70 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



tains and hills dimly mapped out below me, I could 

 almost fancy I was floating in the ether beyond the air, 

 watching the planets in their far-off revolutions. 



At this moment the "man of the world" arrived from 

 his evening' meal, and brought me back to the realities of 

 a sphere strongly flavoured with onions. He was bent on 

 inquiry, and, having but a hazy idea of the phenomenon 

 before us, most anxious for information. His strong 

 common sense would not allow him to believe the explana- 

 tion given by the Hindoos (Idol-worshippers he calls them). 

 They, he informs us, imagine that the moon is being de- 

 voured by some wandering monster, and are in the habit 

 of firing off muskets and making other noises to frighten 

 the beast away, and prevent our satellite from being 

 swallowed. 



Alan made him look at the moon through a telescope, 

 pointed out its spherical shape, and gave him a short 

 lecture on the solar system. Rahman acknowledged that 

 the moon was like a " musket-ball," but I fear that the 

 sporting phraseology of Alan's Hindustani did not make 

 it clear that an eclipse is purely a mechanical operation ; 

 and they diverged to more spiritual topics. 



The strangeness of the sight he was witnessing had 

 evidently strongly impressed our shikari, and brought 

 thoughts of a world and life beyond this, and he began 

 to talk freely of his hopes and beliefs. For a Moham- 



