at the unusual sight of an Englishwoman in her carriage, or a pony-jutka taking a party of Muhammadans from Triplicane to the beach.
The palaces of the dons are occupied by Hindu gentlemen, whose families, although not purdahshin, live in the retirement of the thickly wooded compounds, some of which are enclosed with high walls. The gardens round the houses are encircled with hedges, from which comes a breath of the sweet inga, like the scent of the honey-suckle in England. In vain the eye scans the grounds through open gateway, or chance breach in wall and hedge, for glimpse of silken garment and flash of golden ornament ; in vain the ear is bent to catch the sound of the merry voices of children playing among the oleanders and roses. The silence that broods over the Luz is even greater than that which has settled upon the dead city. Yet nature lives, and the mynas and parrots chatter and scream with a royal licence, as they chattered and screamed in the time of Marco Polo and of St. Thomas. The crows are vociferous upon the verandah roofs, and the squirrels, with jerking tails, scud shrieking along the walls. The song of the gardener comes from the well as he draws water for the garden ; and occasionally the sound of a tomtom may be heard, as some domestic festival is being celebrated within the jealously screened halls.
The Luz church, to which De Monte left his money, stands in a grassy meadow at a little distance from the road. It was founded (1516) by the Portuguese Capuchins, and for nearly four hundred years its bell has called the people to prayer. Its congregation no longer consists of rich merchants, proud dons with their lace-veiled donnas, but is composed of natives and a few Eurasians. These last have some of the high-sounding names of the Portuguese nobility, but they inherit little else from their distinguished forbears.
