78 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



tipping up the mug that there may be no stint here either. 

 It is then borne away, ever so carefully. How the milk is 

 administered to the baby at home I don't know — probably 

 with a rag ; but there is no doubt of its reaching its ultimate 

 destination safely, if one may judge of the plan by the 

 many fat brown things rolling about the road, seemingly 

 general property, who were all more or less brought up thus. 



Other sights objectionable to Europeans, even to those 

 who have no more than a tolerance for animals, but 

 causing grief and pain to those who love them, are only 

 too common in these Indian villages ; for though many 

 castes will not take life the people are supremely callous 

 to suffering in animals, and will see existence prolonged 

 under appalling circumstances without a second glance, 

 far less pity, or any thought of affording relief . 



A bullock with it back broken lies where it fell, and will 

 continue so to lie till death ends its sufferings, if no European 

 interfere. 



A crow plucked of every feather, hanging head down- 

 wards, and fluttering and screaming out its tortured life, 

 as a living scarecrow, is an ordinary object on the verandahs 

 of grain and sweetmeat sellers. Europeans soon find that 

 to buy such a victim, in order that it may be put out of 

 pain, is but to create a precedent ; so what to do for the 

 real best becomes a question when this sort of thing meets 

 your eye — and you may trust a native to see that it does 

 do so if you are known to object to such practices — to pass 

 on and do nothing being a sheer impossibility. But you 

 may be sure of seeing another miserable bird in the same 

 position next day — a succession of them, indeed, with 

 variations as long as anything can be made by it. Even 

 where an Act exists for the protection of animals, the gift 

 of a cocoanut or its value, a few pice, would settle the 

 matter with the local constable. Much can be, and is, 

 done by European officials, but all depends on their in- 



