Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/295

Rh for the insolence of the Brahmins had aroused their anger. After this we had our few feet of territory to ourselves.

We now retreated to our palankeens and lay down; but these box-like abodes were insupportable with the thermometer at 102°, and we had to come out and submit to the ceaseless gaze of the people.

Permit me here to observe to the reader, that although dwelling in a tent under the shade of an Indian grove, beside a village tank, with palankeens and bearers for conveyance, and dusky Hindus and lordly Brahmins standing as a background to the picture, may sound romantic and delightful, it is a life that has its reality too. A tent, without walls to keep out the scorching land-wind and the reflected glare of a torrid sun, is but a poor residence for the exotic from the temperate zone. Nor does water of the thickness of chocolate seem sweet, even though from a “tank.” Moreover, the ceaseless stare of a crowd, (to whom you cannot be always preaching,) from the time you rise until you retire at night, even though no act of discourtesy is committed, becomes very trying.

Yet it is a high privilege to be permitted to