winter one of the very finest anywhere for British physique.
The ancient history of Hindustán comprises most of the religious and political developments of the Hindu race. Its modern history shows it to have been, in warlike phrase, 'the cock-pit' of India — owing to the strategic vantage-grounds which it offered, to the unfortunate facility with which it could be over-run, and to the resources in men, money, produce and supplies which it afforded for armed occupation. It thus became the unhappy hunting-ground for every conqueror or devastator; even for every plunderer and marauder who had sufficient force. Its inhabitants though disorganized were not unwarlike, and would never yield themselves and their possessions to the victor without many a blow struck in defence. It was overspread by the several Moslem dynasties, whose power radiated from Delhi. Then it fell under the established sway of the House of Bábar for two centuries, and was the headquarter Province of the Sovereigns who, under the generic name of the Great Mughal, dazzled even the eyes of mediaeval Europe. It ceased for a while to be the theatre of wars; no more battle-pieces were acted on its stage. But it became periodically the scene of the stately marches which the Great Mughal used to undertake in the cold season, to keep his courtiers out of intrigues, and to exercise his unwieldy hordes of armed men. The imperial procession stalked through
