Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/87

Rh for a dead body, and had some appropriate reflections upon the heathenish indifference with which the wife pursued her work around it.

Though their lords were sleeping, the wives were busy enough. One was sweeping out her dwelling, another her verandah, and another, having done her sweeping, was purifying the hard-beaten earth floor with a mixture of water and cow-dung—the best of all cleansing agents in the eyes of the Hindus, as a product of the holy cow, and really useful in keeping off vermin. After the purification is finished, the verandah is ornamented with white lacelike patterns of crossed and waved lines made with powdered lime, which is taken in the hand and suffered to run in narrow streams between the fingers, and when carried rapidly back and forth produces the desired figures. These are sometimes pretty and ornamental, and afford an opportunity for the display of female taste. By this time the men are up, and the sheet (resuming its duty as a coat) is loosely thrown over the shoulders, or wrapped around the waist, while the owner moves off to the tank or river side for his morning ablutions.

Near the church is a police station, and at the door stand the peons (native constables) in