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CHAPTER XIV 



By many a name of many a creed 



We have called upon them since the sands 

 Fell through time's hour-glass first ; a seed 

 Of life ; and out of many lands 



Have we stretched hands. 



Swinburne. 



Water streets A Sikh who desired proselytes Possible faiths 

 A sick Sahib Some truisms of life in the tropics. 



INTERESTED and delighted with my experiences in the 

 city, I devoted several afternoons to paddling about in 

 my " shikar," watching the gay townsfolk as they strolled 

 on the bridges, listening to the latest gossip, slowly 

 moored to the Maharajah's palace, where all may have 

 free audience, or sat out either in their flower-decorated 

 balconies or in the cool vine-covered arbours above the 

 rivers, smoking, taking snuff, and alas! drinking, for 

 both Hindus and Mussulman have fallen away from 

 their old abstemious habits, and indulge freely in 

 fermented liquors, apple brandy, of which they will 

 take large quantities, being an especial favourite. 



The bathing places, too, were much frequented by 

 men in the daytime, and by the women as the evening 

 drew in, for they are a water-loving people, and even 

 the babies paddled, shrieking with delight as the water 



