A EUX THROUGH KATIII.UYAi;. 329 



not destroying parasites ; to sleep in one of their close 

 huts would have been intolerable ; and the place was 

 too close to the jungly basin below, which harbours 

 wild beasts, to make it pleasant to sleep in an open 

 corner. 



Accordingly I had my haps laid out in this roofless 

 cottage, and when every one else seemed to have 

 gone to sleep the old devotee came to see me again. 

 He evidently thought it unnecessary to meet the 

 night air in a costume of paint and ashes, now that 

 there were no pilgrims to see him, for he had on a 

 long robe like a dressing - gown, to which Joseph's 

 coat was nothing, so many were the colours and so 

 innumerable the pieces of which it was composed. 

 The old scoundrel was bent on a most unascetic in- 

 dulgence, for, after a little circumlocution, he told 

 me that his stomach was out of order, and that he 

 expected I would give him a little brandy in return 

 for his complaisance in allowing me to sleep there. I 

 had no brandy to give him, having only a bottle of 

 champagne with, me ; and that, in consideration of the 

 fatigues of next day, was much too precious to be 

 wasted itpon him. So I told him that I had some- 

 thing far better than brandy something to be com- 

 pared only to the amrit of the gods, a very little of 

 which I would bestow upon him as a mark of my obli- 

 gation and respect. I then mixed some chlorodyne in 

 water, and saw him drink it off; for I had a small 

 bottle of it always about me on this mountain, be- 



