Meerut was the garrison town near Delhi in central India where the great mutiny broke out in 1857, after the disciplining of some sepoys for refusing to bite rifle cartridges rumoured to have been greased with 'unclean' animal fats. Dunlop was an Anglo-Indian Magistrate serving in Meerut when the mutiny broke out. His account, based on diaries and letters he wrote at the time, vividly describes the mood on the eve of the mutiny - particularly the mysterious appearence of 'chapatis' - the dried flour wafers that were allegedly a sign of the impending outbreak. Dunlop describes the first...