Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/263

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IN INDIA.
243

makes out his own case, and submits it to his commanding officer, who has the power to grant him permission to proceed to the head quarters of the division, where a regular committee can be assembled.

6. HILL STATIONS OF BENGAL.—The Sanitaria resorted to by officers of Bengal are Darjiling Naineethal, and Almorah,Missourie and Landour, Sindah and Subatoo, Dhurmsala and Murree. These are all seated on or near the outer range of the Himalayan, they have nearly the same altitude, 7,000 feet above the sea; and nearly the same climate, though many hundred miles apart, and many degrees different in latitude; for it is remarkable that latitude has less influence upon the temperature of the atmosphere than the altitude.

These Hill Stations are the brightest spots in our Indian service, the oases in the desert of our tropical exile, the lands of promise in the wilderness of our weary wanderings, where one and all at some period of their pilgrimage hope to resort to, as a refuge in time of trouble. A summer residence in these hills is quite delightful compared with the fiery ordeal of the plains. The climate is indeed European, even Italian. In the hottest weather the thermometer rarely rises above 76 in the shade, and frost and snow prevail in the winter; a fire in one's room is at all seasons