124 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



of the early Victorian time. Two or three of the younger 

 girls were very pretty, and quite fair. They made a charm- 

 ing group, dressed in pink, blue, green and silver tissue. 

 They were all very shy, and evidently unaccustomed to see 

 strangers. If I looked at one, half unconsciously she would 

 draw her veil over her face, only to remove it as quickly at a 

 reproving glance from the Ranee. This, as the Maharaja after- 

 wards remarked, " is all a matter of custom," and lie thinks 

 that as Western ideas spread, the Purdah ladies will in time 

 be quite as willing to show their pretty faces in public as 

 any of their European sisters. Alan chaffingly said that he 

 thought Rajpoots were much to be envied, and many 

 Englishmen would be glad if they could shut their women- 

 kihd up within four stone walls. The Maharaja took him 

 quite seriously, and said, " You are quite wrong. You 

 would find that you wanted your wife to go about with you 

 and be your companion." They told me a story of an 

 Englishwoman trying to convince a high-caste Purdah lady 

 of the absurdity of covering her face in public. " Mem- 

 sahib," said the Ranee, " it is our dustoor (custom), but it 

 is not our custom to hide our feet. We think it no shame 

 to go about bare-footed. You do. How would you like 

 to walk down the big street in Calcutta with your legs 

 bare to the knee ? Well, we should feel just the same 

 if we showed our faces." I cannot help thinking that 

 " dustoor " is a convenient word, and covers as many sins 



