Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/92

 is balmy and pleasant. Everything is conducive to drowsiness. Lying full length in palanquin or "dooly," the gentle motion caused by the bearers, the soft patter of their bare feet as they shuffle along, their steady grunting chorus, the song of birds, the hum of insects, the slowly moving landscape, all combine to produce a feeling of complete rest to both mind and body which must be experienced to be appreciated. And so the miles gradually and serenely pass until a break occurs—truly a break—for one of the palanquin poles, which has evidently been rotting in idleness during the rains, shows distinct signs of giving way. In most circumstances and climates this typical act of irresponsibility might have led to "a tide of fierce invective," but already the lotus-eating atmosphere has stealthily drawn us under its spell, and, "lost to the hurrying world," we placidly wait while an expedition is planned and carried out to a distant clump of bamboos—waving in the wind like monster ostrich plumes—and the broken pole replaced. A few miles more through fields of shimmering crops, and then, with an almost dramatic