24 EECENT FOREIGN EXPLORATIONS. 



PUBLIC ROADS. 



The main highways are models of excellence, broad, well graded, and 

 bordered with loveh' shade trees, such as the ban^^an, the tamarind, 

 and the sacred neem. At suitable distances wells have been made, and 

 near them are located rest houses for weary travelers. Generally 

 the rest houses are unfurnished and without any resident care-takers, 

 but all day and all night they are occupied by weary travelers for a 

 shorter or longer rest, as the case may be. Here and there may be 

 seen a single man or woman; but general!}^ the people travel in fami- 

 lies or small groups, carrying their more cumbersome bundles upon 

 their heads and their wealth upon the ankles of their women in the 

 form of silver bangles. 



Mingled with the countr}- people are numerous pack oxen and don. 

 keys, with immense loads of all kinds of products. The oxen are 

 noted for their docility and the donkeys for their diminutive size, 

 being not more than 30 inches tall ; but they are sturdy little animals 

 and for their size the}" carry enormous loads. 



CONVEYANCES. 



In addition to the native families and village groups traversing the 

 principal highways, there may be seen numerous carts drawn by oxen 

 with a peculiar hump on their shoulders, the straight yoke resting on 

 their necks and tied tirmly to their horns. The carts are crude affairs. 

 In some cases the wheels are merely two thicknesses of 2-inch plank, 

 crossing each other at right angles, while in other cases the wheel con- 

 sists of a large hub through which spokes are mortised to support a 

 wooden felly 5 or inches deep and 5 inches wide. 



The carts invariably have large wooden axles, which soon wear the 

 hubs and allow the wheels to stand at considerable angles. Occa- 

 sionally a native official or the family of some village headman rides 

 in an ekka or a tonga drawn by a trotting ox. 



DRESS. 



The clothing of the country people is exceedingly simple. In warm 

 weather the men wear a turban and a single loin cloth so wrapped as 

 to form a sort of breeches, extending to the knee; generalh' they have 

 neither shoes nor sandals. In cold weather the cotton loin cloth is 

 sui^plemented by a thick cotton bedquiltworn like an Indian's blanket. 

 The women wear short skirts and a thin cotton waist without sleeves, 

 and in addition a long shawl or wrap of thin cotton stuff is thrown 

 over the head and twined about the shoulders or allowed to hang loose. 



COUNTRY HOUSES. 



There are no countrj^ houses, in an English sense, in India. The 

 ryots (farmers) live in a collection of dwellings called a village for 



