210 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



fireworks, which he had himself manufactured, 

 and which proved a decided success. As I 

 don't suppose any adventurous youth will read 

 this book, I think I may venture to say they 

 were made of saltpetre and sulphur mixed with 

 powdered charcoal, rammed into the empty 

 skin of an orange and kept down by a plug of 

 earth, a match being inserted at the lower end 

 of the orange. I am often struck by the clever 

 way in which the Tamils utilise the ingredients 

 they have at hand, and produce excellent 

 results from such very simple means. We 

 finished the evening with a mild gamble. 

 Commerce, which I insisted upon as being 

 especially Christmassy, and vingt-un followed 

 each other. At midnight our guests left to 

 continue their celebration next day at the house 

 of another neighbour. 



One reads in society papers that the custom 

 of sending Christmas cards is dying out in 

 England. However that may be, here they 

 still hold their own. At home, where most 

 people count their friends and acquaintances by 

 the hundred, I can imagine that Christmas 

 cards may become a tax both on time and 

 money. The sending of them is a kindly 

 custom, and I wish those thoughtful donors who 

 sent their pretty missives to me could know how 

 much they did to make my Christmas more 

 homelike, in what, was once to me a land 



