HISTORY AND COUNTRY 11 



weather and of sport. Here, if belated, you will 

 find gifts of goor (the sugar) and rus (the Hquid 

 cane juice) ; and in any house you will have the 

 offer of milk and rough meal " chupatties," the 

 staple food of the countryside ; for want of hospi- 

 tality is no failing of these people. 



They are a kindly, lovable folk although their 

 lives are so limited by circumstances. Their out- 

 look is inevitably confined to the bare necessities 

 of life, food, and clothing. The struggle for 

 existence itself is ever before them. 



In these peaceful lands the world moves very 

 quietly ; the storms of life leave them untouched 

 and undisturbed. The great Mutiny at their door 

 hardly affected them. To them, as to the enormous 

 mass of our Indian population, legislative councils, 

 nay, even the Indian Congress itself, do not exist. 



As their old Indian proverb says, it is only the 

 " durya, wa badul, wa badshah " that matter (the 

 river, the rain-clouds, and the king). All else is as 



The waving of grasses, 



The song of the river 

 That sings as it passes 



For ever and ever. 



The only rule they ask for is a personal king. 

 Yet until the last Durbar our King too was outside 

 their comprehension. 



When King Edward died, I stopped some twenty 

 people in all on one of our country roads, and said 

 to each, " Brother, have you heard that the Great 

 King is dead ? " The whole idea meant nothing 

 to any one of them. 



As this is not a book on the Indian people, I must 

 write no more about them. It would be easy to 

 say much, for they are a fascinating study. If I 



