a variety of ways peculiar to the East. Numbers of poor persons also go down to these tanks to wash their linen; remaining, till their garments are dried and fit to put on again, up to their necks in the water. Evening again brings crowds around these water-cisterns, to fill their chatties for domestic purposes. In some of these respects the natives set us a good example. I myself know by experience how great an effort it is to rise early in India; and many a battle have I often had, to conquer self, and get up and sally forth when aroused at gunfire. Often during the night the heat is so great, that to sleep is impossible; the drowsy god refuses to visit your couch, and morning dawns ere your eyelids close. Nevertheless, the man, who in India is anxious to preserve his health, must be an early riser. He must also, as he will quickly learn, avoid the vile habit of drinking bitter beer at all hours: a practice no more necessary in India than it is in England; yet very fashionable among Indian society. The strictest temperance, with great simplicity of diet, is also necessary. Spirituous liquors of course must be avoided; and if in seasons of languor or depression, wine must be taken, let it be the best that can be procured, and not the light, sour stuff, which, imported in immense quantities, is swallowed wholesale because it is thought to be harmless. Let the European also avoid all unnecessary exposure to the sun; for though he may be able to bear its heat with but little inconvenience, such exposure is injurious in the extreme. Even the natives acknowledge its danger, and guard themselves against it by every means in their power. The poorest native will not venture out in the daytime without his chittoree over his head; although the head is already well protected by the ample folds of the white turban which cannot absorb many of the sun's rays, and within which, as an extra security, many persons put large green leaves which they gather fresh for the purpose every morning; and which must be cool and grateful to their shaven craniums. Those of our countrymen who are liable to attacks of dysentery or to complaints of the liver, are always recommended to wear during the rainy season a flannel roller to protect that important and often-deranged organ, and flannel vests are also considered necessary all the year through. These few hints may perhaps not prove unacceptable to some of my readers whose lot may one day be cast in India. None of us can tell what a year, nay, what a day may bring forth; our life is made up of strange adventures, and we know not what may be on the morrow.

The first object to which your desires point upon getting up of a morning, are a cup of tea and a bath. The latter is certainly the

greatest of luxuries, if you can, by any natural, or artificial means, cool the water sufficiently to produce a reviving shock. Many persons, I am aware, condemn the very cold bath, and prefer the tepid; in fact, the cold bath, during my stay in Bombay, fell into disrepute in consequence of two or three deaths which occurred during its actual use. I believe, however, that the deaths of the supposed victims of these baths, were occasioned by their imprudently plunging into very cold water when overheated by exercise. By eight o'clock the sun has risen too high, and become too oppressive to allow any European to remain longer out of doors. All at home too, by this time, is ready for breakfast; and if your molly is a clever gardener, the table is not only graced by sweet flowers, but by delicious fruits; both of which must always be acceptable. Your sitting-rooms have undergone a change; every door and window is darkened by the wet cuscus mats, (tatties,) which, during your absence, have been suspended in front of them. The large flounced centre punkah floats monotonously from your ceiling; and your many servants begin already to look drowsy and stupid, and are anxious to get out of your sight, and to take their accustomed nap as soon as possible in some quiet corner of your bungalow. If you are fond of keeping dogs, your sycee, or groom, will sometimes condescend to look after them; the little chokra, or message-boy, having to take them out every morning, all fastened together, for a walk. You meet dozens of these boys on the sea-shore, each with their string of dogs; some running races with their dogs; but others sitting still, or, as is often the case, sleeping, with the cord tied round their waist, to prevent the dogs from running away. About eleven o'clock the sea-breeze* sets in; and though out of doors, this breeze is hot and furnace-like, the temperature of your apartments, as the blessed current passes into them through the wet mats which are hung in its way, is lowered considerrably; and about one o'clock, you can sit down, and enjoy your

tiffin.

Tiffin, in India, is a most agreeable repast; seeing that it does not take place till all formal visiting is past for the day. The talkative and the inquisitive visitor have, before this happy hour, gone through their various and well-known evolutions, and have mercifully left you once more alone with your family, or with the really valued friend; a treasure often difficult to be found in any country; and the remainder of the day is at your own disposal. The English in Bombay, dine at seven o'clock.

The sea-breeze is said to be occasioned by the heated state of the earth. The land-breeze, which sets in about seven P.M., blows for about twelve hours off the shore. They are indeed both but gentle breezes.

This gives them an hour or two's drive before dinner; but eight o'clock is the hour for fashionable parties, and you are fortunate if you get any. thing to eat before half-past. Coffee is handed round soon after the cloth is drawn, and but little wine is drunk; a great change in this respect having taken place during the last fifteen or twenty years. Formerly, drinking was one of the crying evils of our countrymen in the East; and, together with gambling and other seductive vices, was the ruin of our young officers there; but now, a man who either drinks or games is cut as a public nuisance, and shunned by every one who has the least pretension to respectability. Gentlemen, who pay visits, are expected to do so in dress cloth coats, or full regimentals, as the case may be. This regulation may not appear very remarkable to English readers; but the fact is, that to wear a woollen coat in India during the hot season for three or four hours together in a crowded room, is an amount of misery rather difficult for a person at home to conceive. So ridiculous a custom cannot be too much condemned; for pleasure is thus in a great measure destroyed, and in some cases even apoplexy is induced by this stupid fashion, which all sober-thinking people abhor. At parties where ladies are not present, the host, (if a reasonable being,) will sometimes request his guests to put on their white jackets, which they generally take good care to bring with them in the drawer of their palanquin in case they should be wanted. The fair sex in consequence of their style of dress do not suffer half so much as the men. With them the hoop, and horse-hair jupe are in great request, and balloon out the thin muslin, or China satin, in a manner which, as I should fancy, must be most agreeable; but these spreading garments have their disadvantages; they fill up a room; and if waltzing, &c., be introduced, (for such things are verily done in India, in spite of the thermometer indicating 100°,) none but a gentleman with a very long arm has the slightest chance of reaching gracefully the narrow zone of his Elizabethan partner. I am not surprised that the Hindoos laugh at us for taking the trouble, as they say, to dance, when for a few rupees we could hire pretty nautch-girls* to do the whole for us; but Englishmen

* These dancing girls are engaged at all festivals given by the natives, and are one of the chief sources of amusement at a Hindoo festival, wedding, or betrothment. Many of them are very elegant in their movements; but as their avocation leads them into all sorts of company, their moral character would not bear a very close scrutiny. Dancing by deputy, is, I believe, peculiar to the East; as hanging by deputy may be said to be peculiar to China. In the days of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, dances were customary on occasions of religious festivals; for we read in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus and the twentieth verse, that " Miriam, the

are fond of keeping up English customs, and may be forgiven for thus amusing themselves in a foreign land. Whenever you dine out, you must take your own servant to wait upon you at table, or you have a very poor chance of procuring anything like a satisfactory dinner. This is another nuisance; for should your room be small, you have as many servants as friends in it; for the servants attend to none but their own employers. These people quite delight in the bustle and stir of a large party; and all come dressed up in a nondescript kind of livery, according to the fancy, humour, or pride of their masters. The only articles they retain of their own, are the turban and the turned-up slippers; the latter of which often give rise to some ludicrous scenes of confusion. Should two or three guests take a fancy to the same dish at the same time, a race to the carver is not very unusual; for the attendants are always anxious to appear sharp and active on such occasions; and they not unfrequently hook one another with the aforesaid turned-up slippers, and come floundering to the ground. They keep up a perpetual jab bering in Hindustanee, behind your chairs, and as they chew betel-nut, garlic, and some other horrible compounds, they do not add much to the comfort of your dinner-table on a sultry evening.

It appears to be the great ambition of all dinner-party givers in India to have as many English dishes on the table as possible. The hermetically-sealed meats, soups, and confections, that are sent out in tin cases, and principally manufactured in Glasgow for the Indian market, are in high repute in the East; and it is curious to sit down and dine upon Scotch salmon, or turbot, as fresh as if but just caught in its native stream; or to partake of a dish of green peas, or carrots, grown in the land of cakes. Green gooseberries, currants, rhubarb, and other bottled fruits, are much used in pastry, and, though excessively dear, the Indian shops are seldom over-stocked; as the very dearness of these articles has made them fashionable. Stilton, and other celebrated cheeses are sent out in lead cases, but soon become dry and hard; and if not carefully watched, fall a prey to creeping things innumerable; even these leaden cases are not always proof against the adamantine teeth of the bandecoot, or country rat, that infests your godowns and larders. I remember being presented with a fragment of oaten cake, a package of which had been sent overland, as a great treat, to some friends in

prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels, and with dances" to celebrate the triumph of the Lord and the overthrow of Pharaoh and his chariots in the sea. So ancient is the custom of dancing.

Bombay, though its carriage must have cost at least a rupee an ounce. Miniature fountains, playing in glass basons filled with the choicest flowers, are occasionally seen on the tables of some of the merchantprinces of the East; in fact, every plan that is calculated to cool the atmosphere of their suffocating rooms is adopted. I have often thought that, if any man in this age of wonders were fortunate enough to hit upon an invention that would lower the temperature of these roasting apartments in the hot season to 70° or 72°, he would make his fortune in twelve months, and be loaded with honours as lasting as those which have been heaped even upon a Nelson or a Wellington. Man's ingenuity has certainly been put to the test here; and not without some desirable results. He has called in chemistry to his assistance; and attraction and repulsion have been duly investigated. Every known refrigerant has had its day, and even the ice that covers the great American lakes has found its way into the wine-coolers of the Anglo-Indian.

As my pecuniary circumstances would not always admit of my keeping a tattoo, or palanquin, my out-door exercise depended, in a great measure, upon the use I might make of my own legs; and though it is thought extremely vulgar to be seen walking anywhere, and you are supposed to lose caste by the first offence of this kind perpetrated in public, yet was I vulgar enough to walk every day; and truly if we allow such trifling matters as these to disturb our happiness, we can expect but a sorry pilgrimage in the vale through which all of us must wend our way. My poverty in this case was perhaps an advantage to me; for, gentle reader, I am not ashamed to confess that I was poor in India; it gave me a better opportunity of observing the national character of the people with whom it was my lot to be mixed up in their daily avocations, and of studying the habits and customs of this large portion of the great human family now under the rule of Great

Porous jars, brought over by our friend of the Straits, the Arabian, are very well adapted for cooling water. They are made of a fine clay, and as they are not glazed, the water percolates through the sides, and the consequent evaporation cools the fluid within. They are commonly suspended by a cane-work handle to the under branch of a tree near your bungalow. Some cover them, as they do also vessels containing wine, beer, &c., with a bag dipt into a solution of muriate of ammonia, nitrate of potash, salt, and water; thus producing in fact a freezing mixture. One of the great disputes between the Abdar (water-cooler) and his master, turns upon the former's neglect of this really important duty; for you can drink nothing in India until it has been properly cooled. This cooling process certainly causes no small trouble in a large family, for your servants are constantly losing your cooling bags, and cannot comprehend their utility.