48 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



once described the procedure, declared it to be im- 

 possible, and gave many reasons why it must neces- 

 sarily be so. Nevertheless, though I have never 

 witnessed it, yet I cannot but believe it, for I have 

 heard the fact of its performance so often stated, 

 and that by persons of entire credibility, and who 

 had no possible object for deceiving me. Lately, too, 

 I have somewhere read that ants are similarly used 

 to fasten wounds in parts of South America. 



I have mentioned that the second dust storm, that 

 I have described above, was accompanied by a slight 

 fall of rain. The fall was a mere shower, and such 

 showers are nothing unusual. They commonly occur 

 at this season, and also occasionally at other times. 

 I remember, however, two that were rather remarkable. 

 One occurred at this station shortly after my arrival 

 in the country; I was then residing here with my 

 brother. It was towards the end of the cold season. 

 We were taking our morning walk along a road that 

 leads to the city by the bank of the river. 



There was not a cloud in the sky, nor any appear- 

 ance of vapour, when suddenly it commenced to rain. 

 The rain did not last long, and was not exactly heavy, 

 but the drops of rain, I remember, were unusually 

 large; and, what was the most singular, they appeared 

 to fall from vacancy, for, during all the few minutes 

 that the shower continued, the sky remained as un- 

 clouded and as clear as before. 



The other shower occurred at Delhi, and during 

 the hot weather. It came almost as suddenly as the 

 shower I have just described, and it did not last 



