ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 131 



as collars, handkerchiefs, etc., are strung by hundreds on 

 a long thin cane ; with this the dhoby flogs the stone. His 

 soap he gathers off a tree — the Saponaria — in the form of 

 nuts, contriving to make as white a lather with them as 

 with the best ' primrose/ and he completes the process of 

 purification by boiling everything in water wherein cow- 

 dung has been stirred. Does this modus operandi sound 

 rough and disgusting to Western ears ? The dhoby is only 

 using in its crude state — like his forefathers for centuries 

 upon centuries before him — one of the natural products 

 out of which modern chemistry conjures washing powders 

 and other cleansing mediums with fine names. For all his 

 primitive methods he will return one's things — the most 

 delicate — not over-much torn, and all of a snowy freshness 

 lovely to behold. 



Of Burmese and Chinese laundrymen I have no experience ; 

 some say they beat the Indian dhobies in the results they 

 produce : this has always seemed to me impossible. That 

 the latter have no conscience on some points I have proved, 

 but neither are the others immaculate. 



Among clever people, the thieves of India may be said to 

 take first rank in their own fine. Never mind what they 

 do, it is done ne plus ultra. What is beyond them in the 

 light-fingered way has, I should say, yet to be devised. 



A man may go to bed between a pair of sheets and wake 

 up without them. Nothing disturbed him, nor was he rest- 

 less ; he is not dreaming now, and he feels quite as usual, 

 so he can't have been drugged. Certainly not for such a 

 trifle as that. He was only tapped and patted by some of 

 the most delicate finger-tips in the world, and every time he 

 shifted and stirred sleepily a decisive, if tiny, pull was given 

 to the under sheet. It only took patience on the part of 

 the thief, and little by little it was drawn away. The top 

 one he merely had to lift off before leaving. 



But supposing matters have been made more difficult, so 



