ive advances from the first show of blossom, to the period of its
arriving at full perfection; at which time, the rude sickle of the
industrious labourer levels the majestic grass to the earth for domestic
purposes. The benefits it then produces would take me very long to
describe.

The sirrakee and sainturh are stripped from the outward sheltering blades,
and wove together at the ends; in this way they are used for bordering
tatties, or thatched roofs; sometimes they are formed into screens for
doors, others line their mud-huts with them. They are found useful in
constructing accommodations after the manner of bulk-heads on boats for
the river voyagers, and make a good covering for loaded waggons. For most
of these purposes the article is well suited, as it resists moisture and
swells as the wet falls on it, so that the heaviest rain may descend on a
frame of sirrakee without one drop penetrating, if it be properly placed
in a slanting position.

I cannot afford space to enumerate here the variety of purposes which this
production of Nature is both adapted for and appropriated to; every part
of the grass being carefully stored by the thrifty husbandman, even to the
tops of the reed, which, when the blossom is rubbed off, is rendered
serviceable, and proves an excellent substitute for that useful invention,
a birch-broom. The coarse parent grass, which shelters the sirrakee, is
the only article yet found to answer the purposes for thatching the
bungalows of the rich, the huts of the poor, the sheds for cattle, and
roofs for boats. The religious devotee sets up a chupha-hut,[36] without
expense,--(all the house he requires,)--on any waste spot of land most
convenient to himself, away from the busy haunts of the tumultuous world,
since bamboo and grass are the common property of all who choose to take
the trouble of gathering it from the wilderness. And here neither rent or
taxes are levied on the inhabitant, who thus appropriates to himself a
home from the bounteous provision prepared by Divine goodness for the
children of Nature.

This grass is spontaneous in its growth, neither receiving or requiring
aid from human cultivation. It is found in every waste throughout
Hindoostaun, and is the prominent feature of the jungle, into which the
wild animals usually resort for shelter from the heat of the day, or make
their covert when pursued by man, their natural enemy.

The beneficence of Heaven has also exacted but little