118 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



Chinniah sat down on the verandah floor, and the artist 

 began his work. The reason for the presence of these 

 friends soon became evident : they were there to hold her 

 fast and prevent her from running away, as she well knew 

 she would do if not prevented. It was only the usual 

 precaution, the process being painful and lasting some 

 hours, according to the design, and also, as I began to think, 

 to the strength and endurance of the parties. 



As had been expected, Chinniah writhed and struggled 

 to get away ; but her hand was held as in a steel vice by the 

 unmoved, horn-bespectacled old gentleman, who took no 

 notice whatever of her shrieks at every stab of his needles : 

 the women also were her true friends, and knew their busi- 

 ness. Her face was distorted with crying, her chest was 

 heaving, her whole aspect was that of a person being tortured 

 nigh to death. So horrified was I at the spectacle that I 

 begged, nay, ordered, them to let her go, but at that she 

 only shrieked the louder, ' Hie, ille, Missus, please ' (' No, 

 no, missus, please '). On no account were they to loosen 

 their hold of her. 



To me the affair was almost as comical as it was horrifying, 

 but to no one else present ; they were all in grim earnest. 



At last the girl became perfectly passive, only sobbing 

 heavily ; but those practised hands never relaxed their grip 

 till the old man had finished — for a time, that is, as all could 

 not be done at one sitting. Some lotion was poured over 

 the punctured limbs, and after an interval for rest all began 

 over again. It was wonderful to see Chinniah — her eyes 

 flowing over with her present pain and the thought of more 

 to come — offer her arm to the torturer and settle down once 

 more, in the firm grasp of her friends, to undergo renewed 

 agonies. 



The pattern chosen was a fine, intricate lattice or net- 

 work, which was to cover the backs of her hands, extending 

 over the fingers and round the arms as far as the elbows, 



