Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/228

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CHAPTER XVII

THE INDIAN GARDEN

It is more easy to discover flowers on the sacred fig-tree, or a white crow, or the imprint of fishes' feet, than to know what a woman has in her heart.- SLOKA.

A house with no upper storey is familiarly known in India as a bungalow. If there is an upper storey it is called by the natives an 'upstair house.' In a Mofussil station there are many more bungalows than storied houses, and the latter are occupied by the senior men in the Services. All the houses of the Europeans stand in their own compounds, and the ground is surrounded by a mud wall or hedge. The wall is pierced by a gateway, but it is rare to see a gate or barrier of any kind. It would be useless as a means of keeping out intruders. There are gaps in every boundary made by the servants of the establishment, who have a natural aversion to using the legitimate approach; and ingress can be obtained from all the points of the compass. In many cases the masonry posts have no hinges upon which a gate could be hung. The only purpose of the posts seems to be a mark to show where the carriage-drive commences, and to support the black board on which is painted the name of the occupier of the house. It is a convenient custom to have the name ready at hand for the guidance of the caller, but it strikes the stranger as being odd. The compounds in which bungalows stand usually have one gateway.