twelve rupees a month, no one will engage as a butler under twenty, and the remainder are in proportion.  The ayahs’ wages are also very high, amounting to from fifteen to twenty rupees a month; they are certainly, however, more efficient than the same class of persons in Bengal, undertaking to wash silk stockings, lace, and fine muslin; they are, generally speaking, well-conducted and respectable.  The dirzees or tailors are very inferior to their brethren of Bengal, though paid at a much higher rate, fifteen rupees a month being the common demand.  Whenever a Bengal tailor happens to come round, he is eagerly seized upon, the reputation of workmen from the rival presidency being deservedly high.  Tailors are indiscriminately Parsees, Mohammedans, or Hindus, the latter-named being the least desirable, as they will neither eat, drink, nor cook in a European manner, and are always eager to get away by half-past four in the afternoon.

The cooks of Bombay are, for the most part, well acquainted with the culinary art, an advantage for which, according to common report, they are indebted to Lord Clare.  Upon the arrival of that nobleman at the seat of his government, it is said that he started with horror at the repast which the hospitality of the island had provided for him.  At this substantial dinner, the ponderous round jostled the sirloin of beef, saddles and haunches of mutton vis-a-vis’d with each other, while turkey and ham, tongue and fowls, geese and ducks, filled up the interstices.

Lord Clare had either brought a French cook in his train, or sent for one with the least possible delay, and this accomplished person not only reformed the cuisine at Government House, but took pupils, and instructed all who chose to pay for the acquirement in the mysteries of his art.  He found his scholars a very teachable race, and it is only now necessary to describe the way in which any particular method should be practised, in order to secure success.  They easily comprehend the directions given, and, what is of equal consequence, are not above receiving instructions.  Through the exertions of these praiseworthy persons, the tables of Bombay are frequently exceedingly well served, and nobody is actually obliged to dine upon the huge joints which still make their appearance.

Turkey maintains its high position, and is, with its accompaniment of ham, considered indispensable; rounds of boiled salt-beef, plentifully garnished with carrots, are apparently in high esteem, the carrots being an importation from England, coming out hermetically sealed in tin cases.  What are considered the dainties of the table consist chiefly of fresh salmon, preserved by the patent process, Highland mutton, partridges stuffed with truffles, &c., these things, in consequence of their rendering the dinner more expensive as well as more recherche, being in great request.