142 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



any of their handiwork in the house, but F. said that that 

 was being altogether too fanciful. Every one's house was 

 matted by these people, who lived in a community of their 

 own, not because they were lepers, but because they were 

 mat-weavers. That sort of leprosy was not catching, and 

 mattered nothing to anybody, nor did they mind it them- 

 selves (as, indeed, I had gathered from their light-hearted- 

 ness) ; and this seemed to be the general view. Though 

 these people are not shunned by others, they intermarry 

 only with each other, and thus perpetuate their variegated 

 breed. Later on, happening to pass near their village, 

 Ferook, I saw numerous little specimens running about, 

 and was afterwards glad to have done so, for it was the fear- 

 ing too sad a sight that had made me shrink from seeing 

 them before. Now that fear was set at rest ; they were 

 neither sick nor sorry, and as nimble and sturdy as any other 

 little butchas. 1 



More or less cholera, equally with smallpox and leprosy, 

 exists everywhere in India. A strange thing about it is 

 that if it begin with the native population, it confines its 

 ravages to natives in that particular locality. So well 

 known is this fact that Europeans drive fearlessly through 

 stricken districts and their crowded bazaars. But, strange 

 to say, should Europeans be the first to be attacked, natives 

 succumb to it as well. Why this should be so one cannot 

 say ; that such is the case has been remarked on every 

 outbreak of the epidemic, which runs a similar course each 

 time. 



1 Butcha, Hindustani for child. 



