Whether this impeachment be libellous or not, it is undoubtedly the universal custom of all races inhabiting sunny lands to devote these hours to rest, and it is hardly likely that the visitor from northern Europe is wise in refusing to accommodate himself to new conditions. From “ten to four” may suit the business conditions of the City of London excellently, but it does not follow this is equally adapted to Calcutta, and the attempt to do so doubles the strain on nerve and constitution. Apart from this, work done under such trying conditions can never be of the same quality as that which would be accomplished at more suitable hours. Even in busy modern Rome, which is a good deal to the northward of any portion of India, it is quite common for commercial establishments to close during these hours; and it is absurd to reply that this is a mere evidence of sloth and want of business energy, as in spite of this interval of rest, the shops open so much earlier and close so much later that the total of working hours is greater than it is in London. I believe, then, that English folks settled in the Tropics would be wise to adopt an arrangement of the working hours which is the outcome of centuries of experience of life under a vertical sun; and rest when not only our fellow-men, but all animated nature seeks repose; for in those hours, beside a few vagabond crows and those objectionable insects, the flies, a sign of life is hardly to be found abroad to disturb the stillness of the tropical noon.
Unless rest be taken in the afternoon the tropical resident is apt to suffer from want of sleep, for even if he goes to bed at ten o’clock he must needs be astir at five a.m., as exercise can only be comfortably taken in the very early morning and in the dusk of the evening, and seven hours’ sleep, even assuming it to be sound and restful, is quite an inadequate allowance under such trying conditions. Too often however, the night’s sleep is neither sound nor refreshing, and much of the time is passed in rolling from side to side in the vain effort to find some portion of one’s anatomy which the pins and needles of “prickly heat” will cease to trouble. For certain kinds of work, such as travelling, it is indeed necessary to “turn the night into day,” and get through the business during the hours of darkness; for neither men nor horses can perform any work involving muscular exertion, once the sun is well above the horizon, without rapid exhaustion.