Page:India and Its Native Princes.djvu/32

4 servants, when they go to dine at the table of a friend; and, in case they forget this ceremony, they run a risk of getting nothing to eat, seeing that each servant attends only on his own master.

Next morning I was awoke by hearing some one talking close to me, when I saw my new servant, Lutchman, opening my luggage, and arranging my things as if he had attended on me for a long time. He was carrying on an animated conversation with a stout man, who seemed to be of a cheerful disposition, and was dressed entirely in white, his head covered with a turban of glazed calico; and in him I recognised my Parsee host. I asked him in a melancholy manner what news there was of the weather; and he replied with great coolness that the rain had only commenced some days ago, and would undoubtedly last for three months to come. Seeing that I appeared puzzled, he very respectfully gave me the following explanation. Nature under the tropics has not distributed the seasons in the manner which is so familiar to us, but has divided the year into a dry season and a rainy season. For eight months the sky is clear and cloudless, and the sun shines without hindrance; but, on the other hand, it rains, at intervals, from the 15th of June to the 15th of October. During this time, the rain sometimes falls in such torrents that the country is covered with water; the roads disappear or become impassable; and it is then impossible to travel even short distances. I was not unaware, when I set out on my travels, that I should find myself in India during the height of this season; but I had imagined these accounts to be greatly exaggerated. Those, therefore, who come to these countries as tourists, ought always to arrange so as to arrive in October, if they do not wish to have the prospect of a lengthened stay in a town like Bombay. This prospect appeared to me, for my part, so little pleasant that scarcely had I arrived when I made every effort to commence forthwith my explorations; and it was only after being convinced by several persons of the impossibility of procuring in this season the necessary means of transport, that I entirely abandoned my project.

In spite of the bad weather, I went out immediately to make my calls, taking for this purpose a palanquin. This vehicle, so often described, consists, at Bombay, of a long wooden box suspended between two long poles. The interior is supplied with cushions, on which the traveller reclines at full length. On each side is an opening, which may be closed with a slide, and at the end a small table, capable of being drawn out, and which bears a lamp. The bearers, to the number of four or six, place the poles on their shoulders, and easily raise the whole machine, which they carry at a gentle trot; they move quickly, and maintain this pace for several hours. The greater part of the letters of which I was the bearer being addressed to merchants, I found them all at their counting-houses; and I discovered that what I had been led to consider the town of Bombay was in reality the Fort, which, however, contained only warehouses and commercial establishments, and the ramparts of which were in course of demolition; the European quarters and the Indian town being at a considerable distance up the island. One of these gentlemen advised me to leave my hotel and instal myself in the quarter of Mazagon, where I should find more convenient apartments, and should at the same time be able more easily to go about in society. I followed his advice, and some days after my arrival I had found a comfortable and picturesque cottage, half hidden by trees, where I proceeded to utilise the rainy season by spending it in the study of the languages of India.