CHAPTER XIII.


Description of a native village.--Village functionaries.--The barber.
--Bathing habits.--The village well.--The school.--The children.--The
village bazaar.--The landowner and his dwelling.--The 'Putwarrie' or
village accountant.--The blacksmith.--The 'Punchayiet' or village jury
system.--Our legal system in India.--Remarks on the administration of
justice.

A typical village in Behar is a heterogeneous collection of thatched
huts, apparently set down at random--as indeed it is, for every one
erects his hut wherever whim or caprice leads him, or wherever he can
get a piece of vacant land. Groves of feathery bamboos and broad-leaved
plumy-looking plantains almost conceal the huts and buildings. Several
small orchards of mango surround the village; the roads leading to and
from it are merely well-worn cattle tracks,--in the rains a perfect
quagmire, and in the hot weather dusty, and confined between straggling
hedges of aloe or prickly pear. These hedges are festooned with masses
of clinging luxuriant creepers, among which sometimes struggles up a
custard apple, an avocado pear, or a wild plum-tree. The latter is a
prickly straggling tree, called the _bhyre_; the wood is very hard, and
is often used for making ploughs. The fruit is a little hard yellow
crisp fruit, with a big stone inside, and very sweet; when it is ripe,
the village urchins throw sticks up among the branches, and feast on
the golden shower.