hings Indian.

When the party might be said to be in full swing I do not know that it
was much duller, or more pointless, than receptions in England.
Certainly a cup of tea is more refreshing than the fragment of betel
nut wrapped up in a leaf and enclosed in a piece of gold paper. Few
Europeans have courage to eat it, but it should always be accepted,
and after your departure you can gladden the heart of any native by
giving it to him. A few Indians provide spirituous drinks for their
English visitors, under the idea that they cannot exist without a
whisky peg. And, indeed, it is said that some young English guests
confirm this belief by the use they make of the drinks provided.

A couple of Mohammedan men came forward, and seating themselves on a
carpet gave a brief musical performance, after which a man sung a song
with an air of such comical affectation that it was difficult to
maintain the serious gravity with which the Indian part of the
audience listened to him. Preparations for a photograph of the
assembled company commencing, it was an indication that it was time
for me to depart. All the more distinguished guests had been
previously decorated with garlands of pink roses and white jasmine,
and in addition they were given a kind of sceptre, made of the same
sort of flowers tied to a short stick. The less remarkable people
received an inferior garland and a single rose with a few leaves, made
up like a button-hole; and a certain unimportant residuum did not
receive any decoration at all.

Perhaps what, to English eyes, appeared the most obvious blot in the
proceedings was the absence of any hostess. Both the old Inamdar and
his son had several wives, but except the English ladies who came as
guests, there were no females of any sort visible. One of these ladies
asked me whether the Inamdar would be displeased if she suggested a
visit to his wife, because she had once met her at one of those
parties which some kindly English people have tried to organise for
the benefit of the more exclusive women who live behind the _purdah_,
or curtain. So I told the Inamdar that the Madam Sahib would be
pleased to visit _his_ Madam Sahib. He smiled, and bowed, and made a
little bustle as if he was going to make arrangements for it, but I do
not think that anything came of it.

The point that I was anxious to learn from my attendance at the
Inamdar's party was whether, on the whole, it is advantageous for
English people to