swept every day. At night a light should always be kept burning in
occupied bedrooms, and on no account should one get out of bed in
the dark, or walk about the rooms at night without slippers or
shoes.

[3] Somewhat analogous to this is the custom which used to be a
common one in some parts of Behar. _Koombars_ and _Grannés_, that
is, tile-makers and thatchers, when trade was dull or rain
impending, would scatter peas and grain in the interstices of the
tiles on the houses of the well-to-do. The pigeons and crows, in
their efforts to get at the peas, would loosen and perhaps
overturn a few of the tiles. The grannés would be sent for to
replace these, would condemn the whole roof as leaky, and the
tiles as old and unfit for use, and would provide a job for
himself and the tile-maker, the nefarious profits of which they
would share together.

Cultivators of thatching-grass have been known deliberately and
wantonly to set fire to villages simply to raise the price of
thatch and bamboo.




CHAPTER VIII.


Our annual race meet.--The arrivals.--The camps.--The 'ordinary.'--The
course.--'They're off.'--The race.--The steeple-chase.--Incidents of
the meet.--The ball.