Tatties are made of the roots of that long grass of which most of the jungles in India consist, and which correspond exactly with the Guinea grass, once so ridiculously sent to the East as a great acquisition; the fibres are of a rusty brown color, devious in their direction, and may be from ten to twenty inches in length: we see among us cloaths brushes, and carpet brooms, made of it. The Hindostanee name is kuss-kuss, and the general price may be about four rupees per maund, (of 82 lb).
The frame, in which this material is to be enclosed, is made of split bamboo, chequered into squares, of about four inches each way, and in the whole sufficiently extensive to overlap the exterior of the door, or window, to which it is to be applied, at least six inches, or perhaps, a foot, at the sides and above. The kuss-kuss is then placed very regularly on the bamboo frame, as it lies on the ground, in the same manner as tiles; each layer being bound down, under a thin slip of bamboo, extending the full breadth of the tatty. The great art is to make the tatty neither too thick, which would exclude the wind; nor too thin, as it would then let the dust pass through, without rendering the interior sufficiently cool. I found, after much experiment, that a maund of kuss-kuss, applied so as to cover about a hundred square feet, answered extremely well. But it is best to have one or two tatties made rather thin; so as to apply in case of light winds: when it blows hard, these may be applied double; one at the back of the other. At such times, the interior of a house will be very cool; sometimes rather too much so; for the great evaporation caused by the heated air’s passage through the cold medium, produces perfect refrigeration.
In the western provinces, and other parts of India, tatties are frequently made of a short, prickly bush, that thrives during the hottest months on sandy plains, especially in places inundated during the rainy season. This shrub is called, jewassah; its leaves are not unlike, but not so numerous, nor of so deep a green, as those of rue. It is extremely prickly, being every where furnished with spines about the size of a pin. When fresh, the jewassah is most pleasing to the eye, and its scent is equally agreeable; but, after the first day, its verdure disappears, and the whole house is filled with its leaves, and its thorns. Hence, the kuss-kuss, which, when fresh, is rather fragrant, though the scent is somewhat terraceous, is usually preferred in making those tatties which roll up, so as to be particularly applicable to palanquins, and are called cheeks; wherein nothing but kuss-kuss is ever employed: where this root cannot be procured, or when in the early part of the hot season, little has come to market, common grass, pared from the soil, or even small boughs, straw, &c. are occasionally used to fill between two frames of bamboo: they answer tolerably when well watered; but, on account of their disposition to rot, soon become objectionable: kuss-kuss will keep for years.
Very few puckaullies, or bullock-bheesties, are retained in the service of individuals; such are usually attached to the establishments of barrack-masters, and quarter-masters. They answer admirably for the supply of water at the soldiers’ quarters, and at the hospitals; to which tatties are allowed, at the public expence, during the hot season. In most cases, the bullocks that carry the water, as well as the leather bags, appertain to the establishment, and the driver receives only the pay of a hand-bheesty; where he supplies the whole, his pay is from ten to twelve rupees per month.
The Babachy, or cook, is a servant who may fairly claim very considerable approbation, since he prepares most sumptuous dinners, although he never tastes any of the viands while in a state of preparation; and is, besides, often put to his wits to guard against the joint attacks of dust, wind, rain, sun, and birds of prey. In a regular, settled family, it is true he may have every convenience afforded him; such as a substantial and spacious kitchen, with fire-place according to the Indian style; a range of stoves, a scullery, apparatus of all sorts, &c. &c. But when on a march, the case is widely different; he must then turn to with his mattock, and dig a number of holes, to receive his fuel; which is usually green wood, or dried cow-dung; he must make choolahs, or fire places, by placing three lumps of earth, kneaded into a stiff paste, for each choolah, so as to support the boiler it is to receive; he must burn his wood to embers, over which his meat is to be roasted, by means of a small spit; perhaps made of slit bamboo, but if of iron, with a crank at one end, whereby to turn it, as it rests upon two dogs, or iron spikes, driven into the ground, a few feet asunder; he must, in all probability, kill and flay a kid, or two or three fowls; some for curry, others for roasting, &c.; and, perhaps, after all, he may have to turn the spit himself; occasionally looking to the contents of the several boilers, &c.
The fixed roasting place in a permanent kitchen is generally made of two inclined bars of iron, about four or five feet in length, set sloping against a wall, at an angle of perhaps forty degrees. Each of these bars is furnished with eight or ten hooks, in any suitable pair of which the spit is turned by a boy: the spaces under them, that is to say, the triangle on each side, are filled with masonry, so that the heat may be retained, and the embers be kept within certain bounds.
For roasting in this manner, the embers are divided lengthwise, leaving a vacancy, or kind of trough, under the line of the spit, wherein a metal platter is sometimes set, to receive the dripping, which is returned to the meat by a bunch of feathers, (generally those from the wings of the fowls just killed,) tied to the end of a short stick. This little neat, cleanly, and cheap dripping-ladle, answers admirably; it being in the power of the babachy to baste any part with great precision. I know not any thing in the culinary way, that proves more uncomfortable to delicate stomachs than the sight of this part of the process; unless it be the very common practice of preparing toast, by means of melted butter laid on either with the above implement, or with a piece of old rag! As for straining soup, &c. through dirty clouts, that is considered as a matter of course; therefore, after a full conviction that it is so, and that the[the] soup is well flavored, very few exceptions are made.
Notwithstanding such unpicturesque operations, the dinner, when brought to table, looks well, and tastes well: appetite, at that time, supersedes daintiness, and prevents the imagination from travelling back to the kitchen; though, to be sure, the number of flies at times found in the sauces, will occasion a disposition to enquire how they got there, and whence they came! These obnoxious visitors rarely fail to visit the purlieus of the balachy’s camp; where they assemble in swarms; not only covering the garbage, which usually lies but a few paces distant, but settling on the meat, or visiting the stew-pots, &c. where they are overcome by the heat, or fixed by the dripping, &c. Flies may, however, be picked out; but those shoals of dust that skim during the middle of the day, often render the whole dinner absolutely unacceptable. I have been in situations where, although a large table cloth was spread over the knives, forks, &c. as laid for dinner, there has been collected near a pound of sand underneath; while the upper cloth was really covered full a quarter of an inch in depth: those who have been stationed at Lucknow, during the hot season, cannot but confirm my assertion. This never can be altogether obviated in moveable camps; but, when fixed for a while, it is usual to set up mats, or konauts, (which are walls of cloth, kept upright by ropes and sticks,) on the windward side; whereby the inconvenience may be considerably lessened: but sometimes a b’hoot, or whirlwind, comes suddenly, and not only be-grits the whole of the cookery, but whisks away the fences, embers, &c. in an instant!
The boilers in general are made in the country, of copper, tinned; in shape not unlike the common cast-iron pots used throughout the North, without feet, and with the addition of a flat rim projecting about an inch outward, serving both to steady a kind of inverted lid, and, as they have no handles, for the babachy to apply two wet rags, wherewith to put the vessel off, and on, the choolah. Tinning is performed by persons who make a livelihood thereby; they receiving a certain sum, from one to two rupees per score, for the several pieces, counting boilers, lids, &c., according to their size. The kully-ghur, or tinman, uses but few utensils; he has the vessels well scoured, and then, by means of powdered rosin, gives the interior a coating, scarcely distinguishable to the sight, or touch. Some use no rosin; others employ borax; but, whatever the medium may be, or whether there be none, the vessel is heated sufficiently, and equally, over embers, when the tin, being thoroughly melted, is kept rubbing round the interior, with a large piece of fine cotton wool, so long as any will adhere: the vessel is then set to cool.
It cannot require pointing out, that the above mode is retained in vogue entirely by the cheapness, and expedition, with which it is done; were it otherwise, its want of durability, could not fail to give the preference to some more permanent, and less soluble, preparation. But it happens, that tinning can be performed in almost every town; and, that there is rarely occasion to have recourse thereto more than once in two or three months; when a score, of good sized pieces, may be done for as little money as would be charged, by one of our artizans, for tinning a very moderate-sized kettle. Some gentlemen use tin boilers, sent from this country; but, though certainly devoid of the inconvenience, and danger, attendant upon a want of tinning, such are highly objectionable, in consequence of their being so soon burnt through, or rusted, when laid by: notwithstanding the generality of babachies adopt the precaution of smearing the bottoms of most vessels, but of these in particular, with fine clay, sufficiently diluted to be laid on thin and smooth. Our cooks at home might, perhaps, not do amiss, were they to adopt that excellent plan.