A Hindoo may have several wives; there are, however, but few examples of his availing himself of this privilege.

The husband’s relations generally reside in the same house, but each family has its separate household.  The elder boys take their meals with their father, but the wife, daughters, and younger boys are not allowed this privilege.  Both sexes are extremely fond of tobacco, which they smoke in pipes called hookas.

At the conclusion of my visit, I was offered sweetmeats, fruits, raisins, etc.  The sweetmeats were mostly composed of sugar, almonds, and suet, but were not very palatable, owing to the predominance of the suet.

Before leaving the house, I visited the ground-floor to examine the room, in which, once a year, the religious festival called Natch is celebrated.  This festival, which is the most important one in the Hindoo religion, takes place in the beginning of October, and lasts a fortnight, during which time neither poor nor rich do any business whatever.  The master closes his shops and warehouses, and the servant engages a substitute, generally from among the Mahomedans, and then both master and servant spend the fortnight, if not in fasting and prayer, most certainly in doing nothing else.

The Baboo informed me that on these occasions his room is richly ornamented, and a statue of the ten-armed goddess Durga placed in it.  This statue is formed of clay or wood, painted with the most glaring colours, and loaded with gold and silver tinsel, flowers, ribbons, and often with even real jewellery.  Hundreds of lights and lamps, placed between vases and garlands of flowers, glitter in the room, the court-yard, and outside the house.  A number of different animals are offered up as sacrifices; they are not slain, however, in the presence of the goddess, but in some retired part of the house.  Priests attend upon the goddess, and female dancers display their talent before her, accompanied by the loud music of the tam-tam.  Both priests and danseuses are liberally paid.  Some of the latter, like our Taglionis and Elslers, earn large sums.  During the period of my stay here, there was a Persian danseuse, who never appeared for less than 500 rupees (50 pounds.) Crowds of the curious, among whom are numbers of Europeans, flock from one temple to another; the principal guests have sweetmeats and fruit served round to them.

On the last day of the festival the goddess is conveyed with great pomp, and accompanied by music, to the Hoogly, where she is put in a boat, rowed into the middle of the stream, and then thrown overboard in the midst of the shouts and acclamations of the multitude upon the banks.  Formerly, the real jewels were thrown in along with the goddess, but carefully fished up again by the priests during the night; at present, the real jewels are replaced on the last day by false ones, or else the founder of the feast takes an opportunity of secretly obtaining possession of them during the goddess’s progress to the river.  He is obliged to do this very cautiously, however, so as not to be observed by the people.  A Natch often costs several thousand rupees, and is one of the most costly items in the expenditure of the rich.