BASWESHWAR. 
201 
morning. Having crossed the river in a lop-sided doney , 
hollowed out of an unshapely tree, we were met by the 
parish clerk, who presented us each with a lime in acknow- 
ledgment of our suzerain rights, and committed us to the 
guidance of the patel. The patel was a dark man, tall and 
sinewy, wearing in his left ear a gold earring and in his 
right ear two. He was reserved and had that in his face 
which told he could keep his own counsel. His counsel is 
suspected to be the counsel of the wicked sometimes ; but 
with that we had nothing to do this morning. He spoke 
a language for which he might have taken out a patent, 
for it was distinctly a new invention. However, we could 
command three languages between us, and had found by 
experience that equal parts of the three was the best 
mixture for common use, so we got on fairly well. 
Starting from the river, we marched along the Malhapur 
high road for some time, then took a footpath to the right, 
through rice-fields delightfully mixed with patches of 
forest and low hills and murmuring streams. The very 
place for a jungle cock with his bevy of comely hens ; but 
that proud bird’s cheery crow is seldom heard here. 
Snares and nooses are laid in his favourite walks, and the 
unlicensed gun, I fear, lies m wait for him at many a point. 
