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THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER 



We must wait for another month or two before we 

 can think of the winter in this country in the past 

 tense, but in India the month of March is the 

 beginning of the hot season, and the tourists who 

 have been enjoying the pleasant side of Anglo- 

 Indian life and assuring themselves that their exiled 

 countrymen have not much to grumble at will now 

 be making haste to flee. 



During the month the various hotels of Bombay 

 will be pretty familiar with the grey sun-hat, 

 fortified with puggaree and pendent flap, which is 

 the sign of the globe-trotter in the East. And all 

 the tribe of birds of prey who look upon him as 

 their lawful spoil will recognise the sign from afar 

 and gather about him as he sits in the balcony 

 after breakfast, taking his last view of the gorgeous 

 East, and perhaps (it is to be feared) seeking inspira- 

 tion for a few matured reflections wherewith to 

 bring the forthcoming book to an impressive close. 

 The vendor of Delhi jewellery will be there and the 

 Sind- work-box- walla, with his small, compressed white 



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