ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 229 



repeat it to himself — could do so mechanically out loud to 

 his hearers, while reading or letting his eye run along the 

 pages of some other book, as now. After this frankness on 

 his part we all felt quite at home with the old gentleman, 

 though the solemnity of the visit seemed rather dashed. 

 He shook hands with us all, saying he had friends among the 

 ' Infidels ' whom he much esteemed ; that he had been born 

 a Moslem, but had acquired through study a preference 

 for the ' Infidels' ' creed, which he held in his heart ; that 

 he kept it there, not meaning ever to disturb the faith of 

 others, who, not having read as he had, would ' lose anchor- 

 age ' (his very words) were they aware of his change of 

 faith. That old priest hangs, a conspicuous figure, in my 

 gallery of memory portraits. 



Another well-remembered but very different sight in 

 Hyderabad was the magenta-coloured tails and manes of 

 the horses. Such horses ! and so shockingly bitted ! But 

 bearing-reins and blinkers were not to be seen there except 

 occasionally, in imitation of English ways ; and the velvet 

 mouths may have had to accustom themselves to those bits 

 and curbs from colthood. 



The people's beards, too ! A Mussulman's beard is his 

 glory ; to be plucked by it would be lasting shame. He 

 dyes it red, an orange red, not covertly, but as a worthy 

 act. 



The sights in the gutters — if gutters they can be called 

 where all is gutter — were haunting in their horror . Scarcely 

 was there carriage width in the streets of the city itself. 

 The baksheesh (alms) we showered broadcast as we passed 

 was clawed at by professional mendicants for themselves, 

 or begged by attendants upon objects such as must have 

 inspired Gustave Dore's illustrations of Dante's Inferno. 



One of these was set up on the roadway, being without 

 legs, and covered up with a cloth. It begged for itself, but 

 being also without arms, a bowl for donations supported 



