UMBRELLA OF STATE. 
123 
now lost in the Persic, being preserved in the Shanscrit, shews, 
in their combination, the origin of the name. Our historian 
further observes, that the title of Chattrapati , “ lord of the 
umbrella,” is still maintained as a peculiar mark of honour, by 
one of the highest officers in the Mahratta state. 
I have already mentioned the exposed manner in which even 
women travel in the open day, in this country; veiled indeed 
from the eye of man, but under no better shelter from the burn¬ 
ing sun, than what her chadre , a thin piece of silk, affords. 
However, judicious observation is daily making progress on this 
subject, as well as in others; and many of the natives avoid the 
excessive heat of mid-day journeyings, by travelling in the night. 
Indeed, during the summer months, morning scarcely dawns? 
before the air becomes like the breath of an opening furnace, 
giving sure promise of the blaze which bursts forth with the sun ; 
and for more than an hour after his setting, the atmosphere does 
not cool from its broiling properties. All over the south-east of 
the empire, to within a few miles of the Persian Gulf, the air 
is so dry, that the brightest steel may be laid bare at all hours 
to the atmosphere, without incurring the slightest shade on its 
brilliancy. To find a rose with a sparkle of dew on it, would be 
regarded as a miracle ; for the utmost of humidity that the 
parched earth can here hope to taste, from March to December, 
may be a few casual drops of rain from the apparition of a pass¬ 
ing cloud, and they generally dry before they touch the ground. 
At Bushire, however, which is close upon the Gulf, the noc¬ 
turnal dews are so heavy, as to surpass those of Portugal; and, 
during the summer months, all without doors is as wet as though 
torrents of rain had fallen; while those who sleep on the roofs 
of their houses, find their bed coverings completely saturated. 
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