When these are in
flower they are a lovely sight, and perhaps compensate for the
myriads of mosquitoes who find in these ponds an ideal breeding-
place, and assert their presence day and night most successfully.
There are great drifts of Eucharis lilies growing under the
protecting shadows of the trees along shady walks, and the blaze
of colour in the formal garden surrounding the white marble
fountain in front of the house is positively dazzling. The house
was built especially as a hot-weather residence, and as such is
not particularly successful, for it is one of the hottest
buildings in the whole of India. The dining-room is in the centre
of the house, and has no windows whatever; an arrangement which,
though it may shut out the sun, also excludes all fresh air as
well. The bedrooms extend up through two storeys, and are so
extremely lofty that one has the sensation of sleeping in a lift-
shaft. Apart from its heat, the house has a dignified old-world
air about it, with vague hints of Adam decoration in its details.
The establishment of Government House consisted of five hundred
and twenty servants, all natives, so it could not be termed short-
handed.
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