MINNIKOY CUSTOMS 191 



with blue and red fresco, and, of course— for such 

 things would hardly be quite proper — they are not 

 supplied with swings. Here the women meet by 

 day, bringing their babies with them, to turn coir in- 

 to rope, and to talk a good deal, as women some- 

 times will. 



The private houses stand each in a little walled 

 or fenced court, the gate of which is a stiff mat 

 swung from a movable crossbeam on high. They are 

 furnished far above the ordinary Indian standard of 

 comfort, for almost all the people have swinging beds 

 (on the national swing-punkah principle just described) 

 with mosquito-curtains, and plates and dishes of 

 European crockery are in common use. 



The tanks, as at Aucutta, are many, and are 

 made with much care, being faced and terraced with 

 slabs of coral stone, and often enclosed by neat 

 walls. They are sunk to the level of the ground- 

 water, which, though fresh to the taste, still contains 

 a good deal of salt, the mean of two analyses which 

 I made giving 40 grains of chlorine to the gallon of 

 120 fluid ounces. The water used for drinking comes 

 from shallow wells, and is ingeniously drawn up in a 

 coconut shell fixed to the end of the midrib of a 

 palm leaf : these wells, which are lined with flags of 

 coral stone and protected by low walls, are very 

 numerous, and there seems to be one for nearly 

 every house. 



