The immediate business of a head-bearer is to prepare for his master's dressing ; seeing that the linen is all properly in order, boots and shoes cleaned, coat, &c. brushed, side-arms, &c. bright; also that the palanquin is clean, and free from defect; that the water used for drinking be purified ; that the kettle is put on in due time : in general, the inferior bearers clean the furniture, and carry the chowry, (or whisk,) and swing a kind of punkah, (or fan,) made either from a large palm leaf, or with split bamboo, and printed cotton; of which pieces are to be had stamped expressly for that purpose ; they are swung backwards and forwards to cool a room: the butt of the punkah-stick resting on the ground. A punkah is, by some, used instead of a chattah, (or umbrella) ; but it is very inferior as a defence against either sun, wind, or rain. The natives in some parts, especially to the northward, use these punkahs very generally ; but, of late, they seem to have rather changed in favor of the chattah, great numbers of which are now conveyed, as an article of mer-chandize, from the lower provinces to Benares Lucknow, &c.

The dress of the cahar, by which I mean the up-country bearers, usually consists of a colored turban, blue being, if any thing, the prevailing color; the head-bearer generally has a short coortah, not unlike that of the mosaulchy, and