Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-04-17
BRANDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL u, 1899 ---

i There being no wharves or docks, you
are rowed to ghaut in dingey, and
landed amid Hindus performing their alb
lutions. and reciting their prayers. No
sooner does your boat touch the shore,
than host of bearers contend for you
with loud jabber, and those whom you
resist least, actually bear you off in their
arms through the mud, and you fad your
SELF at once in one ofthose strange convey
ances, palankeen. Away you HE, fiat
on your back, at the rate OF nearly five
miles an hour, cnatty boy bearing aloft
a huge palm-Ieaf umbrella to keep off the
sun, whom no assurances that you do moi
want him will drive. away, but who ex-
pec.s only pice or Two for his pains
The bearers gruut at every step, like
lsouthern negroes when cleaving wood .
and though they do it as sort of chorus,
it keeps your unaccCs.omed feelings dis
composed
Arrived at the house, you find it Sc
icluded within high brick wall, and
guarded at the gate by durwan, or por-
ter, who lives there in lodge, less to pre-
vent ingress. than TO see that servants and
others carry nothing away improperly
The door is sheltered by porch, called
here verandah, so constructed as 10 shell
ter carriages precaution equally neces-
sary for the rains and the sun. The best
houses are two stories, the upper being
occupied by the family, and the lower used
for dining and store rooms. On every
side are contrivances TO mitigate heat and
exclude dust. Venetian blinds enclose the
verandah, extending from pillar to pillar,
as low as mans head. The remaining
space is furnished with mats, (tatties, J
which reach TO the floor, when the sun is
on that side, but at other times are rolled
up. When these are kept wet, they diff
fuse most agreeable GOODNESS.
The moment you sit down, whether in
a mansion, Office, or shop, a servant COM
mences pulling the punka, under which
you may happen TO be. The floor is OF
brick and mortar, covered with mats, the
walls of the purest white, and the ceilings
lot great height. Both sexes, and all or.
ders, dress in white cottons The rooms
are kept dark, and in the hottest part oil
the day shut up with glass. In short, ev-
cry thing betrayS Struggle to keep cool
Another great contest seems to be
against ants. You perceive various ar
tlcles of furniture placed upon little dishes
of wafer or quick lime. without whic h
precaulion every thing is overrun. White
ants are most formidable; for from those
it is impossible wholly TO guard. They
attack every thing, even the beams in the
houses. A chest of clothes, lying on the
floor day or two only may be found en-
tireiy ruined. A mere pinhole appears in
precious quarto-you open it, and behold
a mass OF dust and fragments
The number of servants, and their
snowy drapery, huge turbans, siubby
mustachios. bare feet, and cringing servil.
ty, form another feature in the novel
scene. Partly from the influence of caste
but more from indoIent habits, low pay
and the indulgence of former masters
when fortunes were easily made, they
are appointed TO services SO minutely di
, vided as to render great number neces
sary.
A walk into the native town, produce
, novel sights on every side. The houses
! for the most part, are mere novels, will
| mud floors and mud walls, scarcely hig!
] enough to stand up in, are covered will
, thatch. The streets are narrow, crooked
and dirty; and on every neglected
t wall, cow-dung. mixed with chaff, anc
f kneaded into thin cakes, is stuck up t.
! dry for fuel. The shops are often but 81.
or eight feet square, and seldom twice thi
! size, wholly open In front, without an
a counter, but the mat on the floor, part
!. which is occupied by the vender, siuin,
h cross-legged, and the rest serves to exht
o it his goods. Mechanics have a simila
:. arrangement
;, BARRIERS sit In the open street on ma
e and the patient, squatting on his hams
,. has not only his beard, but part of hi
J. head, shaved, leaving the hair to gro,
,s only on his crown. In the tanks an
: ponds, are dobies shaping their clothe
!. with all their might upon a bench or
o. stone. Little braminy bulls, with the
\. bumped shoulders, walk among the crow,
v thrusling their noses into the baskets
II rice, gram, or peas, with little resistanc
l. except they stay to repeat the mouthfu!
ir Bullocks, loaded with panniers, pas
10 slowly by. Palankeens come Dustin
along. the bearers shouting at the Peep
E. to clear the way. Pedlers and hucks;e
q. utter their ceaseless cries. Religion
r mendicants, with long hair matted Wi
lie cOao-dung, and with faces and arms smea
es Ell with Ganges mud, walk about almo
j. naked, with an air of the utmost imp
De dence and pride, demanding, rather III,
. begging gifts. Often they carry thi,
5. triangular plate of brass, and, strikil
re itat intervals with heavy stick, send 1