r his arrival in
India, from their greater coolness; and he recommended them to his
clergy on all ordinary occasions." It might be added that coolness is
not the only thing to be considered for residents in India. A chill of
some sort is the cause of many Indian ailments, and shirt and trousers
of flannel, however thin, should be the invariable dress, by day and
by night.

One of the ways of trying to regain health amongst those early workers
in the East, was to go for an excursion of some weeks' duration on a
river. Possibly they had in mind the beneficial results of a boat
excursion on the Thames. But slow progress in a native boat, alongside
the mud-banks and reedy swamps of many Indian rivers, was about as
sure a way of getting, or increasing, malaria as they could have
devised.

There is a strong spirit of conservatism amongst most Englishmen when
they live in India. They appear to catch the traditional spirit of the
country, and "what has been must always be." Hence arrangements
adopted by the earlier settlers are continued to the present day, even
though in some respects they are particularly inconvenient. The
old-fashioned bungalow, which is always a one-storied building nearly
all roof, is simplicity itself as regards plan. But it is certainly
not beautiful to look at, and has nothing specially to commend itself
from a practical point of view. Yet it is only very gradually that
houses more attractive in appearance, and more adapted to the ways of
civilisation, are taking its place. Even in modern bungalows, the
extremely primitive arrangements for bathing, which formerly had to
suffice because there was nothing better, are still perpetuated. The
bathroom is often a dingy, lean-to shed, opening out of your sleeping
room. It has another door leading to the outer world for the use of
the water-carrier, as well as for the mysterious being who glides in
and out as he attends to the sanitary needs of the bathroom in a
country where there is no drainage.

The actual area for bathing is something like the sink in an English
scullery, but level with the floor and on an enlarged scale. The hole
in the wall, as an exit for the water, is unpleasantly suggestive of a
possible inlet for snakes. Nor is this fear without foundation. The
hole in the wall leading into the cool, damp, dark bathroom is a
distinct invitation to snakes to enter in, which they sometimes
accept. The wire guard is often absent, or broken. The water