e turban for the men, with its variety of
shape and colour, and its great practical utility as a protection from
the rays of the tropical sun, is without doubt the most artistic
covering for the head that the world produces. It is a sad pity that
the turban is being slowly but steadily ousted by the adoption of a
stupid little cloth cap, as ugly as it is useless.

How hopeless it would be to attempt to decide which is the national
dress out of any of those now worn in India, might be realised even in
England by a visit to a museum, such as the Indian Institute in
Oxford. There is there a most interesting collection of clay figures,
admirably modelled, and coloured and draped. They represent many of
the various types and dresses to be found in the country. These
figures are made in Poona City, and are absolutely correct. They do
not by any means include all the varieties of costume to be seen in
India. Nevertheless, if you were to mix them all up together, the
result would very fairly represent the motley throng which you might
see in the more crowded parts of Bombay City, to which place, as a
great sea-port, people come from all parts of India. If you were to
select a person out of the throng as wearing a dress suitable for
Christians to adopt, you would be told that that particular costume
denoted either the man's religion or his occupation, or both, and for
anyone else to wear it, except those of the same class as himself,
would create a false impression as to the wearer's identity. If you
were to suggest that the costume selected might be adopted as the
national dress for India, you would be assured that no one would
consent to wear it except the little group of people whose
distinctive garb it is.

How much dress has to do with the appearance of an Indian was brought
home to me one day, when a magnificent-looking policeman entered the
carriage in which I was sitting, at a station near Bombay. He had on a
tall blue turban, dark blue tunic with leathern belt, loose
knickerbockers, and putties. His clothes were put on with extreme
neatness; they were as spotless as those of a London policeman, and
the brass numbers and letters polished to the highest degree. I was
astonished to see this magnificent fellow rapidly divest himself of
all his clothing--turban, tunic, knickerbockers, putties--there would
have been nothing left, except that a Hindu wears beneath his uniform
the meagre garments which suffice for everyday li