[CHAPTER XXXIII.]
FROM UMBALLAH TO SIMLA.—EXCURSION AMONG THE HIMALAYAS.
It was nine o'clock in the evening when our friends reached Umballah, and they wisely concluded not to begin their journey till the following morning. They found that the carriages would be ready at daylight, and so they retired early in the hotel attached to the railway-station, and had a comfortable sleep. They were called in good season, and by the time their breakfast was finished the baggage had been piled on the top of the vehicles that were to carry them. With the first streak of dawn they were off.
THE DAWK GARRY.
Two garries had been engaged—one for the Doctor alone, and the other for the boys. They were not unlike the vehicles they had already seen in the cities of India, except that they were larger and stronger, in order to adapt them to the rough travel of the mountains. Each carriage is capable of carrying two persons of medium size, and it is arranged so that a bed can be made up on the floor in case of night journeys. For all journeys away from the railways the dawk garry is in universal use, where the roads will permit, and in the days before the completion of the railway across India it was indispensable. It is not a very comfortable conveyance, but a vast improvement on no conveyance at all.
Three horses were attached to each garry, one between the shafts, and one on each side of him. They rattled along at a very fair pace, as the road was good, and the drivers were anxious to finish the journey as soon as possible. There were a good many jolts on account of mud-holes or other inequalities, but, on the whole, the progress was satisfactory, and the boys enjoyed the ride immensely. About every six miles they changed horses; and as there is a good deal of travel on the route, and the carriage company understands its business, the changes were made very quickly.