"The rice is boiled in such a way that each grain is separate from every other. It is served hot in a large dish, and you help yourself into a soup-plate of goodly size.
THE MANGO.
"One servant hands you the rice, and when you have filled your plate with it another servant offers you a round platter or tray, eighteen or twenty inches across, and divided into a dozen compartments. These compartments contain various seasonings, and you may take any or all, or none of them, at your pleasure, and in quantities to suit you. You have chutney, which is a sharp sauce from India; you have red or green peppers, cut into a fine hash, red pepper mixed with water to form a paste, cocoa-nut grated fine, preserved ginger-root, sliced mangoes, English pickles, salt fish dried to a crisp, capers, and other hot and spicy things peculiar to the East.
"When you have taken what you want from the tray, the servant moves on, and another takes his place. He offers you soft eggs, either boiled or poached, and you are expected to take one or two of the eggs to mix with your rice. Then comes a servant with a plate of some kind of meat, cut into small pieces, and stewed with curry-powder; and behind him is another servant with a plate of some kind of vegetable, which has been stewed in curry. Then they offer you cold chicken or ham, or some other meat, to put on a small plate at your side, and your supply of food is completed, with the addition of all the bread you want. You mix all the things you have in your large soup-plate into a thick mass, like yellow paste, and eat with a spoon.
A LITTLE TOO PEPPERY.
"This is the famous Java curry; and if you have taken plenty of the pepper and chutney, and other hot things, your mouth will burn for half an hour as though you had drunk from a kettle of boiling water. And when you have eaten freely of curry, you don't want any other breakfast. Everybody eats curry here daily, because it is said to be good for the health by keeping the liver active, and preventing fevers."