17^ 
PAN WELL: 
several hundred horses, which he had brought down with him, had ; 
all perished. Captain Young said in English, it was a great bless- 
ing to Panwell, where most of them were kept, for his followers 
had plundered the whole country to maintain them. We did not, 
after this observation, express much pity for his loss. Four o'clock 
was the hour fixed for visiting the lady. He said he heard I meant 
to visit Salsette, and he should be happy to entertain me. If I did 
not go to Tannah, where he lived, he would meet me at the caves ; 
to which proposal I assented. 
At four the whole party set off with my suwarry. The little 
widow's house is not large, and most of the people in it are Brah- 
mins. We were introduced into a small court, and seated on carpets 
covered with a white cloth, in a verandah, at the end of which was 
a door with a purdah of rushes, through which it would have been 
easy to distinguish any object, had not the room beyond been 
darkened. As I took no notice of the widow not being visible^ 
the attendants began the subject by repeating the observations 
her brother had made at Poonah about the Mussulmaun women. 
It was evident they meant me to see her, from their having fixed 
up a linen curtain to conceal her from the people in the court of 
the house, I therefore wished to hasten them on, and replied, that 
it was very well, they mi-ght do as they pleased, and that I was 
satisfied. They knew I was not, and wished me to go nearer the 
purdah, which I refused. The brother then began to observe that, as 
I was going to England, he hoped, now that I knew his sister, I 
would be a friend to her there. I told him that I knew nothing of his 
sister ; I only knew a purdah that was hung before her, and to 
that only I could be a friend. He laughed, and went again to speak 
