FOOD.--The most common food is rice; and with this curry is often mixed
to give it a relish. What is curry? It is a mixture of herbs, spices, and
oil.
Very poor people cannot afford to eat either rice or curry; and they eat
some coarse grain instead. A lady who made a feast for the poor provided
nothing but rice, and she found that it was thought as good as roast
beef and plum pudding are thought in England. The day after the feast
some of the poor creatures came to pick up the grains of rice that were
fallen upon the ground.
The rich Hindoos eat mutton and venison, but not beef; this they think it
wicked to eat, because they worship bulls and cows.
A favorite food is clarified butter, called "ghee," white rancid stuff,
kept in skin bottles to mix with curry.
Water is the general drink, and there could not be a better. Yet there
are intoxicating drinks, and some of the Hindoos have learned to love
them, from seeing the English drink too much. What a sad thing that
Christians should set a bad example to heathens!
PRODUCTIONS.--There are many beautiful trees in India never seen in
England, and many nice fruits never tasted here.
The palm-tree, with its immense leaves, is the glory of India. These
leaves are very useful; they form the roof, the umbrella, the bed, the
plate, and the writing-paper of the Hindoo.
The most curious tree in India is the banyan, because one tree grows into
a hundred.
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