vidual taste, but that is owing to the rather exposed
situation of my house. The trade winds sweep in from the south-east, and
very nearly blow me and my possessions out of the drawing-room. Still, it
would be the height of ingratitude to quarrel with such a healthy,
refreshing gale, and I try to avoid the remorse which I am assured will
overtake me in the hot season if I grumble now. Of course it is hot in the
sun, but ladies need seldom or never expose themselves to it. The
gentlemen are armed, when they go out, with white umbrellas, and keep as
much as possible out of the fierce heat. At night it is quite cold, and
one or even two blankets are indispensable; yet this is by no means one of
the coolest situations in the island, though it bears an excellent
character for healthiness. Of course I can only tell you this time of what
lies immediately around me, for I have hardly strayed five miles from my
own door since I arrived. There is always so much to do in settling one's
self in a new home. This time, I am bound to say, the difficulties have
been reduced to a minimum, not only from the prompt kindness and
helpfulness of my charming neighbors, but because I found excellent
servants ready to my hand, instead of needing to go through the laborious
process of training them. The cooks are very good--better indeed than the
food material, which is not always of the best quality. The beef is
imported from Madagascar, and is thin and queerly butchered, but presents
itself at table in a sufficiently attractive form: so do the long-legged
fowls of the island. But the object of distrust is always the mutton,
which is more often goat, and consequently tough and rank: when it is only
kid one can manage it, but the older animal is beyond me. Vegetables and
fruit are abundant and delicious, and I have tasted very nice fish, though
they do not seem plentiful. Nor is the actual cost of living great for
what is technically called "bazaar"--_i.e.,_ home-grown--articles of daily
food. Indeed, such things are cheap, and a few rupees go a long way in
"bazaar." The moment you come to _articles de luxe_ from England or
France, then, indeed, you must reckon in dollars, or even piastres, for it
sounds too overwhelming in rupees. Wine is the exception which proves the
rule in this case, and every one drinks an excellent, wholesome light
claret which is absurdly and delightfully cheap, and which comes straight
from Bordeaux. Ribbons, clothes, boot