Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/36

 large guns that sometimes boom across the water at a floating target.

In 1877 there was not a tree to be seen but the cocoanut palm which grew further inland on the edge of the marshes of the river Cooum. The glare upon the beach under the midday sun was an unpleasant experience as I landed, and I looked in vain for some kind of shelter. To the right was Blacktown, now called Georgetown ; to the left was the fort with its low thick walls concealing the terraced houses within. As I waited, while my husband was carried through the surf as I had been, my curiosity was not unmingled with a touch of dismay. The heat of the sun, the dazzling light, the dusty sand stirred by the feet of the famine-wallahs, the crowd of dark creatures staring at me with a greater curiosity than my own, the clamouring porters and noisy touts for carriages, above all the discordant foreign tongue, produced a sensation of helplessness and bewilderment that can never be forgotten. When the luggage reached the shore it was seized by a horde of gesticulating Hindus, who seemed to hurry away to the four points of the compass with it. However, we succeeded in gathering it together, and it was placed upon a hired gharry, one of those antiquated conveyances which are now relegated to the exclusive use of the native. The coachman sat upon the roof, and his large bare feet almost filled up the front window that should have let in air. He was directed to drive to the Capper House Hotel, chosen on account of its proximity to the sea. It was a long drive by a road that ran parallel with the sea. We passed under the walls of the fort and by Cupid's Bow, a fine open space with a band- stand enclosure in the centre. Here the English residents came every evening in their carriages to enjoy the sea- breezes and the music. Here the matches were said to be made, and hence the name by which the spot was