The natives, whether male or female, never use any sort of dentifrice, nor have they any idea of hair-brushes; which could not, indeed, according to their tenets, be admitted within the mouth. The only apparatus employed for cleaning the teeth, is a short piece of stick, commonly the branch of some bush, pulled at the moment for the occasion: this is either beat or chewed, for a short time, until the fibres, for about half an inch at the end, separate, and form a kind of stiff brush, which is applied at right angles to the teeth. This is not a very delicate implement, but, when aided by a plentiful supply of water, answers tolerably well; though it certainly can never prevent the accumulation of tartar within the teeth. Necessity has made me sometimes use the dauntwun, as it is called, but not without leaving considerable soreness about my gums.
The ladies of Hindostan smoke their goorgoories in very high stile; as do those of inferior rank their nereauls, or cocoa-nuts, with no less glee. It would, perhaps, be difficult to decide which of the sexes were most addicted to this habit: they both begin at a very early age, and are never so happy as when engaged in its practice. After a while, we become reconciled to seeing females smoking; though I must confess, that, however delicate the preparation of the tobacco may be, and however elegant the apparatus, still a certain idea, not very conformable to feminine propriety, creeps into our minds, when we see an European lady thus employed. We revolt at a habit not authorized by what we have been accustomed to in our early youth, and consider it an intrusion upon masculine characteristics. Several ladies have gone yet further, by adopting the entire costume of the natives; a circumstance which, however gratifying it may have been to themselves, by no means raised them in the estimation of those whom they imitated; while, at the same time, it gave birth to opinions, and occasionally to experiments, by no means favorable to their reputation. The same kind of ridicule attaches equally to gentlemen, who at times allow their whiskers to grow, and who wear turbans, &c., in imitation of the Mussulmans of distinction. Their countrymen, though perhaps tacitly, censure such imitations, when arising from caprice; and the Mussulmans regard these renegadoes in costume much the same as we do such of the natives, as, being smitten with our general character, and partaking of our pastimes, lay aside their appropriate garments in favor of jackets, jockey-caps, boots, and leather inexpressibles! Some, indeed, do more; they sit at table, and devour, with no small degree of eagerness, the viands prepared according to English fashion; washing them down with copious libations of Claret and Madeira, to the utter degradation of their persons, and reputation, in the eyes both of their new, and of their old, companions.
But there is a certain happiness apparently attendant upon this species of infatuation; what is lost in public opinion being invariably gained in self-sufficiency; while every little ironical compliment is construed into superlative eulogium. The present Nabob Vizier of Oude, Saadut Ali, many years ago, when compelled to reside at the Presidency, under serveillance of the Bengal government, in consequence of the jealousy entertained by his brother, the late Asoph ul Dowlah, affected to enter upon this kind of apostacy. I believe, every one saw through the veil, though he hunted with fox-hounds in our style, and assimilated in many other points; but the essentials were carefully preserved from metamorphosis. Many characters, such as I have described, could be quoted, but the most particularly appropriate to my subject is that of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, who embarked in the same ship with me, for the purpose of proceeding from Bengal to England, where he was at first received as a general and prince; merely owing to an empty title conferred on him at the Nabob Vizier’s court, about as important as that of a Windsor Knight. This hero did not, it is true, adopt our costume altogether, though he became a kind of ‘half and half, like the sea-calf at Sir Ashton’s;’ but he had the impudence to assert, that his paltry lodgings in Gresse-Street, (above all places under the sun,) were graced by the nocturnal visits of several Peeresses of the most exalted character; many of whose names he most scandalously, and ungratefully, disclosed! I say, ungratefully, because it was impossible for me to believe that ladies of such character could have stooped to such conduct; although, in consequence of suitable introductions, they had received him at their houses in that hospitable manner ever adopted in favor of respectable foreigners. The Mirza, very probably, may have been imposed upon by some low women, who made him the Falstaff of their drama; and, by assuming the titles of our nobility, flattered his vanity to an extreme! Yet, supposing this to have been the fact, how are we to find an apology for that open boast he made of the supposed intimacy! But vanity was his motto; he studied singularity in many instances; he studied also celebrity; and would willingly have impressed us with an opinion, that, from Hafiz down to the Plenipo’, his abilities were triumphant. Let us compare him with the former, whose poetry charmed his countrymen!
ODE BY HAFIZ.
Sweet maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight,
And bid these arms thy neck infold;
That rosy cheek, that lily hand
Would give thy poet more delight
Than all Boҫara’s vaunted gold,
Than all the gems of Samarcand.