turned out the arrangements were very fortunate." Even then he went so far as to maintain that the idea was wrong in its conception, on the extraordinary ground that Edwardes could not have foreseen the Mutiny. "I told him," wrote Edwardes in a letter to his wife," that we certainly did not foresee this Mutiny, but that all treaties were made for the sake of gaining friends against a day of difficulty, without reference to what that difficulty might be." And now, after a year of difficult negotiation, the treaty was at last ready for signature. It was but a little document of three clauses, binding the two nations in "perpetual peace and friendship," and the Afghans, in addition, as "friends to the friends, and enemies to the enemies," of England; but its effects were destined to be far-reaching. Not one of the compromises so dreaded by Lawrence was to be found in the text; the aims set forth by Edwardes in his original memorandum had been attained without committing his government to anything save an acknowledgment of existing frontiers. To accomplish all this, he had had as an assistant his native envoy at Cabul, Fonjdar Khan. | That Fonjdar who, having ridden at his bridle arm through the days of the Mooltan rebellion, had learned to appreciate the strength and nobility of his character, and was now able to convince the treacherous and suspicious Afghans that, in the sahib at Peshawur, they had found an ally truly above fear and above reproach, who had taken for his motto the command of the mystic western king, “To honor his own word as if it were his God's." Thus, between them, the Pathan and the Englishman overcame the hesitations of Cabul. Lawrence's conviction, that the Afghans could never be induced to make a treaty, was proved utterly mistaken. So anxious, indeed, was the Dost for the stability of the new alliance, that he was eager to come down to India and sign in the presence of the governor-general himself; and when that proved impossible he nominated as his representative the heir apparent, Hyder Khan, with a request that he should be welcomed at Peshawur with the highest possible honors. Then was it that Herbert Edwardes, forever giving the lie to those venomous and puny spirits which could only see in his efforts for his country's good the assertion of his own pride, taught them with stately magnanimity wherein true great ness lies. He had been, he knew, selected by the government to sign the treaty, in token of their admiration of his conduct of the negotiations. But no sooner did the appeal of the ameer reach Peshawur, than, all forgetful of self, he wrote to Calcutta to insist upon the necessity of humoring their ally and of entrusting the signature to the chief officer of the Punjab, John Lawrence. It was done "much," wrote Lord Dalhousie, in the name of the government, "against the wish of us all. I am exceedingly vexed that you should not have had, as I intended you should, the crowning credit of bringing to a close the negotiations you have conducted so well and so successfully." A day later came a letter from Lawrence, announcing that he had received notification of the change in the intentions of the government. "I wish myself," he concluded, "that you were to do it, sincerely. I so far agree with the governor-general that I think all the merit of the affair, whatever it may be, is yours." So the Afghan prince and the Irish governor met and signed their treaty by the Khyber mouth, and went on their respective ways, the one mildly appreciative of his success, the other with a growl of relief to Nicholson that, so far, at any rate, no harm had been done. But already his irrepressible lieutenant was preparing fresh anxieties for him. The treaty just signed Edwardes regarded as an instalment, important no doubt, but still only an instalment of what might be done to draw the two powers more closely together. Lord Dalhousie had gone home to die, but Lord Canning had proved apt to adopt the policy on which his predecessor had set his seal. And so, before two years were out, John Lawrence found himself on the brink of renewed negotiations with the ameer. He was to come up to Peshawur, and there arrange with the Dost in person the terms of a regular alliance. That he was still unconvinced may be gathered from the terms in which he wrote to Edwardes of the proposed interview: "It appears to me we shall get nothing out of the ameer, except by paying through the nose for it; and this being the case, I would not bring on an interview." Nevertheless, it was done. On January 26th, 1857, the second treaty was signed. Barely four months later the sepoys rose at Meerut, and the Mutiny began. Then at last John Lawrence understood what had been gained. Then, at last, it was forced upon him that his second great objection that the treaty, if made, would not be kept - had, like the first, been 66 that you are the wisest man that was ever known!" blown as dust before the wind. How, if to mutiny had been added invasion, would he have held the Punjab, much less been Well might he say that the negotiations able to accomplish the capture of Delhi? of the Afghan treaties was the greatest As it was, he was all for throwing Pe- service he had ever rendered his country. shawur as a sop to Cabul, and retiring be- But the knowledge of it was his only rehind the Indus, till Edwardes's passionate ward. No word printed or spoken of pubappeals to Lord Canning brought back the lic thanks ever came to him. Perhaps had famous telegram, "Hold on to Peshawur Lord Dalhousie lived the acknowledgment to the last." "The Punjab," Lawrence might have been made. But the great declared, "has saved the Bengal Presi- viceroy came home only to die, and John dency." Yes! but Peshawur saved the Lawrence, who alone besides knew the Punjab. When the good news began to whole truth, was a ruler ever chary of come in from Delhi, one of the great Sikh praise, holding, with the great Duke of Sirdars, on being exultingly informed of Wellington, that a man should always do it, paid little attention, but asked signifi- his duty, and that to thank him for percantly, What news from Peshawur?" forming it was but to "fill his head with "Excellent; all quiet there," answered wind." As for Edwardes, he was the last his informant. "But why do you always man to claim anything for himself. When, ask so anxiously about Peshawur?" The after the Mooltan outbreak, Lord DalSikh hesitated, and then taking his scarf housie had inquired of him what honors began rolling it from the corner. "See," he should beg for him from the queen, he he said, "if Peshawur goes, the whole replied in these words: "The reward that Punjab will be rolled up in rebellion like I would ask, and that would please me this." Still nothing could have saved us best, is that the native officers who have if the Afghan armies had swept through served me so faithfully may be well rethe Khyber; and to the Afghans the re- warded. I would ask you to give Fonjdar conquest of Peshawur was an eternal Khan and Siwur Khan a jaghire in perhope. "Hear the news from Delhi!" petuity and a suitable title." And years they would scream, bursting into the dur- later, when pressed to make known his bar, and flinging their turbans wrathfully share in the treaties of 1855-7, he disat the feet of the ameer. "See the diffi- played the same simple self-forgetfulness. culties the Feringhees are in down below!" John Lawrence," he then wrote, "is emAre you a Mahommedan? Why don't phatically a hard man in public matters; you lead us on to take advantage of them, it is a principle of his not to praise. Most and win Peshawur back?" But the old unquestionably he is a great public ser man stood firm. "I have an alliance," he vant, and so all one has to do is to love said, "with the British government; and him in private, and respect him in public. come what may, I will keep it till death!" I beg you not to blow a single blast on Little wonder then if Edwardes as he the althorn of Fame for me." Neverthefaced his own mutinous regiments in the less he enjoyed perhaps the highest possi. valley, felt proud that it was owing to his ble of all rewards, the proud consciousness foresight that the Afghans were not gath- that he had served his country; and that ering in the passes overhead. For, as he John Lawrence, the man whom, next to said, if the ameer had once lifted the ban- his first friend and master in India, Henry ner of Islam, the English must have been Lawrence, he most reverenced, had driven towards their ships, though how learned to understand how great the sermany would have reached them was an vice was. F. DIXON. other matter. Little wonder then if, as he watched the tribal levies, recruited from the very men who but for his foresight would have been flocking to the green flag, and the enlistment of whom Lawrence had at first so peremptorily forbidden, marching off to Delhi, he felt that he had deserved well of his country. "Verily," cried one of the chieftains, hurling his turban at Edwardes's feet, "I believe you are the author himself of Æsop's fables. See what you have done! If the frontier men kill the enemy - well; if the enemy kills them better still! Now I know From Longman's Magazine. SOME BIRDS IN INDIA. IT has been well said that life is made up of small things. According to this principle, the exile in India, who wishes to enliven his monotonous existence by taking advantage of the sport that the country affords, must be prepared to find most of his occupation amongst the small game that surrounds him, however much he may long, like Virgil's young hero, to see a wild boar or a tawny lion come forth from the jungle. Under the term "small game" it is expedient that he should in clude, not merely the recognized game birds and smaller quadrupeds that are suitable for the purposes of the table. Feather and fur of every kind should be the subject of his pursuit. The wellknown Indian naturalist, Dr. Jerdan, when staying at Hooghly at my house, which stood in a large compound with several groups of fine old trees in it, killed in a few hours more than forty different kinds of birds, each of which was more or less useful for his scientific purposes. It may not be possible for every man to become a scientific collector of birds, but if he will learn how to skin birds and to preserve their skins, he may be able to send valuable contributions to ornithologists like Dr. Jerdan. I was taught by one of my first sporting mentors how to skin birds and small animals, and to treat them with arsenical soap. It is not very difficult work; but as it took up more time than I could conveniently spare, I soon imparted my knowledge to a clever native servant, who easily surpassed his teacher. It is, of course, expedient to look after the arsenical soap, for a painful case is well known, where the cook mistook arsenical soap for lard, and poisoned his master when out on a shooting expedition. I should regard it as cruelty to shoot the small birds if no use were to be made of their skins or plumage. By a little observation and practice, a man may learn the notes and calls of most of the common birds, and if he hears a cry that sounds strange to his ears, he should go out and see what bird is making it. He should slip a cartridge into his gun, and presently he may be rewarded by finding that he has got some rare specimen, that he can prepare and forward to the nearest scientific ornithologist. the protection of his little friends, whose - One of the birds that forces itself on the the Corvus splendens of acquaintance of a stranger in India is the common crow naturalists. I regard it as the enemy of man, and bird, and beast. It is curious that it should have gained the epithet of splendens, for its appearance can hardly be considered prepossessing, as its feathers are like those of the English jackdaw, and the grey neck has no splendor about it. The Indian crow has the same inquisitive character as his classical ancestors. He wants to have his claw or his beak in every pie. He flies into the verandahs, and, after peering into the rooms to see if the coast is clear, he will make a dash at the loaf on the breakfast-table, or at the cage of a canary suspended in the drawingroom. No one whose pet canary has had A government official at a civil or mili- its leg torn off by a crow trying to drag tary station in the interior of the country it out of its cage, will ever feel any mercy lives very much in the open air, even for the cruel monster. In order to keep A good the crows out of the house, it is customary when he is nominally indoors. house or bungalow is usually surrounded to enclose the verandahs with network. by a broad verandah, and almost every It sometimes happens that an adventurous door or window in the house is kept open. crow has found a chance opening in the When a man is sitting in his verandah, nets, and has made his way in; but being either at his work or for his pleasure, he suddenly surprised or cut off, is unable to can watch what is passing among the get out again. Then is the time for the birds and other inhabitants of his garden, servants to bring the pellet-bow, and to and he soon begins to recognize some of make a target of the crow, in punishment them; whilst they gradually become more for his many misdeeds; or if you are the He possessor of a Sylhet bamboo blow-pipe, familiar and fearless of his presence. should always have a gun within reach for with its sharp-pointed, paper-winged darts, and the game terminated among the terrified cawings and clamor of the survivors, who saw their unlucky comrade torn to pieces before their eyes. But in the course of twenty-four hours they seemed to have forgotten the mishap of their brother, and they came again to renew their diversion with the cat, who was always ready to play the game, in which it might be said that his motto was, "Heads I win, tails you lose." The crows are certainly clever birds. A friend once gave me two crows' nests that had been built in his garden, which was close to the prem the life of that crow may be made exceed- | spring that sometimes had a fatal result, ingly unhappy, until you can almost see that he is making vows never again to enter the habitation of that cruel monster, man; for the crow does not like cruelty when practised on himself. But he is the most cruel creature that I can think of. When there is a murrain among cattle, as too often happens in Bengal, the crow may be seen pecking out the eyes of a moribund sheep or cow, when the poor beast cannot turn its head away from the merciless assailant. There are, indeed, stories current in barrack-life, that the crow occasionally meets with unpleasant treatment at the hands of young Mr. Thomas Atkins, as-ises of a manufacturer of soda-water. The sisted by the regimental native cook-boys. Whatever treatment the individual crow receives, though he may have been personally an innocent bird, so many of his race have committed atrocious cruelties that he must be prepared to suffer vicariously for them. Nevertheless, there is some fun in a crow, even if it be a love of mischief. In Calcutta I had a large garden surrounded by shady trees, in whose branches many crows used to roost at night. As soon as daylight appeared, they all flew off to their favorite resorts, where they lived upon the garbage of the city; and it must be admitted in their favor that they are most useful scavengers. But, when sunset came, they used to return to their roosting-place, and sometimes they gave me an unwelcome evening serenade. Coming home late and tired from office, I used to sit out on my lawn, and a very large white Persian cat would come out to keep me company. Then the cat and the crows used to have a little game of their own. The cat would stretch itself out and flick his long, furry tail about. Some twenty or thirty crows promptly accepted the challenge, and quickly alighted round the cat, with the intention of pulling his tail. Some of them hopped up in front, as near as they could with safety from the cat's fore paws, others stood at the side, and several of the best players took their position behind the cat. They evidently acted in concert. The crows in front crept up as close as they dared to secure the cat's attention, and then one of the crows behind the cat made a dash at the tail, which the cat skilfully guarded by flirting it from one side to the other. It was very seldom that a crow succeeded in getting a mouthful of the cat's fur. The cat, meanwhile, had really an eye to business, and if one of the birds in front of him came within practicable distance, he made a crows had got hold of a quantity of the wires used for fastening the corks of the bottles, and had found in them a pliant material wherewith to build their nests. There were a few twigs of wood, but the chief part of the nests was made of wire. I gave these nests to Mr. Schwendler, the government electrician, when I left India, and I believe that he sent them to a museum in Berlin. There is a little bird-really a game. bird - which most men who are studious of their health and pleasure like to have on the premises. This bird is the teal. In many old country-houses there is a tealery of long standing; but if no such outhouse exists, the new comer will do well to build a tealery for himself. It need not be very costly or large; but it should be built so as to be proof against rats and cats and jackals; and, as the bot tom of the house requires to be provided with a reservoir of water, some little skill is needed to regulate the flow and discharge of the water, so that it may always be kept as clean as possible. Towards the end of February, or in the middle of March, just before the teal are ready to migrate from India to the distant regions of central Asia or Tartary, the native shikarees must be employed to bring in a stock of live teal. The difficulty is to catch them uninjured, but the clever natives, with nets and decoys, soon arrange the business, and happy is the man who, by March 20, can say that a hundred little teal are safely housed in his tealery. They must be carefully fed and watched, and any dead or sickly birds should be removed at once. Then, when the dog-star rages; when the thermometer is above 90° in the house at dinner-time; when mutton is tough and the appetite palls at the sight of perpetual roast or boiled fowls, how comforting it is to know that there are a couple of plump little teal on the menu, with fresh slices of lemon and a sauce delicately flavored with Nepalese pepper. Virtually this is not a matter of luxury, for in the worst part of the hot weather and the steamy rains, it is almost necessary for health and strength to have some little solid delicacy like a teal for dinner. The shooting of teal and widgeon and wild ducks and other aquatic birds soon attracts the attention of the young sportsman. From November to March there is a great migration of wild fowl of many sorts into India, and though large numbers are annually killed during their sojourn in the country, there seems as yet to be no diminution of fresh immigrants. The story of the widgeon in the Calcutta Zoo is one of the best anthenticated illustrations of the annual migration of Indian wild fowl. In February, 1877, a widgeon took up his abode with the rhinoceros in his paddock at the Zoo. It used to pick up the grain that was upset from the feedingtrough of the rhinoceros, and it swam about in the small pool of water that was provided for the rhinoceros's ablutions. This bird had been bought in the Calcutta market, and pinioned and turned loose with others on a large open piece of water in the Zoo. But after it had found its way into the rhinoceros enclosure it never rejoined its companions, nor did any of them come to bear it company. It became quite in different to the presence of spectators, and it did not mind the keeper, who went in daily to clean the rhinoceros and its paddock. So things went on till March 26, 1877, when the widgeon disappeared, and no one expected ever to see it again. But, in November, 1877, one morning the keeper of the rhinoceros found that there was a widgeon again in the paddock, and when we went to examine it there could be little doubt that it was the same bird, for it seemed quite at home, and behaved just as it had done in the spring, and took no notice of the visitors who came to look, whereas they would have certainly frightened a new or strange bird. The widgeon remained till March, 1878, and then flew away. It came back in November, 1878, and stayed till March, 1879. It reappeared in November, 1879, and remained till March, 1880, after which it never came back any more, nor has. any other widgeon come in its stead. Of course it is not possible to prove to a certainty that it was the same bird that came year after year. It is known that there are certain spots that have special attractions for migra tory birds; and if I could be at a certain bridge near Chittagong on September 1, this year, I should feel as confident of killing a couple of snipe there as I did, year after year, forty years ago. In that case it was known to me that some green grass surrounding a little spring attracted the snipe year after year; but the rhinoceros paddock at the Zoo had no such attractions, and it is unlikely that a perfectly wild bird would select a spot where so many human beings, workmen and spectators, were moving about to disturb it. If that widgeon could but have told the tale of its annual migrations, what an interesting chapter it would be in ornithology. Although many young sportsmen go out to shoot ducks in Bengal, it requires some skill and experience to make a good bag. There are some broad lagoons, known as jheels and beels, which swarm with ducks, but you can never get a shot at them, for the birds have been so worried and hunted by native shikarees that they are off at the slightest suspicion of danger, and it may be a day's journey in a native canoe to the place where they next settle. In some parts of the country the ducks are more foolish, and do not take even reasonable precautions for their own At some villages in the south of safety. the Bhagulpore district, there are a number of old tanks, or reservoirs, about fifty yards square, surrounded with bushes on their high banks, whilst lotuses and other At a certain aquatic plants, such as wild ducks like, almost cover the water. time of the year these tanks are full of ducks. A man has only to get to leeward of them, and then he can crawl up among the bushes on the banks and look down on the pretty birds feeding and disporting themselves, without a suspicion of danger. It seems almost cruel to interrupt their pleasure; but the first barrel cuts a line through the little flock, and the second barrel makes havoc among them as they rise; and if there is a second gun within reach, two more shots may be fired before the birds seem to understand where the danger comes from. It takes some little time to collect the killed and wounded. By the time the spoil is gathered together the surviving birds have settled on some other tank, and almost the same mode of You may attack may be repeated. But you must visit them at the right season. go there again after a week or ten days and there is not a duck to be seen. The best wild-duck shooting that ever came within my reach was in the Fureedpore district, where much of the country |