private property. The Bishop of Calcutta hinted that Bishop Dealtry had lived too much on the hills, where he was out of reach of his subordinates. He expressed a hope that Bishop Gell for the sake of his work would reside more in the Presidency town, which hope was amply fulfilled.
In November 1861 the Bishop with his sister, Miss Caroline Gell, arrived in Madras, and he was duly enthroned in St. George's Cathedral. He allowed himself only a few weeks to establish his sister in a house, which he was to share with her, and then started on his peregrinations through the diocese. The severest critic could not accuse him of shirking his duty in respect to the paying of pastoral visits, nor of retiring to the alluring climate of the Nilgiris. He travelled as indefatigably and roughed it as uncomfortably as any itinerating missionary under his jurisdiction.
In those days there were few railways, and the weary miles had to be traversed by means of palanquins, pony-jutkas, tongas, chairs borne on the shoulders of coolies, lastly and most frequently by bullock-carts.
The build of the bullock-cart varies. It may assume a tolerably comfortable form with springs and cushioned seats and ample room for the feet; or, on the other hand, it may be springless and consist of a flat-boarded plane without seats, cushions, windows, or even a well for the feet. A mattress or at least a bundle of straw is necessary to save the traveller from being jolted to a jelly on the rough country roads. Between the spring coach which is clumsy in its jerking motion and very noisy and the country cart there are many kinds of vehicles, each a little more uncomfortable than the other. The pace at which the cattle draw the ordinary country cart is about two miles an hour.
Many hundreds of miles did Bishop Gell travel in this
