India 2001 books

Next day as we were sketching in the picturesque main street, from the
distance came the sounds of a weird wailing, drawing slowly closer and
closer.
"Hurra," thought we--two minds with but a single, etc.,--"a
funeral--magnificent. Just the thing to complete the scene."
A string of donkeys came round the corner, on either flank each animal
bore a case marked with a large red cross. Amongst the animals were
donkey-boys, and it was from their lips came the dismal wailing. Never
have we seen so ragged and wretched a crew. The boys were evidently the
"unfits," and they looked it, every face showed the wan, pallid shadow
of hunger and disease. A few old men in huge fur caps, with rifles on
their backs, stumbled along, guarding the precious convoy. "Glue pot"
led us all to a large empty building, once a Turkish merchant's store,
where the cases were to be housed. The bullock carts with the heavier
packages came in in the evening, and we sent the men five litres of plum
brandy to put some warmth into their miserable bodies.


Pages:
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60