and working through it, and so continuously contaminating the contained water. Anyone who knows the ways of the _bhisti_ must be familiar with the careless way in which his _mashak_ is laid down on the ground anywhere that may come handy, so that it cannot fail to get frequently fouled with germs of all sorts, which, owing to the vessel being composed of organic material, find themselves at once placed on a “culture medium” as congenial to their growth as if prepared in a laboratory. The above reasons, it is thought, should suffice to show that no leather vessel should on any account be tolerated in connection with our water supply, and it may be added that there is no difficulty whatever in substituting cleanly metal buckets for the abominable filth trap that has just been described. While the Hindu holds the wholesome belief that contact with leather means utter defilement to water, and would very probably die at the stake rather than drink from a _mashak_; the use of the latter by the Mahomedan is purely a matter of custom, in no way connected with religious sanction, so that in hospitals too small to afford a double establishment, a Hindu water-man alone is entertained, because no Mahomedan can object on the score of religion to taking water from any cleanly vessel or from any one’s hands, so that though a bhisti can serve the Mahomedan alone, a _kahar_ can serve both castes. For many years before leaving India the writer insisted on the use of metal buckets for carrying his household water, a pair being carried slung from the ends of a bamboo balanced on the shoulder; and it never became necessary to dismiss the Mahomedan water-carrier, as he always proved ready to adopt the change, as soon as he discovered one was in earnest in the matter, and that any infraction of the rules meant instant dismissal. There are no more hard-working and better servants in India than the _bhistis_, who are deservedly, as a body, great favourites with the European community, ever ready to put their hand to anything. One who once served me for several years used often to act as factotum on short expeditions, cooking my food and waiting at table, and finally, as no groom was available at the last moment, marched one of my horses from one end of the Punjab to the other by himself, and brought it in in good condition. With willing and obliging men of this sort, it is naturally easy, by a little insistence, to ensure the adoption of any plan that does not actually clash with their religious beliefs--and I can assure my Anglo-Indian readers that they, too, will meet with no difficulty in introducing this important reform, provided they show clearly from the first that they mean to be obeyed. It is rarely even necessary to threaten to entertain a Hindoo _paniwalla_ in the _bhisti’s_ place, for as a race they are of the most amenable.