io8 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



CHAPTER VIII 



June 7th. — The " Big Monsoon " has come. 

 This is the one topic of conversation ; our cor- 

 respondents repeat it, and so do the local news- 

 papers. You, too, would think it an important 

 event if you had been longing and wearying for 

 it for weeks ; we have been panting and gasp- 

 ing under a cloudless sky with the shade ther- 

 mometer registeringoverc/odegrees day afterday ; 

 with nights little cooler than the days ; miasma 

 mists creeping and crawling up the course of 

 the two rivers ; sick coolies found fever-struck 

 lying about the Estate, and numbers coming 

 morning and evening up to the bungalow for 

 medical treatment. 



Barring one, this is the latest monsoon on 

 record. Clouds have, for some days, been bank- 

 ing up in the south west, and on the night of 

 June 5th, the real burst was upon us. A furious 

 gale from the south west sprung up suddenly, 

 bringing with it a deluge of rain ; it has gone on 

 blowing for the last two days. A real good old 



