complaints
on that score, nor, from the appearance of the planters, would it have
occurred to me that the district was at all unhealthy. On the evening of
my arrival there was a dinner-party, at which four ladies were present,
and later on there was music and singing, and all the accompaniments of a
pleasant social life. So much do coffee districts vary in India, that the
party was to me a startling surprise, which the reader may easily
understand when I mention that, after leaving the most northerly
plantation in Coorg and entering my district of Manjarabad, there is only
one resident lady to be found there, and it is not till you reach the
northern district of Mysore, some sixty miles further, that ladies, in the
plural, again commence, though even there they do not exist to a very
serious extent.

On the afternoon of the day of my arrival I walked round my host's estate,
which carried an excellent crop, and also visited a neighbouring property.
On the following morning I drove to the Dubarri estate, and walked round
part of it, and in the afternoon visited the club--a comfortable, and in
every respect suitable, building which, as I mentioned, is occasionally
used for dances. I also visited the co-operative store, which contained a
large supply of various articles. The church, which was close to the club,
had been recently built, at a cost of 5,000 rupees, but, when I saw it,
the interior was not quite finished. I may mention that in the Bamboo
district there is a resident doctor who is employed by the various
estates. Later on in the afternoon I rode from the club with Mr. William
Davies to the Mattada Kadu estate (Messrs. Matheson and Co.'s property),
of which he is manager, and rode through coffee all the way to the
bungalow. I was most kindly entertained by Mr. Davies, who had a party of
the neighbouring planters to meet me at dinner, after which we had much
talk on the subject in which we were all mutually interested. On the
following morning I awoke early, and was rather surprised, shortly after
daylight, to hear the names of the coolies called over from the
check-roll, as, though early hours were kept in the old days in Mysore, we
have now become considerably later, owing, I surmise, to feeling that in
these labour-competing days we are not as completely master as we once
were. After a small breakfast I rode through the estate, guided by Mr.
Davies, who was accompanied by two of his guests of the night before,