2 NOVEMBER 1889, Page 21

Behind the Bungalow. By " Eha." (Thacker and Spink, Cal-

cutta.)—This volume, the work of a writer who is already favourably known for powers of observation and humorous description through his book on Indian natural history under the title of " The Tribes on my Frontier," describes, in an amusing and not unkindly fashion, the servants on whose offices the English- man in India depends for so much of his daily comfort. He begins with the " boy," a word which he ingeniously connects with the Indian " bhoee, or bearer," and proceeds to describe the " butler," the "cook," the "man of lamps," and many other of the legion of attendants with whom it is the lot of the European resident to be brought in contact. In one paper he describes, but very briefly, the ayah (none but a female pen could do justice to the subject) ; and in another he travels beyond the limits of service in picturing for us the Pundit, the learned or un- learned person who teaches the " Competition Wallah " to speak, or, perhaps it should be said, to satisfy an Examining Board that he can speak, this or that vernacular of Hindostan. " Of all the mysteries which perplex the humble mind of the country bumpkin in this land, there is none which he gives up as hopeless sooner than the strange sounds addressed to him by the young sahib who has just passed his higher standard." Altogether, this is a very entertaining and well-illustrated book.