Next day, the 24th of September, we halted to pass the night a little to the east of Ourtcha on the left bank of the Bettwa, which is one of the chief tributaries of the Jumna.
There is nothing to see or say about Ourtcha. It is the old capital of Bundelkund, and was a flourishing town during the earlier part of the seventeenth century. But hard blows from the Mahrattas on one side, and the Mongols on the other, reduced it to a low condition, from which it has never recovered, so that, at the present time, one of the great cities of Central India is nothing more than a large village, miserably housing a few hundred peasants.
I said we encamped on the banks of the Bettwa, but the halt was made at some distance from the river, which, we learned, had considerably overflowed its banks. Night
