Delhi by Cambay and its Gulf; and she seems to have sojourned a little at Umballah and Loo- dianah, descending the Indus on her return to Bombay, and reaching England by the usual mode.

Pleasant rather than profound is the characteristic of Mrs.Montauban's pen. She deals a good deal too much in trifles, and treats them some- what triflingly. This is better than a pompous or solemn nothingness ; but still its attraction palls, though a lively manner and an unaffected frankness support the composition for a while. Then she treats the reader with more conventional freedom than he has been accustomed to, something in the style of a spoiled belle ; which, however, often produces an effect from its singularity,—as in this curt criticism on an opera at Frankfort.

"In the evening we visited the Opera: the house was dimly lighted, and dirty. Gluck's Iphigenta was performed. Agamemnon' proved an excellent singer; and from the fat frame of Mrs. Agamemnon issued such rich melodious sounds, tones of such rare sweetness, as are seldom heard. Iphigenia warbled like a nightingale. The orchestra was good, the choristers superior, the scenery admi- rably managed. We heard the best thunder, and saw the cleverest stage light- ning imaginable."

But matter is necessary to support bulk, however small tint bulk may be; and there is not much matter in a A Year and a Day in the East. The badness of roads, the absence or presence of accommodation, with other troubles of travel or their reverse, form a large amount in Mrs. Mont- auban's " Wanderings" ; her sketches of scenery or manners are few and far between, and not of a very striking kind. The book is brief, and the topics are briefly handled ; the writer is gay and lively-minded, with 'an independent manner of writing as regards the critical public : these qualities, with a touch-and-go style, and the extent of ground passed over, carry the reader along ; but the world will not be desirats of many such books as A Year and a Day in the East.

Loodianalt just now has an interest, since military critics say it should have been made a place of sufficient strength for resisting any attack that was likely to have been brought against it; and that had the Sikhs assaulted it at once, it must have fallen, and our luck perhaps have changed. The place even to a lady's eye does not appear to be very for- midable.

" Loodianah is surrounded by a desert of sand; the cantonments are confined, and their site ill-chosen. According to their present arrangement, they are enly calculated to accommodate with comfort half the number of regiments stationed there. At the period of our visit the barracks for European troops were not com- pleted, and only a few good houses erected in the lines appropriated to the cavalry: for the quadrupeds of the last-named corps no stables had yet been built.

"The fort is constructed of mud and brick. It was originally built by Natives, subsequently altered by Europeans, and is said to possess the defects of both sys- tems of fortification without the merits of either. The town has been extended nearly to the gates of the fort; which, when we saw it, was in a dilapidated con- dition."

The following description of an Indian army's followers, though literal enough, has from its details somewhat of novelty and image.

"An abler pen is requisite to give an accurate description of the cortege that followed the troops. The rear-guard, awaiting the removal of the camp, some with folded arms, perfect illustrations of the spirit of patience; others smoking a consolatory pipe; a few crouching round the expiring embers of the nocturnal fires. A chorus of horrid gurgling sounds, proceeding from the throats of camels indignant at the heavy burdens imposed upon them; some laden with grain and supplies for the camp, others with a formidable amount of baggage. Tents of various sorts, shapes, and sizes; tables large small, round, square, and oblong; sofas good, bad, and indifferent; chairs which had evidently passed through the ordeal of many previous marches, some bereft of arms, others destitude of legs, and not a few minus a seat. Dilapidated chests of drawers, and every imagin- able variety of trunk, box, bag, and basket, &c., capable of receiving odds and ends utilities and rubbish, the omniumgatherum of a marching regiment; herds of bilffilloes, bullocks, and ponies, bearing their share of the common burden, and laden also with the culinary apparatus of the camp. Ilackeries, weighed down with a heavy cargo of goods; baugy wallahs, or bearers of boxes call:fti petarahs, for carrying refreshments, and suspended by ropes to each end of a broad bamboo borne over the shoulders, troops of grass-cutters, with their wretched tattoos, or ponies; syces, or grooms, and other useful appendages to a cavalry corps; the dhobees, or washermen of the regiment ; and a dingy-looking tribe of bheesties, or water-carriers, adorned with mushucks, or skins in which the water is con- veyed, slung over their shoulders. In addition to these, a train of servants, attendant on their masters; and the bazaar people, interspersed with the camp equipage. "In India, when troops are ordered to march, every requisite article of con- sumption accompanies the army or detachment moving, as the villages or small

towns furnish a very insufficient supply for the numerous train: grain, oxen, sheep, goats, poultry—in fact, all things under the head of provisions—must be procurable in the camp bazaar, which is a most amusing and motley assemblage. The camp-followers very far exceed the number of fighting-men. "Among the poorer classes, a father may frequently be observed carrying one or two children in baskets suspended to a bamboo, like the bangy boxes before

described; or conveying one child on his hip and another on the nape of the neck. The women often carry their babes in a bag shaped like a hood, and slung over their shoulders.

"The ladies in camp generally proceed in advance of the cortege just described; some in a very recherche morning costume; others en papillote, and bonnets de unit. Occasionally a bold-spirited equestrian may be seen: but palankeens and carriages are the general conveyances. "The regiment is welcomed to its encamping ground by a fakeer, (or religious enthusiast,) who beats his drum vigorously in honour of its arrival. A flag waves proudly over this distinguished gentleman, and is discernible at some distance. He hails the regiment with a noisy shout that baffles all description: Long life to the company and regiment ! may they never want one to sing forth their praise.'"

TILE WHITE WONDER.

The road was far worse than any of the rough ways over which we had hither- to passed; it was a succession of loose stones, deep ruts, and beds of sand. Eight weary hours were consumed in journeying the next fourteen miles to Chundo!• . The encamping ground, which we reached after midnight, was on the borders oi a small lake; the tent, pitched in the vicinity of some picturesque ancient tombs, was sheltered by fine trees; and the tombs were speedily converted by our guards and domestics into temporary kitchens, bathing-houses, and dormitories. Our arrival excited a great sensation among the villagers, and the tent was incessantly surrounded by crowds of men, women, and children, gazing at the wonderful phrenomenon, of a white-faced lady eating, drinking, walking, and talking, on terms of perfect equality, with her lord and (nominal) master.