UNCLE IN ENGLAND. l) 



family, the labour of which is very great, be- 

 cause the husk adheres so closely to the grain. 



Paddy is often kept in small caves called 

 hagay, the entrance to each of which is by a 

 very narrow passage. The roof, floor, and sides 

 are lined with clean straw, and the cave is then 

 completely filled. 



Colonel Travers is just like my uncle, he is so 

 ready to answer all our troublesome questions ; 

 and you may suppose that some of us ladies 

 asked him about the ottar of roses. He says 

 that the rose from which that essential oil is 

 made, grows only in the valley of Shiraz, where 

 there are immense fields of it. The flower is 

 small, and of a deep red, and quite a different 

 species from the rosa indica. It does not thrive 

 south of Shiraz, as the climate is too hot ; and 

 the plants which have been brought to Bombay 

 have generally failed. 



We have had several rainy days, on which it 

 was impossible to walk out ; though it seldom 

 happens, my uncle says, in this climate that 

 there is not some part of the day quite fair. 



The gravel walks here dry quickly, but nobody 

 seems to care much about wet or dirt, their 

 feet are so well defended from damp ; and my 

 aunt has provided me with all the comfortable 

 preservatives from wet that my cousins have, so 

 I force myself to go out and to take long walks. 

 Sometimes we visit the poor people, to whom 



