pulp for cattle-feeding, has grown to such importance, that last year 9,000,000 kilogrammes of beet were converted at two establishments in the Pas de Calais. Among the prizes offered by the Academy of Sciences at Paris, one is for the best paper on the perfecting of the mathematical theory of the tides; another is for marine steam-engines, which are to be very small, very powerful, and to consume but little coal. There are also questions in mathematical and physical science, and in botany, on which papers are invited. M. Becquerel has met with important facts in his electrical researches: he finds that electricity is largely produced by the mere contact of earth with waterthe fall of rain, along the shores of rivers and lakes, and still more so by the sea, the water being positive, the land negative. Investigation of the phenomena led to remarkable results, especially when carried on near a river. Alkaline streams take up positive electricity; acid streams, negative electricity; and along the margin where land and water meet, electric currents are developed at times sufficiently strong to affect a telegraphic needle some miles distant. An indication is here perceived of the cause of the different nature of clouds-the difference of the exhalations. As the water evaporates, it carries off the electricity; hence a powerful source of atmospheric electricity, and a reason why storms are most frequent in summer. The Monthyon prize has been awarded to Becquerel for his investigations of this interesting subject. M. Carrère has shewn to the Academy that Newton's rings may be reproduced by letting fall on water a drop of a solution of bitumen of Judea, with benzine and naphtha. It is a curious optical experiment, and the more so, as the film may be taken off the surface of the water on a sheet of paper, and kept, when dry, for permanent observation.-Another correspondent states that the poisonous properties of paint do not arise from the lead or other mineral which constitutes its body, but solely from the turpentine; and that if turpentine were not used, we should never hear of paint-poison: an opinion which disagrees with the commonly received notion.-A chemist shews, by analysis, that the common chestnut, which grows abundantly in France, furnishes dextrine, glucose, oxalic acid, glue, alcohol, a farina of which bread may be made, and a refuse which is an excellent food for horses. Another mixes four kilogrammes of wheatflour with four of acorns, mashed, after having been boiled in a solution of carbonate of soda in vinegar, and so produces an economical and palatable kind of bread, which might be a resource for the poor in hard seasons. Bernard is pursuing his researches in the subject which has been so much debated in the Academy-namely, the formation of sugar in the animal economy, and with confirmation of his views as to the function of the liver.-M. Reynoso contends that the formation of sugar in the blood, and the consequent distressing malady, diabetes, are entirely due to imperfect respiration. Let the respiration be normal and fully vigorous, and there will be no sugar. -Dr Waller, who some time ago declared the movement of the blood to be due to the action of the pulmonary cells, and not to that of the heart, reiterates his notion, finding it strengthened by further inquiry.-M. Sedillot has a paper on what he calls cheiloplasty, or the art of mending a damaged or cancerous lip by a piece taken from a sound lip; and he illustrates it by a daguerreotype portrait of a man on whom he has operated. The French government have established a system of meteorological observations for the whole of France; and observations are now sent every day to the central observatory at Paris. This is following the example set on this side of the Channel, by the valuable system of observations so ably planned and directed by Mr Glaisher of Greenwich. When the French system shall have been connected with the systems of other countries, it will not be difficult to flash intelligence of coming storms by telegraph. At the request of Marshal Vaillant, M. Le Verrier has discussed the phenomena of that terrible hurricane in the Black Sea, November 14, 1854, when so many lives were lost and vessels wrecked. By communication with all the meteorological stations, he finds that a great atmospheric wave passed over Europe from west to east. It was observed at Paris on the 10th of the month that is, the crest of the wave; its depression at Vienna on the 12th, and on the 14th it reached Balaklava. Thus, had there been a complete system of meteorological stations, there was ample time for flashing intelligence of the approach of this mighty wave, which covered one-eighth of the earth's surface in its sweep. We have yet to hear from America whether it was observed beyond the Atlantic. Five meteorological observatories are also to be started in Algiers, three on the coast, two in the interior, whereby some knowledge will be arrived at of the atmospheric and other climatic phenomena of that part of Africa, and data will be obtained for comparison with those on the opposite side of the Mediterranean. The French government seems bent on developing the resources of Algeria in all possible ways: an annual prize of 20,000 francs is to be given for five years to the grower of the greatest quantity of cotton. We hear that the cultivation and the quality of the cotton improve every year.-The Société d'Acclimation offer prizes for the introduction into France of new species or useful varieties of animals or vegetables: improvements of the breeds of animals, and the bettering of agriculture generally. They report that a new kind of silk-worm has been introduced into Switzerland, and that in Cévennes a hectare of mulberry-trees yields a revenue of from 25,000 to 30,000 francs a year. The sorgho, which we have more than once mentioned, is flourishing in the south of France and in Algiers, and fully answers expectation by its produce of sugar, alcohol, and forage. They have also a new yam from New Zealand. We notice with satisfaction that the Society head with 500 francs the subscription-list for the widow and children of Joseph Rémy, the poor fisherman who introduced the pisciculture which has since been so successfully carried out in France. There is something worth mention concerning two veterans of science. Old Bonpland, now in his eightythird year, writes from Uruguay that he is about to cross the ocean to offer his collections of botany and natural history to the government at Paris, after which he will return to South America, and end his days on his plantations. And Biot, not less aged, has been elected into the Académie Française, so that he is now a member of three of the five academies which compose the Institute. This last is in recognition of his literary merits. Any one wishing to know what these are has only to consult the Journal des Savans, which contains numerous articles from his pen. One of the most recent is on the Commercium Epistolicum, the book which has originated so much controversy as to whether Newton stole fluxions from Leibnitz, or Leibnitz from Newton. Biot holds that the two great philosophers made their discovery independently of each other. Hitherto the observations made at the Paris observatory have always been published in the rough, leaving to others the task of reducing and turning them to account. But henceforth they will be published as at Greenwich-that is, reduced and tabulated fit for use. This is really advancing science, not in a showy way, it is true; yet of far greater utility than the architectural embellishments by which some observatories are distinguished.-Pouillet says it is highly desirable to measure and record day by day the amount of sunshine; and in a paper on solar intensity he describes an apparatus-a dark box with a roller inside covered with photogenic paper, and moved by clock-machinery. The light would leave its impression on the paper during the whole time of the sun's being visible, and thus there would remain a permanent record of the quantity and quality of sunshine. Considering how much we depend on the sun, and how often it is necessary to compare the sunshine of one season with that of another, M. Pouillet has done well to draw attention to the subject. the object of his journey, and requesting that he might be allowed to see the bird; but Jonathan had no idea of relinquishing his prize so easily, and stoutly refused to admit of the interview, 'guessing' that it was very well for an Englisher to lay claim to another man's property, but calculating' that it was a 'tarnation sight' harder for him to get possession of it; and concluding by asserting in unqualified terms his entire disbelief in the whole story. Captain Johnson's object, however, being rather to recover his falcon than to pick a quarrel with the truculent Yankee, he had fortunately sufficient self-command to M. Ador of Lyon, who has been allowed to try his curb his indignation, and proposed that his claim to the experiments before the government authorities at ownership of the bird should be at once put to the test Vincennes, believes he has found out how to discharge present admitted to be perfectly reasonable, and in which by an experiment, which several Americans who were missiles electrically. He decomposes water by a pro- their countryman was at last persuaded to acquiesce. It cess, as yet secret, allows the gas to accumulate, and then uses it with all the force of an electric discharge.-interview with the hawk-which, by the way, had as yet was this: Captain Johnson was to be admitted to an Lacassagne and Thiers of the same city, have contrived shewn no partiality for any person since her arrival in a pile which is something new in electricity. No the New World, but, on the contrary, had rather repelled water or acids are used in its construction; but instead all attempts at familiarity-and if at this meeting she thereof, anhydrous salts are employed, which being should not only exhibit such unequivocal signs of attachbrought into igneous fusion, electricity is developed, ment and recognition as should induce the majority of and may be applied to purposes of illumination, and the bystanders to believe that he really was her original at the same time, aluminum is produced. master, but especially if she should play with the buttons of his coat, then the American was at once to waive all claim to her. The trial was immediately made. The Yankee went up stairs, and shortly returned with the falcon; but the door was hardly opened before she darted from his fist, and perched on the shoulder of her beloved and long lost protector, evincing by every means in her power her delight and affection, rubbing her head against his cheek, and taking hold of the buttons of his coat, and champing them playfully between her mandibles, one after the other. This was enough. The jury were unanimous. A verdict for the plaintiff was pronounced: even the obdurate heart of the sea-captain was melted, and the falcon was at once restored to the arms of her rightful owner.-Knox's Game-birds and Wild-fowl. The United States government have sent to the government of France some of the results of their oceanic survey: a series of specimens of the seabottom, and a table of the microscopic shells of different latitudes. These are the first part of a collection of which much more will follow.-Lieutenant Maury of the United States Navy, to whose valuable labours we have made frequent reference, has prepared tables shewing the rain, calms, storms, fogs, &c., in their respective proportions in corresponding latitudes of the North and South Atlantic. These tables are based on a mass of 265,000 observations. They shew what will be a surprise to many, that calms are less frequent in the south than in the north, that the atmosphere is more variable, rain more abundant, fogs more numerous. And there is more thunder, especially between the equator and the fifty-fifth parallel. THE LOST FALCON. A friend of Colonel Bonham-the late Colonel Johnson of the Rifle Brigade-was ordered to Canada with his battalion, in which he was then a captain; and being very fond of falconry, to which he had devoted much time and expense, he took with him two of his favourite peregrines as his companions across the Atlantic. It was his constant habit during the voyage to allow them to fly every day, after feeding them up, that they might not be induced to rake off after a passing sea-gull, or wander out of sight of the vessel. Sometimes their rambles were very wide and protracted; at others, they would ascend to such a height as to be almost lost to view of the passengers, who soon found them an effectual means of relieving the tedium of a long sea-voyage, and naturally took a lively interest in their welfare; but as they were in the habit of returning regularly to the ship, no uneasiness was felt during their occasional absence. At last, one evening, after a longer flight than usual, one of the falcons returned alone; the other, the prime favourite, was missing. Day after day passed away, and however much he may have continued to regret his loss, Captain Johnson had at length fully made up his mind that it was irretrievable, and that he should never see her again. Soon after the arrival of the regiment in America, on casting his eyes over a Halifax newspaper, he was struck by a paragraph announcing that the captain of an American schooner had at that moment in his possession a fine hawk, which had suddenly made its appearance on board his ship during his late passage from Liverpool. The idea at once occurred to Captain Johnson that this could be no other than his much prized falcon; so, having obtained immediate leave of absence, he set out for Halifax, a journey of some days. On arriving there, he lost no time in waiting on the commander of the schooner, announcing TRADE OF HONG-KONG. The rise of Hong-Kong in the space of a few years, from a village to a populous seaport, is one of the great facts of the age. We are sorry, however, to learn that some of the statistics published regarding it are to be taken under a reservation. For example, the statement of 600,000 tons of shipping annually must be to a great extent misleading, if it be true, as we are assured by a late resident, that it is the custom to include in the account every steamer conveying passengers along the river, and every ship calling for instructions on its way to the anchorage at Whampoa. The including of these vessels every time they touch at the port may be well meant; but it is obviously wrong, and the consequence unavoidably is, that Hong-Kong will get less than its due of credit as a rising port, and that even if a truer reckoning be adopted, some time will elapse before confidence in the statistics of the place can be re-established. THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK AND THE CASTING-VOTE. Sir Arthur Owen, Bart., of Orielton, in the county of Pembroke, is the individual who is asserted to have given the casting-vote which placed the Brunswick dynasty upon the throne of England. A lady now residing in HaverOrielton at the time when Sir Arthur Owen rode to fordwest remembers her grandmother, who was staying at London on horseback, for the purpose of recording his vote. He had relays of horses at the different postinghouses, and accomplished the journey in an incredibly short space of time; arriving at the precise juncture when his single vote caused the scale to preponderate in favour of the descendants of the Electress Sophia.-Notes and Queries. Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. Also sold by JAMES FRASER, 14 D'Olier Street, DUBLIN, and all Booksellers. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN THE LIFE BY A QUI HY. We are now in the full enjoyment of all the manifold delights of the English dogdays. Old gentlemen mop their foreheads, and walk on the shady side of the street with their hats in their hands; small boys take cheap shower-baths under the spouts of the water-carts; young ladies subsist entirely on ice and wafers; and fussy people give you their word they never experienced anything like the heat in the whole course of their life. Let us, by way of contrast, change the scene for a short time to the plains of Hindostan, and see the kind of life led by some of our expatriated fellow-countrymen in that complexion-tanning, temper - trying, fever - catching, liver-inflaming, rupee-getting country, during the hot season. I will be harlequin on the occasion. One blow of my magic-wand-the prompter sounds his whistleand hey presto! having insured our lives, and put on our most gossamer dress, we find ourselves, towards the small hours of the morning-the best time to travel in the tropics-in the middle of the station of Burragurrumpore, having beaten the overland mail by five weeks. PRICE 1d. in consideration of the very irregular payment of thirty rupees per month, to Ensign Go-ahead Griffin, of the Seringapatam Slashers; and we will give him the honour of our society for the twenty-four hours we are going to spend together in the Company's dominions. There is no Mrs Griffin, so we will walk in without ceremony. After stumbling over a bundle of clothes in the veranda, which grunts on being trod on, and turns out to be the chokydar, or watchman, refreshing himself with a nap, we enter the bungalow. Passing through a large sitting-room, we find ourselves in a sleeping-apartment, which is without a scrap of furniture excepting a bedstead-the legs of which stand in earthenware pans of water, to prevent foragingexcursions on the part of crawling and venomous insects-and a small table near it, on which are placed a bottle of brandy, a tumbler, and a cheroot-box. On the mattress there is a cool Calcutta mat; and on the mat, dressed in a shirt, and loose Turkish trousers, made of Delhi silk, our young friend is extended, panting with heat, and tossing and turning in vain attempts to sleep. He has lately returned from mess; and his bearer, having divested his weary and passive limbs of his regimentals, and clothed him in the night-dress above hinted at, has retired to the veranda, where, curled up like a dog on the floor, he is sleeping calmly and It is the beginning of June, before the rains have set placidly. Not so his master. The heat is stifling, and in-not that they lessen the heat much, they only would be unbearable, but for the comparatively cool change its character: the air, from being dry and current of air caused by the punka-an enormous fan, dusty, becomes moist and steamy - you live in a suspended by ropes from hooks in the ceiling, and vapour-bath instead of a limekiln; and between Bur-swinging with regular strokes over his head, the fringe ragurrumpore and the lower regions, in point of heat, the natives themselves say there is only a sheet of brown paper. The moon has just risen, and we can see, dotted about, the houses of the English residents, looking very snug and comfortable in the subdued light. Which shall we enter? Not the large pucka-built* bungalow in the splendid garden; that belongs to the commissioner, who gets 5000 rupees a month, and is, of course, supplied with every luxury and appliance that can lessen the heat, and render the life of the burra sahib, or great man, endurable. Rather let us choose the small cutcha-built one, standing in the perfectly bare compound,† the property of Baboo Chuckerbutty Bux, but let for the time being, and A pucka-built bungalow is made of properly burnt bricks; a eutcha-built one only of squares of mud, dried in the sun. The term pucka brick applied to an individual, as it often is, requires no explanation. The enclosure in which the bungalow stands. within a few inches of his nose. The doors are wide open-and an Indian bungalow is all doors-but not a breath of air enters to cool his feverish brow; inside and out, it is like a furnace; the thermometer hanging on the wall indicates a temperature considered in England the maximum of a warm bath. The night is so still, the slightest sound falls with painful distinctness upon his unwilling ear: the distant and incessant bark of the village paria-dog; the everlasting beat of the tam-tam, or native drum, indicating some jollities going on in the bazaar; the periodical cry of conscientious chokydars, who, to prevent themselves from going to sleep on their posts, and to strike terror into the heart of any one prowling near with felonious intentions, continually shout through the night the warning, 'Khubada-a-a-a-r,' or 'Take care;' the muttered conversation and suppressed laughter of the grass-cutters in the compound, who never appear to go to sleep, but squat all night round a blazing fire, cooking jupatties, or wheaten cakes, and smoking their hubble-bubbles, the guggle-guggle of which tortures to madness his distracted tympanum-these, and a dozen other sounds, insignificant in themselves, but magnified by the stillness of the air and his longing for sleep, wring from the dissolving victim groans of wretchedness, and assume an importance in his feverish imagination which drives him almost frantic, till at last, worn out with fatigue, he sinks into a sort of apoplectic doze. His breathing is thick and irregular, his dreams are hideous, and he restlessly twists himself round, till his feet are on the pillow and his head over the side of the bed. In this uncomfortable position, he is rapidly getting black in the face-a horrible nightmare oppresses him; when all at once he wakes with a snort; he hears the most frightful complication of sounds that ever saluted mortal ears, as if ten thousand screeching imps had been let loose, mixed with the shrieks of women and cries of children-at one moment close to the house, the next, miles away, and scarcely audible; now in full and unearthly chorus of laughing, crying, moaning, howling, shrieking, and whooping; then getting lower and lower, and subsiding at last into a melancholy wail, only to burst out again with redoubled vigour and intensity. Half choked, he starts up and gets a smart crack on the head from the undulating punka, which thoroughly rouses him to the fact, that the horrible yells he has till now associated with his dreams are caused only by a pack of jackals on a scavengering expedition. Disgusted beyond measure at the occurrence, he seeks consolation in his ice-tub, and tosses off a tumbler of deliciously cold water, which communicates a kind of electric shock to his parboiled anatomy: he could drink a gallon, but must economise the precious liquid. The ice-pits are opened only every second day, and the greatest amount of care and flannel will hardly make his share last the forty-eight hours. Carefully closing his treasure, he lights a cheroot by way of sedative, and takes a stroll in his compound. The moon is shining with a brilliancy only seen in tropical skies; but the beauty of the night has no charm for him-he prefers comfort, which is to be found nowhere but under the punka. He soon returns, and throwing himself on his bed, manfully determines he will go to sleep, in spite of jackals, chokydars, tam-tams, and hubble-bubbles! He partially succeeds. His cheroot gradually goes out, and finally drops from his mouth: he is on the point of falling off into a delicious nap, when whirr! whirr! whirr! a sharp, clear, and continuous buzz, close to his ear: it is the trumpet of the mosquito; he knows his tiny enemy, and prepares to annihilate him. Breathless with anxiety, and profoundly impressed,' as the French say, with the conviction that the enjoyment of his night's rest depends very much upon the success of his operations, he stealthily disengages his right arm, raises it gently with extended hand, and waits his opportunity. The whirr ceases; his diminutive foe has settled on his cheek, and is about to plunge his proboscis up to the hilt in what he considers a nice juicy spot. Now, I've got him!' The sufferer's hand is poised for a moment over the unconscious little glutton, and then descends like lightning-smack! Our hero has dealt himself a severe facer; but he cares not for the tingle; he has smashed his tormentor—at least he thinks so; and with a light heart he turns over, and again composes himself to sleep. Unhappy mortal! He is gradually dropping off, going by easy stages into the land of dreams: he is already past the half-way house, when whirr! whirr! whirr! What, again !-not smashed !' This time his pitiless little assailant selects his nose as the arm is raised-again the hand descends, inflicting a likely diggin, and forthwith inserts his pick. Again serious damage on the olfactory organ, and once more the martyr exultingly sets out for the land of Nod. He has scarcely obtained that unsatisfactory modicum of repose vaguely designated 'forty winks,' when whirr! whirr! again announces the hostile approach of his insatiable tormentor, or another equally vindictive. It is in vain to cope with an enemy that bears a charmed life; and, as a last and desperate resource, our long-suffering sub seizes his hitherto discarded sheet, and, at the risk of suffocation, buries his head and face in its protecting folds. Only those who have suffered, like Griffin, from similar attacks on a seething night-when a month's pay would willingly be given for an hour's sleep, if that precious commodity were saleable-can enter Exhausted nature at last gives in: overcome with into his feelings under the trying circumstances. fatigue, he falls into a sound sleep, only, however, to awake soon after to a dreamy consciousness of intolerable heat. He is in a perfect bath; the cause is soon explained-the huge fan above him is scarcely stirring. Pull the punka!' he shouts to the nodding native in the veranda, whose duty it is to create an artificially cool atmosphere in the room, by the means of a rope working through a hole in the wall of the apartment-Pull the punka, you sleepy son of an owl!' The machine makes a frantic dash, and for a minute or two a small gale is blowing over our friend's head, soon, however, to moderate, and then subside into another suffocating calm. Will you pull the punka,' he roars out in Hindostanee, viciously shying a boot in the direction of the drowsy coolie, you lazy, good-fornothing black pig?' Another violent squall takes place; the punka works with a swing that threatens to bring the whole apparatus down about his ears, causing a grateful diminution of temperature. But the pace is too good to last; the vibrations again become feeble and irregular, varied occasionally with a spasmodic jerk, as the nodding coolie finds he is falling off his stool, and brings himself up by the rope, only making motion ceases altogether. Human patience is limited, the succeeding lull more unbearable. especially in India. A servant who is paid to keep awake, and goes to sleep in the execution of his duty, is guilty of a gross breach of contract-to say nothing of his presumption in doing with ease what his master has been so long unsuccessfully attempting. A stern sense of justice animates Mr Griffin. Grinding his teeth, he gets off his bed and fumbles for his slippers, musk-rat. He can't find them. With bare feet, and which some time before he has hurled at a squeaking at the risk of stepping upon a promenading centipede or scorpion, he gropes his way to his bath-room, and shouldering a large chattie, or earthenware vessel, full of water, staggers to the veranda, where he finds the sinning punka-puller - with his back against a pillar, and mechanically giving feeble tugs at the rope-not only fast asleep, but trumpeting aloud. He dashes a volume of water over the head and face of the culprit. It is bright moonlight; and he takes a malicious pleasure in watching the contortions of the startled native, as, gasping for breath, and his glistening teeth chattering with terror, he throws himself on his knees, and with clasped hands implores his lordship,' his 'father,' the 'protector of the poor' At last the meaning Griffin-not to drown him utterly. His lordship contents himself with an indignant kick, which hurts the unslippered foot of the protector of the poor much more than the bony frame of the coolie, who, however, out of compliment to his master, thinks it necessary to writhe as if suffering excruciating agony; CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. and with a threat of cutting off the offender's pay,* if jaded and unrefreshed, mounts his horse and gallops Although it is scarcely light when he arrives, the Glowing with satisfaction and heat, from the judicial men have fallen in; and giving his horse to his syce, business in which he has been engaged, he throws who has kept up with him, although he galloped the himself on his mat, and again essays to propitiate the whole way, and his bungalow is a mile off, he sneaks drowsy god. He is successful at last; the air, as the round the rear of the regiment to prevent Colonel morning approaches, is perceptibly cooler, and the 'cold Ramrod or Adjutant Pipeclay from discovering that he pig' has had a most enlivening effect upon the punka- is late. The latter sharp-sighted functionary has had wallah. In five minutes, Griffin is in a deep sleep that his eye upon him, however; and having received from would require whole armies of mosquitoes to rouse him the former a severe 'wigging,' as a military reprimand from; they might fly away with him, if they chose, is irreverently termed by young gentlemen with their without his knowing anything about it. But alas for organ of veneration imperfectly developed, the weary the transitory nature of human happiness!-he has sub listlessly strolls through the ranks after his capnot enjoyed the long-wished-for repose more than an tain; with eyes feeling red hot in their sockets, inspects hour, when bang goes the morning-gun, shaking the the arms and accoutrements; mechanically 'tells off' whole house, and booming and echoing all over the the company, and falls into his place like an autoNext, maton: an ensign's place, when he has not to stagger station. Griffin, nevertheless, doesn't stir. the réveille strikes up in half-a-dozen places at once, under a heavy colour, being usually in rear of the and the air resounds with the rattling of drums, the men, where his toes are trod on, his shins 'barked,' squeaking of fifes, and the clangour of trumpets and and where he is prodded with bayonets by awkward bugles, making enough noise to wake the seven privates, and invariably 'pitched into' by the colonel sleepers, but not Griffin, who, happily unconscious of when a mistake is made, and that dignitary is not sure whose fault it is. Captains are soon ordered to the uproar, remains wrapt in a slumber that Jullien's band, playing the Row Polka in his bedroom, would fall out,' and the regiment is handed over to the adjutant, who remorselessly trots it about on a hot not break. and dusty plain, till the sun gets too powerful. It requires the accustomed low, monotonous voice of his bearer, who, dressed in white, glides in like a ghost, and standing motionless at the side of the bed, commences in a deep sepulchral tone with Sahib.' No reply. 'Sahib.' A grunt is the only answer. Bearer (in an awful voice). Sa-heeb! Griffin (scarcely audible). All right. B. The gun has fired, your lordship! G. (with an impatient twist). Oh! (A pause, during which the bearer draws on one of his master's socks; he then makes another attempt.) B. Sahib. (The sahib doesn't stir.) G. (incoherently). If you don't hold your tongue, some B. (unmoved). The gun has fired, protector of the poor! (The protector sleepily indulges in Enter a khiduntranslatable Hindostanee abuse.) mutgar, carrying a cup of tea, with a 'top' of foam from the fresh goat's milk. Khidmutgar (at one side of the bed). My lord, I have brought your tea. G. (turning away). Very good. B. (at the other side). Your lordship's tea is brought. G. (turning back again, and digging his face into the pillow). Oh! take it away, and don't bother. (The khidmutgar places tea on table, and retires, and the bearer puts on the other sock; he then returns to the charge.) B. (in an injured tone). Sahib. G. (with one eye open). Yes, yes, I know (impatiently). B. (knowing he has the best of the argument, as his master must go to parade). Your lordship's horse is at the door. This is a clencher. After many grunts and growls, on the interspersed with uncourteous reflections bearer's pedigree, Griffin wakes with parched throat and throbbing brow, and by the time he is thoroughly restored to consciousness, finds himself already half dressed under the clever hands of his noiseless domestic. He finishes his hasty toilet, swallows the tea, and, * Four rupees, or eight shillings a month, on which he keeps a wife and family. Griffin has then to attend a kind of military jail- Having got through his 'day's work' by about eight Griffin then gallops home through a sun hot enough On arriving at his bungalow, which he finds carefully shut up, with a view of excluding the already heated atmosphere, and keeping in as much of the cool morning air as possible-he shouts for mangoes. A basketful is brought; and sitting down in the veranda with a large basin of water before him, his jacket off, and shirt-sleeves tucked up to the elbows, he luxuriates in the delicious fruit, till his face and hands are covered with streams of their thick yellow juice. Having emptied the basket, he enters his bungalow, where he finds Tom,* the barber, awaiting him. This necessary functionary-for not even the private soldiers shave themselves in India-commences retailing little scraps of gossip, after the manner of barbers, whether in Bengal or Bond Street; and having invested master with a towel, proceeds to lather his *For some unaccountable reason, a barber never goes by any other name than "Tom;' a sepoy is always 'Jack.' Perhaps the editor of Notes and Queries can throw some light on the subject. |