Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s7.t2.64

v2.c27.s7.t2.64

**Construction of Villages.**—The villages are of a construction totally distinct from anything we have seen, and more approaching the wigwam of the western world. Every commune is surrounded with a circumvallation of thorns, *kanta ka kot*, and the stacks of *bhus*, or ‘ chaff,’ which are placed at intervals, give it the appearance of a respectable fortification. These *bhus* stacks are erected to provide provender for the cattle in scanty rainy seasons, when the parched earth denies grass, or full crops of maize. They are erected to the height of twenty or thirty feet, coated with a cement of earth and cow-dung, and with a sprinkling of thorns, to prevent the fowls of the air from reposing in them. In this manner, with a little fresh coating, they will exist ten years, being only resorted to on emergencies, when the kine may be said to devour the village walls. Their appearance is a great relief to the monotony of the march through the desert ; which, however, cannot strictly be said to commence till you cross the Luni.