190 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



The late rain crops had been deficient in quantity, 

 so much so, indeed, that there were some fears of a 

 scarcity, for it is on these crops that the poor chiefly 

 depend. I supposed that it was on this account that 

 the women were going to gather the grass seed. My 

 servant, however, told me that the badness of the 

 harvest had nothing to do with the use of the grass 

 seed. This seed, he said, was in itself nutritious, and 

 was always thus ground up with their corn by the poor, 

 however abundant the harvest might be. He informed 

 me also that the grass which yielded this seed was 

 found only on land left fallow, and on which wheat or 

 some other similar cereal had been previously grown. 



This account of the servant excited my interest, for, 

 long as I had been in India, I had never previously 

 heard of a grass of this description. If the account 

 was in all particulars correct, the existence of such 

 a grass might possibly throw some light on the problem 

 of the origin of cereal grains. I resolved to visit the 

 place and obtain some specimens of the grass and its 

 seed. I am sorry to say that, for some cause or other, 

 I never carried this resolution into effect. That the 

 seeds of this grass are ground up by the poor with their 

 corn may be accepted as a fact, but as to whether the 

 seeds are in themselves nutritious, or in any way 

 resemble wheat or other grain, I am unable to express 

 an opinion. 



The meeting with these women and the purpose for 

 which they were going brought before me the simplicity 

 and also the unchangeableness of Eastern life. The 

 oxen tread out the corn, and the winds winnow it, and 



