290 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



not know in what language. Some of his pigeon Eng- 

 lish was amusing. In looking at some wild peacocks 

 one day, he wanted to point out the bird with the 

 brightest plumage, and did so by calling him "man pea- 

 cock." His pronunciation of any of the common Eng- 

 lish words was so defective that they were absolutely 

 unintelligibe. I had held out to him from the very 

 beginning the inducement that if his services should 

 prove satisfactory at the end of the trip he would re- 

 ceive, besides his daily wages, some gold, and in this 

 I did not disappoint him when I bade him good bye at 

 the Bombay dock. (Fig. 55.) 



INDIAN SUMMER CLIMATE. 



The hot season in India begins with the month of 

 April and is expected to end with the month of October. 

 It is said that April and May are the hottest and that 

 November, December and January are the coolest 

 months of the year. On the way from Tuticurin to 

 Madras the shade and night temperature rose to 98 

 F. and the temperature in the sun to 119 F. Soon after 

 leaving Madras rain set in and continued without inter- 

 ruption until we reached Calcutta and during the first 

 day I remained in that city. The atmosphere was sat- 

 urated with humidity and added greatly to the dis- 

 comforts and actual suffering from heat, although the 

 temperature at night and in the shade did not exceed 

 98 F. The air was not disturbed by the slightest breeze, 

 it was motionless, paralyzed, stifling. Breathing re- 

 quired an effort and the sweat poured from the surface 

 when at rest. 



'•'Heat, ma'am,' T said; 'it was so dreadful here 

 that I found there was nothing left for it but to 

 take off my flesh and sit in my bones.' " — Svdney 

 Smith. 



How often did I envy those natives, with their lithe, 

 slender, ratless bodies and their long arms and legs and 

 flexible joints. In squatting, the easiest resting posi- 

 tion for these natives, the legs fold on themselves like 



