ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 13 



never raising his eyes from his work or uncrossing his 

 legs — except, maybe, to recross them the other way — till 

 punctually at mid-day he absents himself for a couple of 

 hours, then back to his stitching again till five o'clock, when 

 he walks off. The durzai cannot originate, but he can copy 

 a pattern to a fault ; patches even may be reduplicated, so 

 conscientious is he ; sad cases of such a mistake are on 

 record. So clever is he that he will darn an unlucky cut in 

 the best tablecloth with a thread or two drawn from the 

 cloth itself, so that none shall be able to find the place again ; 

 or he will deal with a rent in the baize of club or mess-room 

 billiard table in such a manner that not a ball will swerve 

 there. Men not in regular employment as durzais go up 

 and down the country doing this last sort of work only, and 

 find plenty to occupy them ; they carry with them some 

 green cloth, and that supplies their darning material. 



If, however, the verandah durzai is very clever, and has 

 his virtues, he is also generally very obstinate ; this arises 

 from his conservatism, the inherited bent of the durzai 

 mind on which fashion has no influence. 



My durzai was once making me some muslin dresses at 

 a time when I was daily expecting a box from England, and 

 the cutting-out of the sleeves had been postponed awaiting 

 its arrival. When the box came the new fashion in sleeves 

 was specially pointed out for his admiration, but he shook 

 his head with disapproval : ' Not nice hump, plenty smooth 

 nice,' meaning that the old, close-fitting shape was the 

 proper one, whereas these were very full, and raised at the 

 shoulders ; and he actually suggested that they should be 

 cut down to the old pattern ! I was of a different opinion, 

 however, and bade him cut the muslin by the new pattern. 

 It did strike me that he was extra obstinate about what 

 he called ' the hump,' but knowing that he well understood 

 my wishes I left him to his work, little guessing how far he 

 would carry his determination. When I went round again 



