I would fain have lingered for a few minutes, but my attendants officiously showing the way, I walked across a paved yard and up two flights of steps to the shop of which I came in search, which was kept by a good-looking Parsee.  The trade of this person was designated as that of a bottlee wallah, which being literally rendered means ‘bottle-fellow,’ but, according to a more free translation, a dealer in glass, lamps, candlesticks, preserved meats in tin-cases, &c. &c.  I found a vast stock of the articles most in request in Indian housekeeping, such as wall-shades, and all descriptions of earthen and hard-ware, all of which he sold at very moderate prices, but having executed the part of my commission which related to candlesticks, I was unable to find the more recherche articles of which I came in quest.

I had been told that a great variety of ornamental china, the real product of the Celestial Empire, was to be seen in the native shops in Bombay.  Though showy in appearance, this sort of china is of little value, except to mark how much the manufacture has degenerated since Europeans have learned to make their own teacups.  I wished to obtain a few specimens, but could not succeed.  My friend, the bottlee wallah, though very civil, could not afford me the information I required, nor have I yet been able to obtain it.  I have seen some handsome jars, plates such as are used in England for the deposit of visitors’ cards, &c., which were purchased for a few annas, and have been told that I might procure any quantity I pleased, but the where is still a mystery.

All the information obtainable in Bombay must be fished out in an extraordinary manner, both natives and Europeans seeming to make it a rule never to commit themselves by a direct reply to any question; in every single instance, up to the present time, I have always, upon making an inquiry, been referred to somebody else.  Neither do I find the same zeal manifested in the servants, which amounts to officiousness on the other side of India.  I have sent them to purchase the china, but can get nothing but rubbish, knowing all the while that there are plenty of a better description to be had.

Upon my return, the bottlee wallah accompanied me to the carriage in waiting, and as I paused to notice some of the children in the school, introduced me to a group of his own sons and daughters, well decked out in jewels, and otherwise richly dressed.  The instruction given at these schools I understood to be merely oral, the repetition of a few verses, intended rather to pass away the time and keep the children out of mischief, than as a foundation of more useful studies.  I hope that the system will be improved, for the pupils seemed to be extremely intelligent, and capable of better things.