Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/246

210 Their pay is about ten cents a-day to each bearer, when engaged by the month. Our delay made us late in reaching the bungalow. The sun was hot when we entered the village of Stree-permatoor. It contains an extensive temple of Rama, with a gobram or pagoda seven stories high. Near it our bearers stopped, not to pay their respects to the god, but to run to a small booth where some charitable native kept a supply of buttermilk for the refreshment of travellers. A mile more, and our bearers, with panting loins and covered with perspiration, set down their burdens at the door of the govermentgovernment [sic] bungalow. It is a large one-storied house, built in the usual India style, of brick plastered within and without. This bungalow was presented to government for the entertainment of travellers by a Hindu gentleman. Ascending a short flight of steps, you enter the central hall. On each side of it is a bed-room with bath-room attached. Two tables and cot-bedsteads, with a few chairs and jars of water, complete the furniture. A short distance in the rear stands the kitchen and stable.

As you enter, the sepoy in charge meets you with a low salaam, and stands ready to