Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/283

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VAREY-PUNTHAL.
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dresses; there, others dyed yellow, purple or green, to suit the tastes of the women; in another place, the black, course cumbleys, or blankets, made of hair; in another, Madras handkerchiefs, &c. The buyers went debating and chaffering through the circles, strenuously raising their voices in their efforts to lower the sellers' prices. All was life, bustle, and animation under the stately shade-trees, through whose foliage the afternoon sun glanced bright rays of light on the busy crowd below. But our tent was packed, and every thing was ready for a move; so, bidding farewell to Camakoor and its fair-day, we jolted off to the music of our bearers' “Ho! ho! Hay! hay?" toward our next stopping-place.



Varey-punthal.

Dull must be the heart, and cold the sensibilities of the traveller, who can pass through the villages and over the plains of India, without a kindling of joy at the scenes through which he journeys, and of sympathy for the poor villagers who till these fields. Though

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