At night we slept as well as we could in the palanquins, but were kept awake the greater part of the time by the mosquitoes, and the next morning our hands and faces were most beautifully spotted over with their bites. On this the second day one or two people called; and when the excise-officer and his daughter came in, the deficiency in furniture was at once made manifest. There were Mr. and Miss B., Mrs. Acland, and I, with only two chairs amongst us, and these, like all the chairs in India, were arm-chairs, so that we could not even manage by sitting two on one chair; so Miss B. and my wife had the two chairs, and Mr. B. and I sat upon the table--rather a high one it was--so that our feet dangled about half-way between our seat and the floor. However, there was one great advantage in this evidence of poverty, for Mr. B., as soon as he got home, sent us a large bedstead, some chairs, and other things necessary to make us comfortable. [Sidenote: PALANQUIN-BEARERS' SONGS.] I ought to mention the chant of the palanquin-bearers; though they keep to the same sing-song tune, yet they generally invent the words as they go along. I will give a sample, as well as I could make it out, of what my bearers sang the other night; I have tried to render their words as nearly as I could into English, so as to preserve the metre. The poetry must be improved. A palkee means a palanquin: it is the Hindustanee word, though one also generally used in conversation. Each line is sung in a different voice; in the following, for instance, the first line would be sung in the usual voice, the second very high, the third in a sort of gruff tone:-- "Oh, what a heavy bag! No; it's an elephant: He is an awful weight. Let's throw his palkee down-- Let's set him in the mud-- Let's leave him to his fate. No, for he'll be angry then; Ay, and he will beat us then With a thick stick. Then let's make haste and get along, Jump along quick." And then, suiting the action to the word, off they set in a nasty jog-trot which rattled every bone in my body, keeping chorus all the time of "jump along quick, jump along quick," until they were obliged to stop for laughing. The second sample is from the men who carried Mrs. Acland, and is in quite a different metre. I must tell you that "cubbadar" means "take care," and "baba" (pronounced "barba") means "young lady:"-- 1. "She's not heavy, Cubbadar! Little baba, Cubbadar! Carry her swiftly, Cubbadar! Pretty baba, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! Cubbadar! 2. "Trim the torches, Cubbadar! For the road's rough, Cubbadar! Here the bridge is, Cubbadar! Pass it swiftly, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! Cubbadar! 3. "Carry her gently, Cubbadar! Little baba, Cubbadar! Sing so cheerily, Cubbadar! Pretty baba, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! Cubbadar!"