each of whom appeared to have her specialty--one imitating by her
postures a serpent-charmer; another quite unequivocally representing
a man-charmer; another rapidly executing what seemed an interminable
pirouette. Finally, all joined in a song and a closing round, adding
the sound of clapping hands to the more energetic measures of the
music.

"I can now understand," I said when the nautch was finished, "the
remark of the shah of Persia which set everybody laughing not long ago
in England. During his visit to that country, being present at a ball
where ladies and gentlemen were enjoying themselves in a somewhat
laborious way in dancing, he finally asked, 'Why do you not make
your servants do this for you?' It is at least entertaining to see
a nautch, but to wade through the English interpretation of a waltz,
_hic labor hoc opus est_, and the servants _ought_ to perform it."

"Do you know," said Bhima Gandharva, "that much the same national mode
of thought which prompts the Hindu to have his dancing done by the
nautch-girls also prompts him to have his tax-gathering and general
governing done by the English? We are often asked why the spectacle
has so often been seen of our native princes quietly yielding up their
kingdoms to strangers, and even why we do not now rise and expel the
foreigner from power over us. The truth is, most Hindus are only
glad to get some one else to do the very hard work of governing. The
Englishman is always glad to get a French cook, because the French can
cook better than the English. Why should not we be also glad to get
English governors, when the English govern so much better than the
Hindus? In truth, governing and cooking are very like--the successful
ruler, like the successful cook, has only to consult the tastes of his
employers; and upon any proper theory of politics government becomes