re the _dhobis_ stand and wash. But they much
prefer the river. Many of the Indian rivers for a large part of the
year provide just the conditions which the _dhobi_ loves. The water is
generally reduced to a modest stream, running amongst rocks and
stones, with deep pools here and there, and long stretches of dry sand
or gravel, or even green grass, on which the clothes can be spread to
bleach. The _dhobi_ stands in the stream and rinses the linen in the
running water, sometimes using a little soap. But his real agent for
cleansing consists of large smooth stones belonging to the river-bed,
which lie handy or which he has fished out, and on these he dashes the
wet garments.

As I write [at Khandala] I hear the _dhobi_ in the stream just below,
busy with repeated flagellations which resound loudly. As I saw him
take up a pair of pyjamas I watched the whole process carefully. He
rinsed them for a short time in the stream. He then kneaded them
slightly on the stone and rinsed them again. Then doubling the
garments into a long roll which he held by one end, he raised it high
above his head and dashed it with all his strength on the stone about
eighteen times. When the water had been beaten out he again dipped the
roll into the stream and resumed his flagellations. He repeated this
process six times, so that by the time he had finished and the pyjamas
were added to the pile of washed clothes, they had been beaten on the
stone more than a hundred times. The process effectually expels all
the dirt, but the amount of literal wear and tear to which the garment
is exposed can easily be imagined. Mother-of-pearl shirt-buttons fare
badly under this treatment, and for this reason are not much used in
India.

The scorching sun is another purifying element. Under its bleaching
influence the well-washed garments become white as snow, and have that
refreshing fragrance of complete cleanliness which an Indian resident
misses when at home and he has to receive his washing from an English
laundry.

The ordinary Indian _dhobis_ only iron the clothes by smoothing them
over with their hands, but the more accomplished artists use large and
heavy box-irons, which are heated by filling the box with hot ashes.
The _dhobis_ who are experienced in getting up linen for English
residents do so with great skill, and accomplish successfully the most
elaborate tasks. Washing is very cheap, like most things in India
which depend on labour. The usual