'Goatah chandnie bickhow'[15] (Sell your old silver trimmings).—The several articles of silver trimmings are invariably manufactured of the purest metal without any alloy, and when they have served their first purposes the old silver procures its weight in current rupees.
'Tale kee archah wallah'[16] (Oil pickles).—The method of pickling in oil is of all others in most request with the common people, who eat the greasy substance as a relish to their bread and dhall. The mustard-oil used in the preparation of this dainty is often preferred to ghee in curries.
The better sort of people prefer water pickle, which is made in most families during the hot and dry weather by a simple method; exposure to the sun being the chemical process to the parboiled carrots, turnips, radishes, &c., immersed in boiling water, with red pepper, green ginger, mustard-seed, and garlic. The flavour of this water pickle is superior to any other acid, and possesses the property of purifying the blood.
'Mittie wallah'[17] (Man with sweetmeats).—The many varieties of sweetmeats, or rather confectionery, in general estimation with the natives, are chiefly composed of sugar and ghee, prepared in countless ways, with occasional additions of cocoa-nut, pistachias, cardimuns, rose-water, &c., and constantly hawked about the streets on trays by men.
'Kallonie wallah'[18] (Man with toys).—Toys of every kind, of which no country in the world I suppose exhibits greater variety, in wood, lakh, uberuck[19] (tulk), paper, bamboo, clay, &c., are constantly cried in the streets and roadways of a Native city.
'Punkah wallah'[20] (Vender of fans).—The punkahs are of all descriptions in general use, their shape and material varying with taste and circumstances, the general form resembling hand-screens: they are made for common use of date-leaf, platted as the common mats are; some are formed of a single leaf from the tor[21]-tree, large or small, the largest would cover a tolerable sized round table; many have painted figures and devices, and from their lightness may be waved by children without much labour. I have seen very pretty punkahs made of sweet-scented flowers over a frame of bamboo. This, however, is a temporary indulgence, as the flowers soon lose their fragrance.
'Turkaaree', 'Mayvour'[22] (The first is vegetables; the last, fruit).—Vegetables of every kind and many sorts of fruits are carried about by men and women, who describe the name and quality of the articles they have to sell. It would occupy too large a space to enumerate here the several productions, indigenous and foreign, of the vegetable world in India. The Natives in their cookery, use every kind of vegetable and fruit in its unripe state. Two pounds of meat is in general all that is required to form a meal for twenty people, and with this they will cook several dishes by addition of as many different sorts of vegetables.
Herbs, or green leaves, are always denominated saag,[23] these are produced at all seasons of the year, in many varieties; the more substantial vegetables, as potatoes, turnips, carrots, &c., are called turkaaree.
The red and green spinach is brought to the market throughout the year, and a rich-flavoured sorrel, so delicious in curries, is cultivated in most months. Green peas, or, indeed, vegetables in general, are never served in the plain way in which we see them at our tables, but always in stews or curries. The green mango is used invariably to flavour their several dishes, and, at the proper season, they are peeled, cut, and dried for the year's consumption. They dislike the acid of the lemon in their stews, which is never resorted to when the green mango or tamarind can be procured.
The fruits of India in general estimation with the Natives are the mango and the melon. Mangoes are luscious and enticing fruit; the Natives eat them to an excess when they have been some hours soaked in water, which, they say, takes away from the fruit its detrimental quality; without this preparatory precaution those who indulge in a feast of mango are subject to fevers, and an increase of prickly heat, (a fiery irritable rash, which few persons are exempt from, more or less, in the hot weather); even biles, which equally prevail, are less troublesome to those persons who are careful only to eat mangoes that have been well soaked in water. The Natives have a practice, which is common among all classes, and therefore worthy the notice of foreigners, of drinking milk immediately after eating mangoes. It should be remembered that they never eat their fruit after dinner, nor do they at any time indulge in wine, spirits, or beer.