The thatches are usually made of the _kuss_, or common wild grass, whose roots furnish that fibrous substance called _kuss-kuss_, already spoken of while describing the formation of _tatties_. Immense plains are covered with this kind of grass, glowing commonly about two or three feet high: though, in some places, it may be seen full five feet; serving as an asylum for every species of game; causing many gentlemen, on first entering the country, to admire, what they at first take to be ‘the prodigious fine crops of hay.’ It is commonly burnt down every year during the hot season, when perfectly dry: the ashes thus tendered to the soil, being washed in by the succeeding rains, occasion the grass to shoot forth, from the apparent ruin, with incredible freshness and vigor! At such times, nothing can be more acceptable to the herds, which, during the preceding months, are often obliged to be sent to great distances, where a little herbage may be found; or they are, perhaps, subsisted upon chaff made from straw, millet-stalks, and the refuse of the thrashing floor. For several months, the grass in question is relished by every description of cattle; but, after the sun has crossed the Line, on his return to the opposite tropic, it becomes harsh and dry, proving so injurious to their mouths as to cause their rejecting it, except when severely oppressed by hunger. From the end of February, probably to the setting in of the rains in June, great numbers of persons are employed in cutting the _kuss_, or _khur_, as it is indiscriminately called, with a kind of sickle, and tying it up into _haunties_, (or handfuls,) usually about six inches thick. These are conveyed on _hackeries_ to the several markets, and especially to the military cantonments, where they sell at various prices, according to the distance they may have been conveyed, the scarcity or abundance of the article, the time of the year, and the pressure of the demand. From 1000 to 1200 bundles for a rupee, may be taken as a fair medium; though, during the rains, when thatches must often be made, or replaced, cost what they may, I have often known them sold at a rupee for every hundred: on the contrary, they are often so cheap as 3000, or even 4000, for that sum. The manner of constructing a thatch according to the best principle, both for neatness and durability, is as follows. The whole side of the building, intended to be covered in, is measured, and that measurement is exactly represented on some level spot, by means of four cords, fastened to as many stakes; which thus exhibit the form and extent of the thatch to be constructed. Each side of a quadrangular, or other building, must be thus laid down. All hands set to work in placing either whole bamboos of the large kind, or bundles of three and four of the small kind, parallel, and about a foot asunder; all directed by the base line, towards which they stand at right angles; so that, when ready, they would be in the same line with