Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/291

Rh insolent manner, to be gone, and not enter the street in which Brahmins dwelt.

An older Brahmin, of much respectability, and with more knowledge of the changed state of India under British rulers, now came up to us. On Mr. S. telling him that such insulting and uncalled-for behaviour on the part of his young men was inexcusable, and ought to be reported to the collector, he apologized for them, saying, that no white gentleman had ever been in their town, and that these young men knew no better. He then showed us the way to the village grove and tank. The tank was in keeping with all that we had seen in this uninviting spot. It was a huge excavation, completely dry, with the exception of a large pit in the centre, at the bottom of which was a shallow pool of muddy water. This was the drinking water of the town. In our tumblers it had the appearance of uncleared coffee.

White men were a novelty, and a large company of the villagers was soon around us. They seemed very happy, poor creatures, in looking at us and our movements, but the Brahmins were full of insolence. They told us that we could get nothing here, not even