“When we were at a station up the country, we resided in a bungalow, which was a cottage, with all the rooms on the ground floor, in the centre of an enclosure called a compound. It was covered with a sloping thickly-thatched roof, to keep out the rays of the sun. In the centre was a large hall which was our sitting-room, with doors opening all round it into the bedrooms, and outside them was a broad verandah. I spoke of doors, but I should rather have called them door-ways with curtains to them, thus the air set moving by the punkahs could circulate through the house, while the sun could not penetrate into the inner room, it was therefore kept tolerably cool.”
“I think we are better off in England, where even in the hottest weather we can keep cool without so much trouble being taken,” observed Fanny. “How I pity the poor men who are obliged to work at the punkahs.”
“They are accustomed to the heat, and it is their business,” observed Mrs Vallery; “they would not have thanked us had we dismissed them, and told them that for their sakes we were ready to bear the hot stifling atmosphere, or to refrain from going out in our palanquins.”
“What are palanquins, mamma?” asked Fanny.
“A palanquin may be described as a litter or sofa without legs, and with a roof over it, carried by means of long poles, one on each side, the ends resting on the shoulders of the bearers. A person travelling in one can recline at full length, and sleep comfortably during a long journey. When travelling by post, or dak, as it is called, fresh bearers are found ready at each stage, just as post-horses are in England.
“When we went out to pay visits for a short distance only we used a tanjahn, in which a person, instead of reclining, sits upright. It is somewhat like an English sedan-chair. We, however, at most of the stations where the roads were good, used open carriages sent out from England.
“Your papa used occasionally, also, to go out hunting tigers on the back of an elephant. He did not, however, bestride it as he would a horse, but sat with one or two other persons in a sort of box, called a howdah, fastened on the animal’s back. The huge creature was guided by a man called a mahout, seated on its neck, with a sharp-pointed stick in his hand. To get into the howdah a ladder is placed against the animal’s side, which stands perfectly quiet, till ordered by the mahout to move on.
“I have on several occasions travelled on the back of an elephant in a much larger howdah than is used for hunting, when I had a chattah or umbrella held over my head.”
“But do the huge elephants gallop after the tigers?” asked Fanny.
“I should think not,” observed Norman, now speaking for the first time. “Papa used to carry a gun, and beaters and dogs went into the jungle to drive out the tigers, and then he used to shoot them. He has often told me about it, and promised to take me when I am big enough. I should like to shoot a tiger.”