128 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



1 Bhot atcha,' l F. assented gravely for the upkeep of my 

 dignity, adding that they had done well to procure the nuts 

 with so little delay, considering. 



But a more serious question was concerned when on 

 another occasion the peons sent a swift messenger empty- 

 handed to ask whether or not the coolies should bring up 

 the stores now waiting at the foot of the hill, as the only 

 village where they had been able to procure rice in any 

 quantity was full of smallpox, which was indeed rife, they 

 heard, in all the villages, more or less ; so what was to be 

 done ? 



None of our people were at all troubled for themselves ; 

 that was Kismet, said the messenger ; and we had to be 

 equally philosophical. Still, not desiring that particular 

 supply of rice, we sent back word that some was to be got 

 elsewhere, but that the men were to come up instead of 

 staying where they were, exposed to infection. As they 

 did not belong to the village mentioned they were not 

 wanted there, so we had no choice. We isolated and 

 dosed them on arrival, and no harm came of it. 



Unless smallpox should be so general as to interfere 

 with the daily avocations of life — the shopkeepers no longer 

 sitting over their wares, and the buyers sickening and dying 

 — we might never hear of its presence at all. So much was 

 this the case that when told of it we hardly regarded it as 

 news, rather taking it for granted that none of the villagers 

 were quite free. 



I was once staying with a friend who knew India better 

 than I did at that time. We were not in camp, but at her 

 home. One morning the ayah complained that a particu- 

 larly large and fine sheet was missing from amongst the 

 clean clothes just brought in by the dhoby (washerman). 

 Mrs. E. replied by asking her if she knew of any funeral 

 then going on or in preparation. ' No/ she did not, but she 



1 Bhot atcha = ' Very well,' and is emphatic, atcha being literally 'good.' 



