If we add the allurements held out by the sable beauties, who will contrive means to retail their charms so long as they think money is to be had, we shall find no trifling expence incurred. This latter part of the ceremony is usually performed by some fellow who can speak English, and thoroughly understands whatever relates to the interest of the concern; which, among other things, includes thieving, lying, cheating, pimping, &c. This first essay is ordinarily made by describing the elegance of the native women, and their great perfection as singers, and dancers; and rarely fails, especially with youths under such circumstances, to excite something more than curiosity. The dancing-girls are introduced, and consequences follow, over which I shall draw the veil; simply observing, that nothing can be more dangerous than this irregular indulgence; it never failing, first to drain the purse, and, in a few days, or weeks, the constitution also.
Those servants who usually ply at the wharfs, and endeavor to obtain employment, either among the officers of ships, or among persons fresh from Europe, for the most part speak broken English with sufficient fluency: this renders them particularly serviceable to both those classes, by enabling them to provide, and to act, when, without such assistance, they would be in distress, and at a stand. It is a very general custom among the Mussulmans of low condition, to give such of their male children as are born during their Lent, (or Ramzaun,) the name of Ramzauny: meaning ‘born during the Ramzaun.’ There being so many thus designated, renders the name extremely common; and, as an infinity of rogueries have been practised by persons so called, it has rather got into disgrace. Hence, the adventurers above described are, by a slight, but ludicrous corruption, termed Rum-Johnnies.
That a servant thus enabled to act as the medium of intercourse, must prove on many occasions highly convenient, may be confessed; but, like a double-edged sword, he may operate either way, as to himself may appear expedient; and while pretending to serve, may be pillaging his employer. It is to be lamented, that the stranger has no immediate resource; and, in case of injury, little redress. The mischief is not owing to any deficiency in the police, but arises from that invariable precaution with which Rum-Johnnies carry on their manœuvres: they never fail to have a third person in the way, who is to disappear with the purloined articles, and to bear all the blame; while the principal affects great resentment at the villain’s[villain’s] audacity, and sorrow for master’s loss. This is often so dexterously managed as to occasion serious quarrels, when friends, who see through the deception, endeavor to convince the infatuated party, that his confidential menial is at the bottom of the roguery. The disreputable circumstance of having a thief at his elbow, does not sit very easy on the stranger’s mind: deriving so much convenience from Rum-Johnny’s aid, and, having only the fair side of the knave’s conduct in view, he is unwilling to give credit to what appears a gross misrepresentation, founded on prejudice[prejudice]. By this means, he sinks deeper into the mire, and renders it dangerous for his well-wisher to attempt his extrication.
I recollect an instance of a young gentleman’s joining a regiment, about a hundred miles up the country, who had among his servants a khedmutgar, (or table-attendant,) of whom I never could get a sight. The fellow was always sick, or busy; or some excuse was invariably made. At length, one of my own domestics informed me, that he was a Rum-Johnny who had been discharged from my service, in which he held the office of mosaulchy, (or link-boy,) for theft. I found out, that he had been employed in the barracks at Fort-William, where he picked up a little English, and had fastened upon the gentleman, no doubt with the intention to avail himself of the first good prize wherewith to decamp. Finding, to his great discomfiture, that I had been removed to that station, where he found me, the scoundrel kept aloof, under the hope of carrying his project into execution. Strange to say, it was with extreme difficulty I could convince my young friend that he was the dupe of a downright thief; who, if I had not been improperly lenient, would have had the certificate of his crime noted on his back, by the drummers of the regiment!
To state the evil, without pointing out the remedy, would be next to useless: but, when I suggest the means of avoiding those difficulties, or any portion of them, attendant on arrival in a foreign land, it must be understood, that I consider the stranger to be possessed of pecuniary means: that is, that he can pay his way. Without this, he can do nothing; and must undergo all the afflictions and miseries attendant upon despised poverty, in every part of the globe. It may be proper to point out in this place, that what might here appear to be liberal calculations, will not suit the East; where every article of European manufacture bears so enormous a price, where house-rent is so expensive, and where it is indispensably necessary to retain so many servants. The first thing to be done, (setting a letter of recommendation out of the question,) should be to report arrival at the secretary’s office, depositing the certificate of the Court of Directors’ licence to proceed to India; without which, the party is treated as an alien, and scarcely considered entitled to British protection. This does not arise from ill-will on the part of government, or of the inhabitants; but from that strict attention the politics of the country imperiously demand to be paid to the several characters, and descriptions, of persons residing within our territory.
The above relates equally to all persons in the civil or military branches; the certificate granted at the India House must be produced, in order to identify the party; but if it should have been lost, he himself, together with the commander who received the order to take him on board, must attend, to make affadavit to that effect, before the appointment can be admitted upon the registers in India.
Such as appertain to the civil service, being always strongly recommended and often finding many old acquaintances of their families on the spot, require but little advice; nor does the cadet stand much in need of instruction, as to the manner in which he should provide himself with a home. All he has to do is to wait upon the town-major, at his office in Fort-William, when he will receive the necessary order for his admission into the Cadet Corps, at Baraset, about sixteen miles from Calcutta.
He who has not these advantages, must do the best his circumstances may afford; he will find temperance to be not only cheap, but indispensable; for, if he should act so indiscreetly at the outset as to injure his health, a thousand privations, and a certain encrease of difficulties, must follow. The first point must necessarily be to get under cover. This will not be found so easy, as those who have never quitted England may suppose. It will be after much research, that a small house will be had, and then only the bare walls; for no such thing is known in India as a furnished house to be let; and lodgings are, if possible, still more out of the question. Fortunately, there are, among the European shop-keepers in Calcutta, some most respectable characters; men distinguished for their urbanity, philanthropy, and generosity. Application should be instantly made to one of these firms, for aid, and advice. The case should be candidly stated; and, in order to insure confidence, a deposit of money should be made, either with them, or at one of the Banks. The consequences will be, that, in a few hours, some small tenement will be obtained, either on hire, or granted as a temporary accommodation, and the whole of the articles really necessary will be provided, at some one or other of the auctions which daily take place within the central parts of the town.
The appointment of proper servants will be a matter of importance; but, under the auspices of any old resident, by no means difficult; such will be not simply the most expeditious, but the safest, way of proceeding; since those who recommend will, in all probability, be expected, according to the custom of the place, to become sureties for the honesty of all persons hired through their means. One servant who can speak English, or at least, an underling sircar, deputed from the warehouse, will prove a very agreeable resource, on all occasions of difficulty; but I cannot too forcibly inculcate the good policy, or rather the absolute necessity, of immediately studying the language: till that is acquired, to such an extent as may remove the necessity for an interpreter on ordinary occasions, no person can be deemed independent; far less, capable of acting in any civil, military, or commercial capacity, with effect.
Strange to say I have known gentlemen to be resident from ten, to thirty, years in India, without being able to summon resolution to acquire sufficient of the Hindui language even to take their accounts! With such the sircar was every thing. The consequences were, invariably, that he was rich, and master ever in distress!