The several corners are now covered with immense trusses of refuse grass, bound very firmly together, reaching the whole extent of the angle, or gore, and full two feet in diameter. These trusses being bound down very firmly to their adjacent sides, are ultimately covered with layers of seerky, placed so as to over-lap about a foot above each other, and, in their turn, duly tied to the trusses: a similar truss is laid along the ridge pole. This seerky is composed of the stems of the surput, or tassel grass, which grows to the height of ten feet, or more: it is found to be a larger species of the celebrated Guinea grass, formerly introduced as a supposed novelty into the East, but which proved to be nothing more than the common bainseah, or buffalo grass, that grows wild, in the greatest luxuriance, all over Bengal. The stems of the surput, when arrived at their full size, are as thick as a swan’s quill, and bear a remarkable gloss: in the dry season they are cut, and, after being stripped of the parched remains of their leaves, are laid parallel on a board, their ends being previously brought even to a line; a long wire needle is then passed through the several stems, as they lie contiguous, leading after it a piece of packthread, which is afterwards knotted at both ends, to prevent its withdrawing either way. Four or five of these stitches are made in the same parcel of seerky; after which, it is rolled up breadthwise, for sale. Each parcel may be from two feet to a yard in breadth, and the stems composing it may be about four feet in length. The ordinary mode of selling this commodity is by the hundred pieces, for which from three to ten rupees are given, according to circumstances.
It is perhaps singular that I should have seen seerky in use among a groupe of gypsies in Essex: in India, those itinerants, whose habits and characters correspond with this intolerable species of banditti, invariably shelter themselves under seerky; which, being remarkably light, and, when doubled or trebled, completely water-proof, enables them to construct a very comfortable cabin in a few minutes. It often happens, during the rainy season, that part of a thatch sinks, or rots, and admits the passage of water to the interior; in such case, a piece of seerky, properly placed, causes the water to flow over the defect: when that article cannot be had, it is found expedient to throw a few pecks of chaff, or straw cut very small, upon those parts requiring relief; the chaff is drawn in by the percolating fluid, but, being obstructed in its passage, swells in consequence of the continued moisture, and thus, in a short time, usually stops the leaks. The mode of putting on a thatch above described, is confined to certain parts of the country; in other places, they put the grass on in a reversed position, as we do our wheat stubble thatches, the part which grew uppermost being placed lowest. But throughout the country, all thatching is done horizontally, and not vertically, as among us: the Indian thatcher begins at the bottom; whereas we commence at the side of a thatch: we thatch with skewers and rods of hazel, &c.; they with bamboo laths and twine made of grass; the latter being passed to and fro by means of long needles, made extemporaneously of bamboo, &c.
The doors used by the natives are generally made of such wood as the neighbouring country may afford, and consist of a few vertical planks, kept together by two, or more, horizontal battens; the fastenings are, for the most part, made by staples and hooks, into which strong wooden bars slip, and unslip, with ease. The windows are always very small, perhaps not more than two feet square, and are closed by means of wooden shutters, having exteriorly a jaump, made of bamboo battens and mats; which, being firmly put together, and suspended at their upper borders by hooks, or rings, fastened into the wall, or into the wooden plate covering the aperture, may be raised, as though on hinges, to any desired elevation, and preserved therein, by bamboo stilts, made either with forked ends, or having small blocks of wood nailed to them, to prevent their points from passing through the mats. The same kind of defence is used for doors in general, but of a much larger size than for windows; when raised, they certainly are extremely useful in keeping off the sun and rain; when lowered, so as to lie parallel with, and close to, the wall, they are an admirable defence against wind and dust; though both will find their way through the several small apertures in sufficient quantity to prove highly unpleasant at certain times. In houses constructed by the natives, the windows are placed very high up; sometimes scarcely allowing a person to look out. This is done for the sake both of privacy, and of coolness; as the rarefied air is better enabled to make its escape, than when the apertures are low. Thus, most of the houses built by the French at Chandernagore, &c. are far cooler than those formerly built in Calcutta; owing to the windows of the former being carried nearly to the tops of the rooms, while the latter have often seven or eight feet of wall above them. It has several times happened, that persons sent up to work at the timbers supporting the flat roof above, have fallen from their ladders, or scaffolds, in consequence of the air in the upper part of the room being unfit for respiration. As to chimnies, they are utterly unknown among the natives: though, in some cottages, an aperture is left for the escape of smoke, but rather by neglect than by design. The smoke must escape when and how it can; but, it does not incommode a native a thousandth part so much as it does an European, who must suffer some inconvenience at the best of times, when a fire is lighted within the sitting room; but, when green wood is put on, the latter cannot stand its effects. The former will, even at such moments, often be seen smoking his goorgoory, as though the atmosphere were not sufficiently burthened with fuliginous particles to amuse his lungs. Victuals are rarely cooked within the house, when the weather permits of that operation being performed in the open air; indeed, few persons, who are not extremely poor, are without some little shed, under which it may be carried on at all times.
The exterior surface of the wall is rarely plastered, even with mud; it being an object to preserve it rough, in order that the large cakes of cow-dung, intended for fuel, may be stuck up against them, and there be thoroughly dried by the sun; which is generally effected, in exposed situations, and in fair weather, in one, or two, days, at the utmost. These cakes, called gutties, burn admirably well; making a fire not unlike that resulting from good peat. The interior is usually smoothed all the way up, or at least for about three feet from the floor, and smeared with a solution of cow-dung, as is the floor itself, which is rarely made of any thing but clay, well rammed down, or perhaps of tarras; but, the latter is too costly for most individuals, and, though indicating riches, does not give so much satisfaction to the proprietor. In some houses, a few joists of rough wood are thrown across from the top of one, to that of the other, wall; perhaps at a yard or more asunder: some few instances may be adduced, perhaps, in each village of note, of a slight kind of flooring, either of rough planks, not fitted together, or of bamboo laths, being made above the joists, for the accommodation of luggage, or for the dormitory of some of the family; but, with such exceptions, the only use made of the upper part is for the lodgement of brush-wood, bamboo poles, ladders, farming utensils, mats, nets, &c. &c., according to the occupant’s profession.
The private apartments are commonly separate from what we should call the ‘keeping room,’ and have a separate entrance, if under the same roof; it is, however, very common to allot some detached building, having a compound divided off, and perfectly sequestered from the other accommodations, set apart for the zenanah, or female part of the family. The horses, oxen, cows, &c., are commonly picketted out in the open air when the weather permits; having a large trough of mud to receive their chaff. During great heats, or heavy rains, they are sheltered under sheds made for that purpose, and for the preservation of the palanquin, dooly, r’hut, or other vehicle the occupant may possess. Sometimes the kine are kept under the same roof with the major-domo, and all his family. Candles are not used in the houses of the natives, especially of the Hindus, who would consider the presence of a lump of tallow within their areas, as sufficient to pollute whatever they might contain. All use oil, which, being poured into a small earthen vessel, nearly in the shape of a heart, or of a peepul leaf, called a churraug, is placed in one of the numerous niches made in every wall, at perhaps four feet above the floor: the wicks are chiefly made of slips of rag, about a foot long, rolled up to the thickness of a goose-quill. For more immediate use, the churraug is often placed on a stem of wood, having a broad base, or a cross, to support it, and a small block at its summit, hollowed out to receive the bottom of the lamp. Some use brass apparatus, and, in a very few instances, the stems, or pillars, are made with a slide, so as to vary the height of the churraug; which, in such case, assumes the more dignified appellation of pilsoze: the ordinary height of the lamp from the floor, including the plinth, pillar, and capital, may be from twenty to twenty-six inches. Snuffers are unknown; their place is sometimes supplied by the fingers, but more generally by a pair of scissors, or a pair of duspannahs, (i.e. tongs,) such as are used by hookah-burdars. The oil in use for lamps is that already spoken of, extracted from the sesamum, of which the refuse cake is given to favorite oxen, &c.
Although charpoys, or small beds, are in use among all classes, the generality prefer sleeping on mats, which are infinitely cooler than any beddings. The whole of the apparatus for a dormitory may be comprised in a very short catalogue; namely, a durmah-mat, made from coarse reeds split open and laid flat, with the glossy surface uppermost; perhaps a satrinje, or small cotton carpet, a chudder, or sheet, to wrap round the body, and a tuckeah, or pillow, stuffed very hard. In cold weather, a goodry, or quilt; perhaps, indeed, two, may be added. Curtains are out of the question, as are all those paraphernalia which luxury has introduced among us. A peek-daun, or spitting pot, made generally of phool, which is a very tolerable kind of tutenagne, is always placed at the bed side, and is ever resorted to when chewing the pawn, or beetle. The vine bearing the aromatic leaf so called, is most carefully cultivated in many parts of the country; the whole being supported on trellisses made of reeds, and small bamboos, to the height of about five feet. The situation must be very dry; hence, the banks of old tanks, and other such elevated sites, are chosen for cultivating the pawn, of which it is said a bigah will produce, in the vicinity of any populous city, full two hundred rupees yearly; provided the vines be of the sunҫhah, or true sort; which is easily known by the yellowness of the borders, and ramifications, of the leaf. This species is far more pleasant to the palate than the common green kind; which is, besides, tough, and possesses a certain acrid quality.
Beetle, or pawn, is prepared by carefully picking out any defects in the leaves, and by removing the stalks up to their very centres; four or five leaves are then laid one above the other, when the upper one is smeared with shell-lime, a little moistened with water. The seeds of the elatchee, or cardamom, are added, together with about the fourth part of a beetle-nut, (that is, of the areca,) and, the whole being lapped up by folding the leaves over their contents, the little packet is kept together in its due form, which is usually triangular, by means of a slice of beetle-nut, cut into a thin wedge, so as to transfix it completely. It is common to see a whole family partaking of pawns, the chewing of which occasions the saliva to be tinctured as red as blood: they certainly are fragrant, and excellent stomachics; but their too frequent use produces costiveness, which, in that climate, ever induces serious illness.
The saliva will not be tinctured, if the chunam, (i.e. the lime,) be omitted; hence, it is evident that the alkali produces the color from the juices contained in the pawn. The color thus obtained does not stain linen. Some use the k’hut, which is the same as our Terra Japonica, and is procured by bleeding various kinds of trees, principally the mimosa, abounding in most of the jungles (or wildernesses): a small quantity, about the size of a pea, broken into several pieces, is mixed with the other ingredients, before the leaves are lapped over, and transfixed with the spike of beetle, or, perhaps, with a clove. The k’hut is not, in my opinion, any thing in favor of the pawn, and certainly adds to that noxious quality above mentioned. Some persons attribute the blackness of the teeth, in both males and females, throughout India, to the use of pawn; under the opinion, that the discoloration is effected by the lime blended therein. Such is, however, wide of the fact: pawn is found to be highly favorable to the gums, when the lime is omitted; and so sensible are those who chew it of the bad effects produced by the alkali upon the enamel of the teeth, that, in order to preserve them from corrosion, they rub them frequently with the preparation called missy; thereby coating them with that black substance which does not readily give way, even to the most powerful dentifrice. I strongly suspect, however, that, in thus shielding the teeth from the alkali, some injury is done to the enamel by the supposed preservative; though by no means to that extent the former would speedily effect, but for the use of missy. The natives only chew the pawn, rejecting the masticated ingredients when their flavor has been extracted; some reject even the saliva tinctured by the pawn, spitting it out into the peek-daun. A few, not content with the compound already described, absolutely mix tobacco, previously reduced to a coarse powder, by rubbing the dried leaves with the thumb in the hollow of the other hand! One would think that ‘potent weed’ must supersede all its companions, and cause them to be as little tasted, as though they had not been crowded into the jumble of flavors.
I have already explained, that earthen pipes, such as those we call ‘Dutch pipes’, are not known in India; but that the hookah, kaleaun, and goorgoory, are in general use, among the several classes respectively. The lowest classes of Europeans, as also of the natives, and, indeed, most of the officers of country-ships, frequently smoke cheroots, exactly corresponding with the Spanish segar, though usually made rather more bulky. However fragrant the smokers themselves may consider cheroots, those who use hookahs, hold them to be not only vulgar, but intolerable! Hence, we sometimes see a whole congregation of the latter put to the route by some one unlucky visitor, who, either from ignorance, of from disregard to the feelings of his more delicate participators in ‘the cloudy regale’, mounts his cheroot; thus abrogating all distinctions of musk, cinnamon, rose-water, &c. in a trice.
The natives smoke cheroots without any precaution whatever to guard the lips and teeth from the highly acidulated fumes derived from the burning tobacco, but when, as has sometimes been the case, cheroots were brought into fashion, though but for a while, it was found expedient to have small silver or earthen sockets made, to receive the end of the cheroot; thereby avoiding contact with the tobacco.