Oh paying the manjee, he tied up the rupees carefully in the corner of his turban, and made me a low salaam; his crew also bowed themselves to the earth. So much for business. He then put up his hands, and with an agreeable smile, and in an insinuating tone, said something which I desired Ramdial to explain, though I partly guessed its purport. “What does he _muncta_ (want), Ramdial?” “He _bola_ (says) if _Sahib Kooshee_ will please give him _buckshish_.” “Yes, yes; we’ll give him some boxes—_paunch rupee bus?_” (Rs. 5 enough, eh?) “_Han Sahib_ (yes, sir) _bus_ (enough).” Having, in my usual piebald _lingua franca_, thus consulted my keeper of the privy purse, I ordered him to disburse a gratuity of Rs. 5 amongst the crew, which they gratefully received, with many salaams. Thus we parted, never more to meet, and thus wound up my aquatic journey from the presidency to Cawnpore. The curtain is now about to rise on act the last of my griffinage, and it may be some consolation to those who have sat thus long to witness the performance, that they are approaching the _dénouement_, the grand flourish of trumpets and _exeunt omnes_. Cawnpore is the head-quarters of a division, and the station of several thousand troops of all arms—with some slight addition, indeed, of native troops, a force can be despatched almost immediately from this station with which hardly any Indian army of the present day could successfully contend in the open field. At the period embraced by these memoirs, a regiment of dragoons, two of native cavalry, one of European, and three of native infantry, horse and foot, artillery, pioneers, engineers, &c., &c., constituted the amount of the military force at Cawnpore. The station itself has a bad name amongst Indian stations, and richly does it deserve it. Dust, ravines, and mangy black pigs are the most striking features of the cantonment; and the neighbouring country is flat, arid, and peculiarly uninteresting. The society is large, and time is killed here pretty much in the same way as in other large stations—private and mess parties, masquerades and fancy dress-balls, and private theatricals. I passed a week with the hospitable major, which was principally devoted to making the necessary preparations for my march. I had nearly emptied the general’s snuff-box; had no pay due; and was consequently obliged to consider economy in my purchases, and to relinquish all ideas, if I ever had them, of travelling _en seigneur_ or _à la nawaub_.