Their appearance was most comical when they stooped to their work, their prodigious bustles forming an apex.

At least two out of every three had babies seated on these bustles, kept firm against their backs by the cloth tightly wrapped round the mother's body.

But from the attitudes of the mothers the position was now reversed, the little black heads hanging downwards upon the dark brown backs of the women.

These were always in the highest state of good temper, often indulging when not at work in a general dance, and continually singing, and clapping their hands.
After the women had been got off three or four hundred boys and girls, of from eleven to fourteen years old, would start with small kegs of rice or meat weighing from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds.
These small kegs had upon their first arrival been a cause of great bewilderment and annoyance to the commissariat officers, for no man or woman, unless by profession a juggler, could balance two long narrow barrels on the head.

At last the happy idea struck an officer of the department that the children of the place might be utilized for the purpose.