almost within arm's length of them. I
have often thought that such a tree so peopled at the door of a
school in England might work a great revolution in the early habits
and propensities of the youth educated in it. The European traveller
is often amused to see the pariah dog[5] squatted close in front of
the traveller during the whole time he is occupied in cooking and
eating his dinner, under a tree by the roadside, assured that he
shall have at least a part of the last cake thrown to him by the
stranger, instead of a stick or a stone. The stranger regards him
with complacency, as one that reposes a quiet confidence in his
charitable disposition, and flings towards him the whole or part of
his last cake, as if his meal had put him in the best possible humour
with him and all the world.

Notes:

1. December, 1835. The name of the village is given in the author's
text as Seindpore. It seems to be the place which is called Siedpore
in the next chapter.

2. The common weaver bird, _Phoceus baya, Blyth. 'Ploceinae_, the
weaver birds. . . . They build nests like a crucible, with the
opening downwards, and usually attach them to the tender branches of
a tree hanging over a well or tank. _P. baya_ is found throughout
India; its nest is made of grasses and strips of the plantain or
date-palm stripped while green. It is easily tamed and taught some
tricks, such as to load and fire a toy cannon, to pick up a ring,
&c,' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. 'Ploceinae').

3. _Francolinus vulgaris_; a capital game bird.

4. Canto V, stanza 22, line 3.

5. The author spells the word Pareear. The editor has used the form
now customary. The word is the Tamil appellation of a large body of
the population of Southern India, which stands outside the orthodox
Hindoo castes, but has a caste organization of its own. Europeans
apply the term to the low-caste mongrel dogs which infest villages
and towns throughout India. See Yule and Burnell, _Glossary of Anglo-
Indian Words (Hobson-Jobson)_, in either edition, s.v.; and Dubois,
_Hindu Manners, &c._, 3rd ed. (1906, index, s.v.).

CHAPTER 19

Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub.

At Sayyidpur[1] we encamped in a pretty little mango grove, and here
I had a visit from my old friend Janki Sewak, the high priest of the
great temple that projects into the Sagar lake, and is called
Bindraban.[2] He has two villages rent free, worth a thousand rupees
a y