BOMBAY. 25 



colors, and glistening with gold and silver embroidery. Each gaudy 

 little chap carries himself with the air of a peacock or a prince, and 

 were we small boys once more, we should turn green with envy of 

 their splendid clothes. 



In the broader streets, vehicles of various kinds go rattling by 

 us, carrying passengers usually, for the coolies carry most of the 

 freight. Here we meet for the first time the gharrj', which prevails 

 throughout all the large cities of the East Indies. This necessaiy 

 evil consists of a small, closed carriage with shutters in the sides, 

 a double roof, four wheels — no two of which are of the same dia- 

 meter, a miserable pony, and a most rascally driver. There 

 must be something pernicious in the society of a horse and a four- 

 wheeled carriage. Either gharry-driving will corrupt the morals of 

 the best native, or else none but the most rascally take to it, for 

 they are all as grasping and unscinipulous as the hackmen of New 

 York City, or Niagara Falls. There seems to be a sort of free- 

 masonry of meanness among all the hack-drivers in the world, for, 

 as a class, I do not know of any other public servants who are such 

 extortionate liars and professional bullies. If the gharry-wallah of 

 India only had the pluck to be a bully, he would be ten times 

 worse than he is, and life would indeed be a burden to a stranger 

 in India. 



But the oddest vehicle is the bullock-hackery. This is a light 

 cart, or rather a high platform, enclosed at the back and sides, 

 with a roof so low that it can only accommodate a man sitting 

 cross-legged, like a Turk. Four big, fat, and sleek Hindoo mer- 

 chants will crowd into this go-cart, the semi-naked driver doubles 

 himself up on the tongue in front, the little bullocks strike into a 

 sharp trot or gallop which they can keep up comfortably for a mile 

 or two, and away they go. The way they get over the ground is 

 surprising, not in the least resembhng the slow, creeping gait of 

 our ponderous American oxen, one of which could easily drag off 

 backery, bullocks and all. These bullocks, which are used through- 

 out India and Ceylon instead of draught-horses, are the sacred cat- 

 tle of India, the zebus {Bos Indicus), with straight horns, humped 

 shoulders, and almost invariably either wholly white or black. 

 They are light, fleet, and hardy, and easily perform work which in 

 this Indian climate would quickly kill the best horses in the world. 



The Indian buffalo {Bos bubalus) is also used in Northern India 

 for heavy work, and in my opinion it is the homeliest quadruped 

 that ever breathed. It is simply a huge skeleton covered with a 



