76 JUNE 



polished front, a soft neckband and " jabot" of lace. 

 Knee breeches and silk stockings would more fitly 

 encase their lower limbs, too, for at any rate eight 

 months in the year in this climate, than the thick 

 formless articles of cloth now worn, while the gain 

 in becomingness would be immense. The whole 

 turn-out could be achieved for the same outlay as 

 the present hot and un-hygienic style. Thus I 

 argue with them all. 



" No," says the Burra Sahib. " I am going to 

 have a sleeveless blouse." 



I wonder how many people sleep on a June 

 night just before the rains. Some there are who 

 can sleep through anything, lucky beings. I only 

 know my own feelings, and that is, that a June 

 night is an utter realisation of the biblical descrip- 

 tion of the tortures of the damned. After a day 

 of intense heat and misery, induced by the necessity 

 of wearing clothes, one at last tears them off with 

 a slight feeling of relief, and a hope of being able 

 at once to drown one's sorrows in sleep. The first 

 contact with the pillow, makes one imagine it has 

 just been taken from before a scorching fire ; as 

 also everything else that is touched. The eyes 



