their own. The habitation of our host
was very spacious. There were small several bungalows, occupied by
his brothers, and a chief building containing rooms for visitors, the
general dining-room, a lying-in ward, a small chapel with any number
of idols, and so on. The ground floor, of course, was surrounded by a
verandah pierced with arches leading to a huge hall. All round this hall
were wooden pillars adorned with exquisite carving. For some reason or
other, it struck me that these pillars once belonged to some palace of
the "dead town." On close examination I only grew more convinced that
I was right. Their style bore no traces of Hindu taste; no gods, no
fabulous monster animals, only arabesques and elegant leaves and flowers
of nonexistent plants. The pillars stood very close to each other, but
the carvings prevented them from forming an uninterrupted wall, so that
the ventilation was a little too strong. All the time we spent at the
dinner table miniature hurricanes whistled from behind every pillar,
waking up all our old rheumatisms and toothaches, which had peacefully
slumbered since our arrival in India.

The front of the house was thickly covered with iron horseshoes--the
best precaution against evil spirits and evil eyes.

At the foot of a broad, carved staircase we came across a couch or a
cradle, hung from the ceiling by iron chains. I saw somebody lying on
it, whom, at first sight, I mistook for a sleeping Hindu, and was going
to retreat discreetly, but, recognizing my old friend Hanuman, I grew
bold and endeavored to examine him. Alas! the poor idol possessed only a
head and neck, the rest of his body was a heap of old rags.

On the left side of the verandah there were many more lateral rooms,
each with a special destination, some of which I have mentioned already.
The largest of these rooms was called "vattan," and was used exclusively
by the fair sex. Brahman women are not bound to spend their lives
under veils, like Mussulman women, but still they have very little
communication with men, and keep aloof. Women cook the men's food, but
do not dine with them. The elder ladies of the family are often held in
great respect, and husbands sometimes show a shy courteousness towards
their wives, but still a woman has no right to speak to her husband
before strangers, nor even before the nearest relations, such as her
sisters and her mother.

As to the Hindu widows, they really are the most wretched creatures