accommodate two hundred people, nor is the theatre worth noticing.

Brompton is a very populous village, situated on an eminence above the dock-yard, and inhabited principally by the artizans employed in the dock-yard. Extensive fortifications are erected, which comprehend within their range this village and Chatham Church. The barracks are very large, and in addition to the one called Marine or Chatham barracks, there are two others for bringing up soldiers for foreign service, and many hundreds of troops were sent to India during our residence at Chatham.

The country round Chatham is very fine, and the walks are very good, particularly the one to the neat and quiet village of Gillingham, which in summer is a most pleasant ramble. Chatham races take place every year on the place called the Lines, where the soldiers are reviewed; it is a large plot of ground, and very appropriate for the purpose; the races commence on the first week in September, and continue three successive days; several booths are erected, and many stalls are set up for the sale of refreshments, and a stand for the accommodation of the people, who, on the payment of a trifle, can have comfortable and commanding seats for viewing the races.

Whilst we were residing at Chatham we were often told that hops and apples were the chief productions of the county of Kent, and we were

persuaded to go and see them growing. And on Sunday, the 20th September, 1840, accompanied by our friends Mr. Baldock and Dorabjee Muncherjee, and by one of our domestics, we proceeded in an open barouche with a pair of horses, in the direction of Maidstone, the county town. We passed through Rochester, and from thence by a road leading through a wood, and where, in consequence of the approach of the English autumn, the several sorts of trees were all of them clothed with leaves of different colours, and beautiful they were to behold. The trees were not large, as they are cut down every ten or twelve years to make hop-poles and fire-wood; but there was every variety of hue among the leaves, from the deep red to the lively green. We shall not soon forget the beauty of that valley on the right hand. We kept ascending an eminence for four miles, when we came to a magnificent prospect from the top of what is called Blue Bell Hill. And here we were most forcibly reminded of our own ever dear Bombay. For upon the top of the hill Mr. Baldock pointed out to us a bungalow, or country-house, erected by an intimate friend and distant relative of his, the late Walter Prentis, Esq., for the express purpose of receiving and entertaining his numerous friends there. And as some of our happiest hours in India are spent in bungalows, this, and the extensive and varied view, and the then strong gleam of sunshine, glad

dened our hearts, and our parents, wife, child, and relations, all became present to us in our minds. We descended a very steep hill, and we had pointed out to us a mound of stones which are said to have been there ever since the year 455, and that a great battle was then fought there between the Britons and the Saxons, in which their leaders were killed. Catigern is supposed to be buried here. What renders these stones more curious is, that there are no stones of a similar description within a great many miles of the spot, and consequently they must have been brought here. And how they managed to remove them and to set them up here with the rude machines they had in those days is truly astonishing, as they are very heavy, weighing each upward of eight tons, and about eight feet high. The view from the top of Blue Bell Hill, all the way to Kitscottie house, is very pleasing; there was not, it is true, any of the grand features of picturesque scenery. No mountains, no lakes, or no cataracts. There are, however, a long high range of hills which bound the view; and in the bottom, the river Medway, which takes an immense number of circuits, and which adds much to the beauty of the view. Corn fields, green meadows, orchards, hop gardens, here were all blended together, and formed a varied scenery.

We here quitted the high road to Maidstone,

and descended a narrow and almost precipitous hill to the village of Aylesford. Here there is a bridge over the Medway. The parish church is upon an eminence just above the village, and the quiet, home view from this spot, would make a lovely picture at high water; for, at low tide, when the water has receded, this village loses much of its beauty. In this quiet church lay the remains of several of the family of Lord Grey and of the Colepeppers; they were some centuries since active partakers in the wars of their days, and their armour and weapons are some of them hanging now over their tombs. What a contrast! here in the quiet retirement of a peaceful little nook lay those whose lances were stained with blood. Here awaiting their final judgment lay the mighty men of arms, who in their life times led on to slaughter and to devastation. The village of Aylesford is on the north bank of the Medway, and close to it is the Friary, the country residence of the Earl of Aylesford; it is situated close to the Medway, and from it is to be seen one of the prettiest pictures that can be imagined, embracing the picturesque bridge, the old fashioned church, and the village,-all surrounded and shut in by beautiful green verdure, form a scene of quiet that would make one think if peace and happiness are to be found in the world, that here, if sought for, it is to be

found. On the opposite side of the bridge is Preston Hall, the abode of Charles Milner, Esq., an elegant building situated in a park of great beauty. We proceeded through Mill Hall, and East Malling, through a tract of fertile country to Wateringbury, and had some refreshment at the King's Head Inn at that place. We walked out to look at the hops, as they were growing in great abundance in this spot, and which are indeed beautiful to behold. The hop plant is cultivated at a heavy annual expense. Poles, from 10 to 20 feet long are placed at angles all over the gardens, and the plant, which is a climber, grows to the top of them, twining round, and when at the top, stretching out its bine and catching hold of the other poles. The hop itself, at a short distance, very much resembles grapes; but upon approaching closely, you find that they are composed of minute leaves, which upon being rubbed between the fingers, give out a gummy matter, which has a perfume, and are of a bitter taste. The leaf of the hop plant is very elegant in its form; and no one can picture the perfect beauty of a hop garden. It must be seen to be duly appreciated. Hops, when dried, are subject to a duty of 18s. 8d. per hundred weight of 112 lbs., and pay a large sum to the revenue; but they are very uncertain in their produce. In the year 1803, they paid for duty £433,054. 11s.; in