Part 26 (1/2)

[2] This is intended to scare evil spirits, but has become a mere form of announcing the joyful event.

[3] After the first bath pieces of black thread are tied round the child's wrist and ankle as protection.

[4] _Amaltas, Ca.s.sia fistula_

[5] The purgative draught (_guthl_) is usually made of aniseed, myro-bolans, dried red rose leaves, senna, and the droppings of mice or goats.--_Bombay Gazetteer_, ix, part ii, 153.

[6] _Gudri_.

[7] _Ta'awiz_.

[8] Among the Khojahs of Bombay a stool is placed near the mother's bed, and as each, of the female relatives comes in she strews a little rice on the stool, lays on the ground a gold or silver anklet as a gift for the child, and bending over mother and baby, pa.s.ses her hands over them, and cracks her finger-joints against her own temples, in order to take all their ill luck upon herself.--_Bombay Gazetteer_, ix, part ii, 45.

[9] _Duli_: see p. 184.

[10] _Salgirah_ or _barasganth_, 'year-knot'.

[11] _Gardani_.

[12] P. 36.

[13] The Mahomedans are very keen on breeding pigeons in large numbers; they make them fly all together, calling out, whistling, and waving with a cloth fastened to the end of a stick, running and making signals from the terraced roofs, with a view of encouraging the pigeons to attack the flock of some one else.... Every owner is overjoyed in seeing his own pigeons the most dexterous in misleading their opponents.'--Manucci, _Storia do Mogor_, i. 107 f.

[14] _Mugdar_.

[15] _Rohu_, a kind of carp, _Labeo rohita_.

[16] The use of the bow and arrow has now disappeared in northern India, and survives only among some of the jungle tribes.

[17] A curious relic of the custom of c.o.c.k-fighting at Lucknow survives in the picture by Zoffany of the famous match between the Nawab Asaf-ud-daula and Col. Mordaunt in 1786. The figures in the picture are portraits of the celebrities at the Court of Oudh, whose names are given by Smith, _Catalogue of British Mezzotint Portrait_, i. 273.

[18] _Bater, Coturnix communis_.

[19] Lucknow is now an important racing centre, and the Civil Service Cup for ponies has been won several times by native gentlemen.

[20] The feather or curl is one of the most important marks. If it faces towards the head, this is a horse to buy; if it points towards the tail, it is a 'female snake' (_sampan_), a bad blemish, as is a small star on the forehead. A curl at the bottom of the throat is very lucky, and cancels other blemishes. A piebald horse or one with five white points, a white face and four white stockings, is highly valued.

The European who understands the rules can often buy an 'unlucky'

horse at a bargain.

[21] _Dub, Cynodon Dactylon_.

[22] _Chadar._

[23] _Cicer arietinum_: the word comes from Port, _gro_, a grain.

[24] _Moth_, the aconite-leaved kidney-bean, _Phaseolus aconitifolius_.

[25] _Barsati_ from _barsat_, the rainy season; a pustular eruption breaking out on the head and fore parts of the body.

[26] The Native gentleman's charger, with his trained paces, his henna-stained crimson mane, tail, and fetlocks, is a picturesque sight now less common than it used to be.