miscreant makes his next appearance in person, he stands on one leg,
with joined palms and a piteous bleat, and pleads an alibi. He was
absent about the marriage of a relation, and his brother washed the
clothes. So your lava falls back into its crater, or, I am afraid,
more often overflows the surrounding country.

My theory of the Dhobie is a mere speculation, a hypothesis deduced
from broad, general principles. I do not pretend to have established
it by scientific observation, and am very tolerant towards other
theories, especially one which is supported by many competent
authorities, and explains the Dhobie by supposing a league between
him, the dirzee and the Boy. I think a close investigation into the
natural history of the shirt would go far to establish this theory as
at least partially true. In spite of the spread of "Europe" shops,
the shirt is still abundantly produced from the vernacular dirzee
sitting crossed-legged in the verandah, and each shirt will be found
to furnish him, on the average, with about a week's lucrative
employment. From his hands it passes to the Dhobie and returns with
the buttons wanting, the buttonholes widened to great gaping fish-
mouths, and the hems of the cuffs slightly frayed. The last is the
most significant fact, because it leads to the discovery of one of
those delicate adaptations which the student of nature has so often
occasion to admire; for, on examination, we discover that the hem had
been made with the least possible margin of cloth, as if to
facilitate the process of fraying. As we know that economy of
material is not an object with the dirzee, it has been maintained
that there is some connection here. Next the shirt passes into the
hands of the Boy, who takes his scissors and carefully pares the
ragged edges of the cuffs and collar. A few rotations of Dhobie and
Boy reduce the cuffs to the breadth of an inch, while the collar