I have been much amused with the curious inquiries of a zeenahnah family when the gardener’s dhaullie is introduced.  A dhaullie,[26] I must first tell you, is a flat basket, on which is arranged, in neat order, whatever fruit, vegetables, or herbs are at the time in season, with a nosegay of flowers placed in the centre.  They will often ask with wonder—­’How do these things grow?’—­’How do they look in the ground?’—­and many such child-like remarks have I listened to with pity, whilst I have relieved my heart by explaining the operations of Nature in the vegetable kingdom, a subject on which they are perfectly ignorant, and, from the habits of seclusion in which they live, can never properly be made to understand or enjoy.

I have said water is the only beverage in general use amongst the Mussulmaun Natives.  They have sherbet, however, as a luxury on occasions of festivals, marriages, &c.  This sherbet is simply sugar and water, with a flavour of rose-water, or kurah[27] added to it.

The hookha is almost in general use with females.  It is a common practice with the lady of the house to present the hookha she is smoking to her favoured guest.  This mark of attention is always to be duly appreciated; but such is the deference paid to parents, that a son can rarely be persuaded by an indulgent father or mother to smoke a hookha in their revered presence;—­this praiseworthy feeling originates not in fear, but real genuine respect.  The parents entertain for their son the most tender regard; and the father makes him both his companion and his friend; yet the most familiar endearments do not lessen the feeling of reverence a good son entertains for his father.  This is one among the many samples of patriarchal life, my first Letter alluded to, and which I can never witness in real life, without feeling respect for the persons who follow up the patterns I have been taught to venerate in our Holy Scripture.

The hookha, as an indulgence of a privilege, is a great definer of etiquette.  In the presence of the King or reigning Nuwaub, no subject, however high he may rank in blood or royal favour, can presume to smoke.  In Native courts, on state occasions, hookhas are presented only to the Governor-General, the Commander-in-Chief, or the Resident at his Court, who are considered equals in rank, and therefore entitled to the privilege of smoking with him; and they cannot consistently resist the intended honour.  Should they dislike smoking, a hint is readily understood by the hookha-bahdhaar[28] to bring the hookha, charged with the materials, without the addition of fire.  Application of the munall[29] (mouth-piece) to the month indicates a sense of the honour conferred.

[1] Mahall.

[2] Parda.

[3] Jhilmil, chiq, the Anglo-Indian ‘chick’.

[4] Shatranji, see p. 19.

[5] Sozani (sozan, ’a needle’), an embroidered quilt.