After a ten days’ recreation at Lodiana, where we mingled once more with our countrymen, we prosecuted our journey to Simla, on the Himalaya mountains, a distance of about 100 miles, which we reached in the course of a few days. We here beheld a scene of natural sublimity and beauty, that far surpassed the glittering court which we had lately left:—but my narrative must here terminate. At Simla we had the honour of meeting the Right Honourable Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-general of India; and his Lordship evinced his satisfaction at the result of our mission, by entering at once into negotiations for laying open the navigation of the Indus to the commerce of Britain, a measure of enlightened policy, considered both commercially and politically. I had the honour of receiving the following acknowledgment of my endeavours to elucidate the geography of that river, and the condition of the princes and people who occupy its banks.
Conclusion.
“Delhi, 6 December, 1831.
“Political Department.
“TO LIEUT. ALEXANDER BURNES,
&c. &c. &c.
“Sir,
“I am directed by the Right Honourable the Governor-general to acknowledge the receipt of your several letters, forwarding a memoir on the Indus, and a narrative of your journey to Lahore.
“2. The first copy of your map of the Indus has also just reached his Lordship, which completes the information collected during your mission to Lahore, in charge of the presents from the late King of England to Maharaja Runjeet Sing.
“3. The Governor-general, having perused and attentively considered all these documents, desires me to convey to you his high approbation of the manner in which you have acquitted yourself of the important duty assigned to you, and his acknowledgments for the full and satisfactory details furnished on all the points in which it was the desire of government to obtain information.
“4. Your intercourse with the chiefs of Sinde, and the other Sirdars and persons with whom you were brought into contact in the course of the voyage up the Indus, appears to the Governor-general to have been conducted with extreme prudence and discretion, so as to have left a favourable impression on all classes, and to have advanced every possible object, immediate, as connected with your mission, as well as prospective; for, while your communications with them were calculated to elicit full information as to their hopes and wishes, you most judiciously avoided the assumption of any political character that might lead to the encouragement of false and extravagant expectations, or involve you in any of the passing intrigues. The whole of your conduct and correspondence with the chiefs of the countries you passed through in your journey, has the Governor-general’s entire and unqualified approbation.