"I knew nothing about mushaks in my boyhood," observed Percival; "so our Lord's words about old and new bottles were to me an insoluble puzzle; until some one in a Bible-class mentioned that Eastern bottles were skins, of which old, worn ones would be liable to burst if filled with new, fermenting wine."
"What does the word bihisti mean?" I enquired. "Probably it is some combination of 'carry' and 'water.'"
"No, the title is a curious one," replied Lady Mar, "and conveys a poetical idea."
"Bihisti means 'one of Paradise,' and is probably given to the humble supplier of one of our first blessings, from water being regarded in the East as emphatically 'the gift of God.' 'Bihisti' is a beautiful name bestowed on an honest, hard-working class, who bear a heavy burden, in order to relieve the thirst of others in a dry and weary land."
"These bihistis are often seen in India filling their mushaks at a well, or pouring water from them at railway stations when the train stops for a few minutes. Bihistis enter even the guarded zenanas to perform their needful task of filling earthen jars; though the appearance of the poor water-carrier sometimes causes a stampede amongst the ladies."
"I was startled once, when showing my album to several bibis,* by their suddenly springing to their feet and running away, leaving me alone to encounter the danger, whatever it might be. Was it a mad dog or a tiger that had entered the zenana? No; only a quiet, sober-looking bihisti, with his eyes on the ground, and his burden on his back, and his hand on the mouth of his mushak, to guide its contents into the jars placed ready to receive them."
* Ladies.
"And now for my story."
"Outside a serai (native inn) sat in the moonlight four men, smoking their hookahs, and having one of those long talks which natives of the East delight in, and sometimes prolong far into the night. One of the most striking figures in the group was that of a venerable Sikh, whose hair and beard, never touched by razor, were now of silvery whiteness. The other men were of various nationalities, but used Urdu as a tongue common to all."
"The first speaker, a Persian, was giving a flowery account of his own country, which none of the others had ever seen. Such horses, such fruits, such cities, he described—that to hear him, one might think that Persia, of all the lands of earth, was the most beautiful and most blest."