56 Travels and Adventures 



better, build his hut and stretch himself at will under 

 the shade of some magnificent banyan, luxuriant 

 mango, or graceful cocoanut palm. Although there 

 may be an amusing want of uniformity in the way of 

 one extremity of the house being round and the other 

 square, and an unexplainable want of perpendicular in 

 the walls, the roads between the houses are straight 

 and broad, and in many cases the whole plan of the 

 village is well arranged. The fine growth of trees on 

 each side form avenues as spacious and beautiful in 

 their way as any boulevard in the gay French capital. 

 On the other hand, some are absurdly humble-jumble, 

 and the red-skinned architect seems to have been 

 determined, when choosing a site, to put his neighbour 

 to the utmost inconvenience or satisfy his most eccen- 

 tric caprices. Most of the people in the smaller villages 

 are of a dusky-red colour, with shiny black hair. 

 They are well made and symmetrical, many having 

 regular features, and none with very disagreeable 

 countenances. Some are even pretty. They seem to 

 me to be a simple, inoffensive people, caring little 

 about industry and less for fashion. Most of the men 

 are satisfied with a flimsy shirt and trousers, and 

 some are content with less scanty garments ; while 

 children of all ages dispense with clothing for the time 

 being. 



As we stopped at most of these stations to take 



