The dresses of khedmutgars are generally of the same form; but the quality of the cloth, the length of the skirts, and sleeves, and the trimmings, are matters of great consequence in the eyes of this vain tribe. All endeavor to obtain turbans and cummer-bunds (i.e. waist-cloths) of the same color, and are not the less pleased if a tassel of silver fringe be added to the outer end of the former. During the hot season, a coortah, or vest, reaching at least to the knees, of white calico, or of chintz, is worn; but, during the winter, one of perpet, or other woollen of European manufacture, is held to be more respectable. The long-drawers are ordinarily white, or of striped gingham; though some great favorites, and debauchees, who pride themselves on being favorites among the ladies, often wear a kind of silk stuff, called gool-budden, such as is used by women above the middle class, and denotes effeminacy, or a disposition to intrigue. The origin of such a type of libertinism may commonly be traced to the haram; probably to that of the fop’s own master.
The office of Mosaulchy, or flambeau-bearer, may be considered another introduction, or rather an apprenticeship, to the foregoing. A lad serving in this capacity should be agile, smart, and careful; having to run for miles as fast as the ordinary rate of a carriage; he will find abundance of work in cleaning boots, shoes, knives, dishes, &c. together with a million of et ceteras, which fit him for the title of ‘Jack of all trades.’ Many valuable articles in glass-ware and crockery, being given to his charge, for the purpose of being washed, it is indispensably necessary that his whole attention be devoted thereto. During the time a lad remains as a mosaulchy, he may acquire much experience relating to the duties of a khedmutgar: some are to be seen, in the service of persons in rather low circumstances, acting in both capacities, and carrying the umbrella; which is properly the duty of a bearer: but, where the mosaulchy performs the khedmutgar’s duties, bearers are rarely kept. Few mosaulchies are allowed more than five rupees monthly, and then on the proviso of supplying the flambeaux and the oil, where such are used. The general pay is about four rupees; the master, as is now almost every where prevalent, using a lantern instead of a mosaul, (or flambeau,) and supplying ends of wax candles, or whole ones of tallow, for that purpose. Many of this description of servants begin as coolies, or laborers, and gradually acquire sufficient insight to be admitted into the services of non-commissioned officers, &c.; whence they take the opportunity of removing into the employ of gentlemen. Others start from the sepoy regiments, in which they have served as goorgahs, or fags, to some native officer, &c.; but these are more rare; the generality of our sepoys being Hindus, to whom various domestic operations occurring in the families of Europeans are obnoxious, on account of the nature of many aliments in use among us. The mosaul, or flambeau, consists of old rags, wrapped very closely around a small stick; it is generally about two feet in length, and may be two inches and a half in diameter; an iron ring fits on, so as to confine the fire within about an inch at the tip: being refreshed, from time to time, with oil extracted from the sesamum, it burns with great fierceness; as the cloth consumes, the ring is brought back, by means of an old fork, thereby renovating the flame. The oil is either carried in a glass bottle, to the embouchure of which a reed is fitted, to prevent spilling; or it is contained in a brass vessel, made expressly for the purpose, and thence called a tale daunny (i.e. oil-pot,) which may hold nearly a quart.
The dress of a mosaulchy consists of a turban, generally colored; a short pair of drawers, reaching half way down the thigh, nearly the same as the jangheeahs of the native soldiery; and a cloth, wrapped round the waist. But where this servant is at any time employed to wait at table, he imitates the dress of the khedmutgar, so far as his pocket may allow. Persons of distinction, among both Europeans and natives, cause their mosaulchies to carry what are called branch-lights. These consist of a semi-circular frame of iron, supported on a centre stem, to which the side ribs join; upon the circumference are five or seven spikes, on each of which a small mosaul is stuck. When they are all lighted, and raised above the head, by means of the stem, they make a great show. Commonly two, or, eventually, three branch-lights, may be seen preceding a great personage, intermixed with his retinue: two or more ordinary mosauls, or lanterns, are also carried near the palanquin, to prevent the bearers from stumbling.
The next upon our list is the Hookah-burdar, or preparer of the pipe; a domestic of wondrous consequence with many gentlemen, who give themselves up, almost wholly, to the enjoyment of smoking. Some begin before they have half breakfasted; whiffing away, with little intermission, till they retire to rest: I know not of any custom which becomes so habitual! It is inconceivable how distressed some are, in consequence of their hookahs not arriving in time particularly when on a march: at such moments, nothing goes right: hookah! hookah! hookah! seem to be the three indispensables towards happiness. Some few may plead in apology, that, without its aid, they would be subject to an irregularity, such as rarely fails to induce severe illness: when this is the case, we cannot censure the practice, provided it be confined to that duration which may produce the salutary stimulus; and which, it is obvious, must be rather weakened, than aided, by the subsequent use of smoke during the rest of the day. To so great an extreme is this carried, that I have known more than one instance of two hookah-burdars being retained; one for the day, the other for the night. Where such prevails, it may be rationally concluded the wages are in proportion: in most services, these may be from ten, to fifteen, rupees per month; occasionally somewhat less, but rarely exceeding; except where excessive partiality for his pipe induces a gentleman to give more, under the common error of expecting satisfaction in proportion to the disbursement. To such an egregious excess has this opinion led some persons, that I have heard of no less than one hundred rupees per month having been given to a hookah-burdar. Yet, many gentlemen, supposed to be judges, were unanimous in declaring, that such high-priced preparations were very inferior to the generality of those obtained at that moderate expence usually incurred by persons contenting themselves with mediocrity.
In some instances, the whole expence lies with the hookah-burdar, who receives such a sum as may, besides his wages, include tobacco, gools, (or fire-balls,) and chillums, (or sockets for receiving the towah, or tile,) on which the prepared tobacco is applied. Some even provide the snakes, or pliable conductors.
With respect to the tobacco used for smoking, ‘tot homines, tot sententiæ;’ in that particular few are to be found of the same opinion: and among those that are, probably more than half are under the grossest deception. The little village of Bilsah, in the Maharrattah country, has been long celebrated, and it should seem not without reason, for the fragrance of the tobacco raised around it. But the quantity of tobacco sold annually throughout Bengal, where it produces from thirty to sixty, and even eighty rupees per maund, (if ascertained to be genuine,) is known to exceed, full an hundred fold, the amount of any crop ever raised at Bilsah. The substitutes are various, but one kind, raised in the Bundelcund district, supplies the greater portion; many, indeed, are of opinion that it is not inferior. May not its excellence be owing to the practice, common in that quarter, of sprinkling the plants at harvest time with a solution of molasses? We know that many fruits yield but little of their flavor, until excited by the saccharine acid: the raspberry may serve to coroborate my position. I have known that very cheap kind of tobacco, the Cuggareah, which ordinarily sells for about four rupees per maund, (of 82 lb.) rendered so mellow, and so fragrant, by being worked up with molasses, and kept in close vessels for some months, as absolutely to be admired even by persons who prided themselves on never smoking any but the true Bilsah!
The usual mode of preparing tobacco for the hookah, is by first chopping it very small; then, adding ripe plantains, molasses, or raw sugar, together with some cinnamon, and other aromatics; keeping the mass, which resembles an electuary, in close vessels. When about to be used, it is again worked up well; some, at that time, add a little tincture of musk, or a few grains of that perfume, others prefer pouring a solution of it, or a little rose water, down the snake, at the moment the hookah is introduced: in either case, the fragrance of the tobacco is effectually superceded; giving ample scope for the hookah-burdar to serve up rank mundungus, (as bad tobacco is termed,) in lieu of the supposed, or perhaps the real, Bilsah.
The hookah-burdar rarely fails to smoke of the best his master may at any time possess; which, however highly perfumed, will rarely be strong enough for his gratification: the deficiency is supplied by the admixture of bang; a preparation from the leaves of the ganjah, or hemp, (the cannabis sativus,) and is extremely intoxicating. The leaves of that plant, when triturated with water, compose a drink of the same tendency, known by the name of subzy, (i.e. green,) which is a constant beverage among the more established sinners, who rarely fail, towards nightfall, to take an ample dose, of either bang, subzy, or majoom: the latter being sweetmeats impregnated with a decoction of the ganjah, or hemp plant, much used by all debauchees, and too often admitted within the sacred area of the zenanah, (or haram). The use of any preparation of the ganjah, or hemp plant, is attended with much opprobrium: like most intoxicating drugs and spirits, they, in the first instance, excite to gaiety, but ultimately leave their victim in the most deplorable state of stupefaction; the recovery from which is attended with dreadful headache, ill temper, and hypochondria. Some hookah-burdars indulge freely in the use of musk, which never fails, after a while, to produce considerable derangement of the nerves; and, not unfrequently, that complete debility which is ever attended with the greatest depressure of spirits.
A very common species of debauchery, in which I have known only one or two gentlemen to indulge, is the incorporation of opium with the prepared tobacco, previous to its being spread upon the towah; a custom so repugnant to discretion, as to leave little room for animadversion, the folly being usually of very short duration, and, intermediately, attended with the most abject degradation. Many native princes, and others, who have been hurled from their thrones, or from offices of trust, are said to have been treacherously overcome by means of opium thus administered: it appears to me very practicable, by such a device, to lull a whole guard to sleep; for few can resist the offer of a whiff when the goorgoory (a small kind of hookah used by the lower classes) is passing round. Among such trash as is generally sold to the poor, who care not much about the flavor, so long as they can draw abundance of smoke, the opium would probably, if at all tasted, rather give a zest, than prove an objection, to the indulgence. It is asserted, that if a capsicum be put among the gools, or be mixed with the tobacco, fatal consequences will ensue; an instant attack of apoplexy taking place. This I have never known to be done; therefore am incapable of producing any testimony, one way or the other: but it appears rather doubtful whether any reasoning, or analogy, could be adduced in support of the assertion; the acrid stimulus would, in all probability, be dissipated, rendering the residue as inert as any other raw culinary vegetable. Admitting it to be true, that a capsicum can produce such an effect, a very strong argument against smoking may be adduced: no man would, altogether, relish the idea of being so perpetually in the power of a debauchee, who might, either through resentment, or by a small bribe, be induced to bestow a quietus, without the possibility of a discovery. In such case, the hookah-burdar would have all the advantages of an inimical cook, without the danger of his narcotic being detected.
However complicated the hookah may appear, it is, nevertheless, extremely easy of construction. I have been told, that one has been made in England; and I have seen a few in use, that were brought from Bengal. The preparation of the tobacco with apples, in lieu of plantains, is equally simple and approved. The kaleaun, or small kind of hookah, used on the west coast of India, is certainly commodious: it has a larger bottom, in general, than the Bengal hookah; though I have seen some very small, with beautiful imitations of flowers, and of coral, shells, &c. within them.