are full, men women and children stand on
the couplings and climb on to the roofs.
Women are as daring as the men. Occasionally
some clamber on to the roofs of the
carriages and lie there full length ; others
climb up on the engine tender, and as the
train moves along it looks like a great mass
of moving humanity.
At one station where we stopped, another train was being marshalled in order to pass. Sitting in our carriage we were able to watch quite a little comedy going on as to who should occupy a certain step. Most of the passengers were peasants and most of them looked in good physical condition. All of them were travelling to town to do a little business, sometimes illegal business. Consequently all have parcels of one sort or another. On this occasion a woman about 30 years of age, well dressed and of good physique, a typical peasant woman, had occupied one step with two parcels and had planted herself in the centre. Her parcels were occupying the room of two other people. Again and again a man or woman would come up and remonstrate with her, demanding that she should hold her parcels or that they would hold a parcel each and stand on the step, but by the use of strong language and on one occasion by the use of her hands, she managed to keep everybody off ; it certainly looked as if she were going to remain in triumphant pos-
