250 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



or because the palms of their hands have been de- 

 veloped abnormally by this process of turning them 

 into cups, the quantity of kusiimba which some of 

 their palms can hold is quite surprising, and rather- 

 calculated to alarm the minds of those who have been 

 accustomed to take tincture of opium in drops. The 

 Kathi chiefs, however, were cautious in their ad- 

 ministration of it to me, until I assured them that 

 I could stand a great deal of that particular drink 

 (though by no means fond of or habituated to it), 

 and they saw that such was the case. After that, I 

 am afraid to say how many were the chiefs with whom 

 I swore eternal friendship, either by their drinking 

 out of my palm, or by my drinking out of theirs. 

 The interludes were ground - nuts, grapes from 

 Afghanistan, and sugar -candy. There was not an 

 approach to rudeness of any kind. AVe swore eternal 

 brotherhood and chewed our sugar-candy, and talked 

 pleasantly ; and then, on an amusing remark being 

 made, somebody would insist on swearing eternal 

 brotherhood again. At the end of the banquet I got 

 down the ladders and ropes without any assistance, 

 and rather easier than I got up them. The only 

 result was, that I have a somewhat vague recollection 

 of the country lying between Jaitpore and Gondul, 

 and it seemed that the road was particularly smooth ; 

 but certainly when I got to Gondul in the evening I 

 felt no bad effects in any way from all this swearing 

 of eternal brotherhood. 



