20 PERAMBULATION IN BOMBAY. 



rounded by gardens bursting with luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion, amongst which acacias, palms, plantains, and 

 mango trees are common. The noise is very great, 

 and begins at an early hour in the morning ; by five 

 o'clock one's slumbers generally begin to be disturbed ; 

 but as the air is cool during the night, one seldom 

 rises before six or seven, when the barber and a cup 

 of tea make their appearance, and a plunge into the 

 cold bath is by no means the least important part 

 of one's toilet, — awkward if the boy has omitted tO' 

 bring you towels, as once happened to me, and I had 

 to rush back dripping wet through a long passage in 

 very scanty attire. By the by, all servants m 

 India are called " boy," although they may be as old 

 as Methuselah. 



After breakfast a buggie is hailed, and, if lucky 

 in the choice of a horse, there is much enjoyment 

 derived from an early drive, spinning along at the rate 

 of eight or ten miles an hour on a fine broad road, 

 dotted here and there with the unwieldy mansions of 

 some rich Parsee merchant, towards Malabar hill, 

 where many of the English families reside, luxuriating 

 in a steady sea breeze. Men of business generally 

 dispose of their limbs, when only going from one 

 oriice to another, by creeping into a palanquin, com- 

 monly called palki, wliich reminds one very forcibly 



