FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  
e red light glows on the bare arm of the jack tar at the bow with the boat-hook, and just touches the white draperies of the native passenger as he gets out awkwardly and goes up the steps--a person of importance with attendants, I see, as they come up into the full acetylene light on the quay head, someone very princely to judge by his turban and waist--but a native's waist measurement sometimes only indicates his financial position. There is considerable variety of type and nationality amongst the few people who sit taking the air on the stone parapet of the Bundar. On my right are two soldiers--one an _Argyll and Sutherland_, with red and white diced hose and tasselled sporran, a native of Fife to judge by his accent; next him there is a _Yorkshire Light Infantry_ man. They chat in subdued voices, people all do here, I suppose it's something in the sea warm air--have you ever noticed how softly they talk in the Scilly Isles at night? It is the same cause I expect--the soft warm atmosphere. They smoke Occidental (American) cigarettes after the manner of all the wise men of the East of to-day. A yard or so along is a bearded turbaned native; he is from up North I think. He sits on the parapet with knees under his chin, and a fierceness of expression that is quite refreshing after the monotonous negatively gentle expression of the Bombay natives; then beyond him are two Eurasian girls in straw hats and white frocks, and they do look so proper. Further over the Parsi men in almost European kit with their women folk sit in lines of victorias and broughams, and they are silhouetted against the glow of lamps on the lawn of the Yacht Club, under which the white women from the far North-West listen to music and have tea and iced drinks through straws. And the local Parsis _seem_ quite content eating the air in the dusk--one or two of their menkind pay visits on foot from carriage to carriage--they have at least a share in the pom pom of the brass band--and welcome. By the way, my piper friends who may read this, you will be amused to hear some natives of Sassun objected to having the pipes on the lawn in the afternoon at the Yacht Club--said they "couldn't hear any music in them"--so Queen Victoria's favourite, "The Green Hills of Tyroll" was turned on, in parts, and they were quite happy! Now dinner, for there goes the Hotel brass band down below--_a cada necio agrada su porrada_--to me the pipes, the brass band to the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

native

 

carriage

 

people

 
parapet
 
natives
 

expression

 
listen
 

porrada

 

drinks

 

Eurasian


frocks
 

monotonous

 

negatively

 

gentle

 

Bombay

 
proper
 

victorias

 

broughams

 

silhouetted

 
European

Further

 
eating
 

dinner

 

afternoon

 

couldn

 

amused

 

Sassun

 
objected
 

Tyroll

 

turned


Victoria

 

favourite

 

menkind

 

visits

 

Parsis

 

content

 

agrada

 

friends

 

refreshing

 

straws


American

 

financial

 

position

 

measurement

 

princely

 

turban

 
considerable
 

variety

 

Bundar

 

soldiers