Horses in this country are fed mostly on "gram," cicer arietinum, akind of pea, which, when split, forms dall, and can be made into amost nutritious and palatable curry. The Ghorawalla recognises thisfact. If he is modest, you may be none the wiser, perhaps none theworse; but if he is not, then his mule will grow lean, while hegrows stout. How to obviate this result is indeed the main problemwhich the syce presents, and many are the ways in vogue of trying tosolve it. 0ne way is to have the mule fed in your presence, youdoing butler and watching him feed. Another is to play upon thecaste feelings of the syce, defiling the mule's food in some way. Ibelieve the editor of the Aryan Trumpet considers this a violation ofthe Queen's proclamation, and, in any case, it is a futile device.It may work with the haughty Purdaisee, but suppose your Ghorawallais a Mahar, whose caste is a good way below that of his mule? Ihave nothing to do with any of these devices. I establish a compactwith my man, the unwritten conditions of which are, that I pay himhis wages, and supply a proper quantity of provender, while he, onhis part, must look at that his mule is always fat enough to work, andhimself lean enough to run. If he cannot do this, I propose to findsomeone who can. 0nce he comes to a clear understanding of thistreaty, and especially of its last clause, he will give littletrouble. As some atonement for worrying you so much about theaccoutrements, the Ghorawalla is very careful not to disturb youabout the mule. If the saddle galls it, or its hoof cracks, hesuppresses the fact, and experiments upon the ailment with his own"vernacular medicines," as the Baboo called them. When these fail,and the case is almost past cure, he mentions it casually, as anunfortunate circumstance which has come to his notice. There are afew skinnygs, only a few, which make me feel homicidal, and this is oneof them.