lcome
guests at the factories in the district, and were always glad to see
their indigo friends at their mess in cantonments. At Rettiah, still
further to the north, was a rich rajah's palace, where a resident
European manager dwelt, and had for his sole society an assistant
magistrate who transacted the executive and judicial work of the
subdistrict. These, with some twenty-five or thirty indigo managers
and assistants, composed the whole European population of Chumparun.

Never was there a more united community. We were all like brothers.
Each knew all the rest. The assistants frequently visited each other,
and the managers were kind and considerate to their subordinates.
Hunting parties were common, cricket and hockey matches were frequent,
and in the cold weather, which is our slackest season, fun, frolic,
and sport was the order of the day. We had an annual race meet, when
all the crack horses of the district met in keen rivalry to test their
pace and endurance. During this high carnival, we lived for the most
part under canvass, and had friends from far and near to share our
hospitality. In a future chapter I must describe our racing meet.

[1] The _rahur_ is a kind of pea, growing not unlike our English broom
in appearance; it is sown with the maize crop during the rains,
and garnered in the cold weather. It produces a small pea, which
is largely used by the natives, and forms the nutritive article of
diet known as _dhall_.

CHAPTER II.

My first charge.--How we get our lands.--Our home farm.--System of
farming.--Collection of rents.--The planter's duties.

My first charge was a small outwork of the large factory Seeraha. It
was called Puttihee. There was no bungalow; that is, there was no
regular house for the assistant, but a little one-roomed hut, built on
the top of the indigo vats, served me for a residence. It had neither
doors nor windows, and the rain used to beat through the room, while
the eaves were inhabited by countless swarms of bats, who, in the
evening flashed backwards and forwards in ghostly rapid flight, and
were a most intolerable nuisance. To give some idea of the duties of
an indigo assistant, I must explain the system on which we get our
lands, and how we grow our crop.

Water of course being a _sine qua non_, the first object in selecting
a site for a factory is, to have water in plenty contiguous to the
proposed buildings. Consequently Puttihee was built o