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Notes on the text These notes, by John McGivering, are partly new, and partly based on the notes on this tale in the ORG. The page and line numbers below refer to the Macmillan (London) Standard Edition of Plain Tales from the Hills, as published and frequently reprinted between 1899 and 1950. |
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[Draft of Mar 26 2003]
[Page 93, Heading] Collected in Definitive Verse and Collected Verse with an extra stanza, and, as heading over “The Last Relief” which appeared in Harpers Weekly of 25 April, 1891, collected in Sussex and Burwash Editions.
[Page 93, line 1] the ‘seventies’ Simla was not used as a summer hill-station until 1864, but the Governor-General spent the summer there in 1829. Land there was first acquired in 1815.
[Page 93, line 3] Jakko a hill that figures in many of the stories.
Pigeon-hole a compartment in a desk or cabinet for storing papers, including such plans – the road was not built for several years.
P.W.D. Public Works Department.
[Page 93, line 7] two hundred rupees a month This equated to about £180 a year, and was probably a small proportion of Scheiderling's income. It was only two thirds of what it cost to run an average household in Simla at the time, and suggests that he was very miserly about money matters.
[Page 93, line 10] lung-complaints bronchitis, tuberculosis or asthma: the climate was not perfect for men with low resistance. [awaiting further medical advice. Ed. ]
[Page 93, line 11] heat-apoplexy this is now known as heat-exhaustion. [awaiting further medical advice. Ed. ]
[Page 94, line 6] Commissariat or Transport these two departments were merged in 1875; after 1888, however, the term “ commissariat” was superseded by “supply” and undertaken by the Royal Army Service Corps.
[Page 94, line 21] intermittent fever. [awaiting medical advice. Ed. ]
[Page 95, line 5] Terai hat a wide-brimmed felt hat, sometimes double,and with a ventilator in the crown, named after a strip of marshy and jungly land which runs along the foot of the Himalaya, north of the Ganges, and also a type of malarial fever.
[Page 95, line 11] her box every European home had such a box secured to a post near the entrance to the compound or garden so newcomers to the Station could leave a visiting-card, engraved or printed with their name and address. There was an elaborate etiquette of turning corners up to convey certain messages and one wrote P.P.C (Pour Prendre Congé - 'to take leave') on the card when leaving the Station .
[Page 95, line 29] Dovedell Hotel not located but would be towards the West End.
[Page 96, line 8] the back seat a single passenger sat at the rear, facing backwards.(See the poem “As the Bell Clinks”).
[Page 96, line 12] awning-stanchion this was bent over from one wheel to another.
[Page 96, line 16] Solon a station on the railway about 40 miles from Simla where the road for Sabathu begins.
[Page 96, line 19] bukshish probably from the Persian – a gratuity or tip, also military slang “bukshee” meaning free. [Hobson-Jobson]
[Page 96, line 19] bazaar ‘rickshaw one for hire.
[Page 96, line 30] Tonga Babu the booking-clerk in the tonga office.
[Page 97, line 19] Peterhoff the summer residence of the Viceroy (below) before Viceregal Lodge was occupied in 1888.
[Page 98, line 4] Bournemouth a seaside resort in the South of England much patronised by retired people from hot climates, and then a great centre for invalids suffering from lung trouble.
[J. McG.]
