BEXAREP, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 91 



because they were so very nude. At first so much semi-nudity 

 was very repulsive, but one soon becomes accustomed to it. ^Vhat 

 a mercy it is that these poor famine-stricken wretches do not have 

 to contend with cold as well as hunger, and that under this blazing 

 sun no one can suffer much from lack of clothes. 



No government ever tried harder to mitigate the horrors of 

 famine than the administration of the so-called Benighted Presi- 

 dency. In the distressed districts there were relief works, relief 

 camps, and hospitals, without which the wretched natives would 

 have died by thousands. The railways were taxed to the utmost 

 of their resources to remove the grain from Madras to the famine 

 districts fast enough to keep the people from absolute starvation. 

 But for the railways, it is probable that three-fifths of the people ia 

 the Madras Presidency would have died. The natives look upon 

 the British occupancy of their country as a punishment inflicted 

 upon them by the gods for past misdeeds, and they believe that the 

 exjoiation of their sins will in time be completed and the punish- 

 ment removed. They had better pray for their gods to punish 

 them some more in that way. Lucky it is for them that EngHsh- 

 men have built roads and railways for them, and that in time of 

 famine England still acknowledges every wretch of them as a Brit- 

 ish subject, to be fed and doctored at any cost. 



The Madras Government Museum is an institution of which the 

 " Benighted Presidency " may well be proud. It approaches my 

 ideal of a museum for the people, and to judge from the crowds of 

 natives which throng its galleries, the people appreciate it. The 

 collection of stuffed fishes is the finest I have ever seen, not only as 

 to the number of genera (local forms are best represented, of 

 course), but also as to the beautiful manner in which the speci- 

 mens have been prepared. Fortunately for the taxidermist, Mr. P. 

 Anthony Pillay, he receives nearly all his specimens fresh from the 

 ocean, and fortunately for them, he prepares them with remarkable 

 skill The collection of mammals peculiar to Southern India is 

 very instructive, and that of invertebrates from the Indian Ocean 

 even more so. The Herbarium contains an immense number of 

 botanical specimens. During my visits to the Museum I frequently 

 had the pleasure of meeting its director. Dr. Bidie, who kindly gave 

 me much information and useful advice concerning my intended 

 work in Southern India. 



At Madras I encountered another native language (Tamil), and 

 was of course obliged to have another servant to speak it for me. 



