256 MOONLIGHT GARDENS 



are easily recognisable. Then, when the treasured 

 winter annuals of the bungalow gardens are all 

 burnt up, — those indifferent sweet-peas, minute 

 pansies, and tiny violets, offerings of which the 

 mali presents with pride ; for does he not know 

 them from experience to be the Sahib's sacred 

 flowers ?^ — when even the Phlox Drummondi and 

 the sunflower fail, and only the petunias and the 

 fountain are left alive to console each other and 

 brave the scorching midday wind, how one longs 

 for a real Indian garden ! The heat shuts one 

 fast in the house by day ; and after nightfall it 

 is not safe to wander on the grass or the dark 

 gravel paths. The malevolent ghosts, so feared 

 by the garden coolies, may not hide for us in the 

 dim shapes of the trees, but other dangers lurk 

 on the ground, for even in the clear moonlight 

 a snake may be mistaken for a stick. And how 

 can one seriously set out to enjoy the fragrance 

 of some white -starred gardenia -bush, attended 

 by the watchman with his long staff and lamp ! 



An Indian garden, a great series of outdoor 

 rooms, is, on the other hand, a beautiful and 

 sensible place in which to wander after dark as 

 well as by day. The long stone paths, raised 

 above the level of the soil and fringed by fragrant 



