MODEL FARM AT BANGALORE. 109
Races and tournaments, polo, archery, cricket, lawn
tennis, and golf, are only a few of the afternoon entertainments,
generally accompanied by the music of a
military band, and giving plenty opportunity for
harmless flirtation and hilarity. Dinner and garden
parties, as well as balls, are likewise of frequent
occurrence, and when the hot season approaches, those
who can get away take flight to the Neilgherry
hills.
Bangalore sports a model farm, which is irrigated by
means of an ingenious apparatus (Plate VI.), made of
bamboo, the “ shaloof” of the ancient, as well as modern,
Egyptians. I very much fear, however, that this farm
is doomed to have its useful career cut short by the
present mania for economy. Here I also saw a most
primitive oil mill, the “ checkoo,” consisting of a clumsy
wooden mortar and a pestle driven by oxen. The
latter belonged to the famous Mysore breed, the
“ Amrut Mahal,” splendid large fawn-coloured animals.
A small village separates the farm from the “ Lal-
bagh,” the finest botanical garden in India, which
does full justice to its manager, Mr. Cameron.
A long avenue of Portia trees (Thespasia populona)
covered with handsome yellow funnel-shaped flowers,
leads to its entrance gates, and within there is a splendid