16 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



which I do not hesitate to say are decidedly 

 inadequate. It is scarcely worth while to leave 

 home, country, and friends to live out here in 

 an exhausting climate with heavy responsi- 

 bilities, and often almost in complete isolation, 

 on the salary of a junior clerk in a London 

 office ; unless as in my son's case, you are 

 thoroughly interested in your work for its own 

 sake, and love the sunshine, and the heat. It 

 is the old story of supply and demand ; here, as 

 in England, for every vacant post, there are 

 numberless applicants, and the equally well 

 worn tale of the depreciation of the rupee. The 

 salaries were arranged when one hundred 

 rupees represented ten pounds; now, they only 

 count for seven pounds ; and though meat and 

 poultry and eggs cost little more than their old 

 price, every imported article, whether of food 

 or clothing has gone up in proportion, as the 

 rupee has gone down. 



This is a thirsty land, and one fertile source 

 of expense is the necessity of drinkables of 

 some sort. All doctors seem to agree that 

 some stimulant is necessary for most people, in 

 face of the hard exercise taken and the exhaust- 

 ing heat. Suppose, however, an unusual case, 

 that a man can do without any stimulant, he 

 must even then spend nearly as much in 

 mineral waters, for in very few situations, in the 

 low country, can the water be drunk even boiled 



