Dr. Scudders Tales for Little Readers | Page 5

by
dissolving in it a paste made of a yellow root and common shell-lime.
The Brahmins frequently instead of rubbing ashes, draw a horizontal
line over the middle of their foreheads, to show that they have bathed
and are pure. Sometimes the people ornament themselves with a paste
of sandal-wood. They rub themselves from head to foot with it. This
has a very odoriferous smell.
When the people are loaded with jewels, and covered with the marks
which I have just described they think themselves to be highly
ornamented But after all, "they are like unto whited sepulchres, which

indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones, and of all uncleanness." The "Pearl of great price," to which I
before alluded, the only Pearl which is of any value in the sight of Him
who looketh at the heart, and not at the outward appearance, they
possess not. Millions in this Eastern world have never even heard of it.
O how incessantly ought you to pray that they may come into
possession of it. How gladly should you give your money to send it to
them. I wish, in this place, to ask you one question. Who of you expect,
by and by, to become missionaries to this land, to tell this people of the
Pearl of great price?

CHAPTER III
.
DRESS, HOUSES, EATING, AND SALUTATION OF THE
HINDOOS.
My dear Children--The dress of the Hindoos is very simple. A single
piece of cloth uncut, about three yards in length and one in width,
wrapped round the loins, with a shawl thrown over the shoulders,
constitutes the usual apparel of the people of respectability. These
garments are often fringed with red silk or gold. The native ladies
frequently almost encase themselves in cloth or silk. Under such
circumstances, their cloths are perhaps twenty yards in length. Most of
the native gentlemen now wear turbans, an ornament which they have
borrowed from the Mohammedans This consists of a long piece of very
fine stuff, sometimes twenty yards in length and one in breadth. With
this they encircle the head in many folds.
Those who are employed by European or Mohammedan princes, wear a
long robe of muslin, or very fine cloth. This also, is in imitation of the
Mohammedans, and was formerly unknown in the country.
The houses of the Hindoos are generally very plainly built. In the
country, they are commonly made of earth, and thatched with straw. In
the cities, they are covered with tiles. The kitchen is situated in the
most retired part of the house. In the houses of the Brahmins, the
kitchen-door is always barred, to prevent strangers from looking upon
their earthen vessels; for if they should happen to see them, their look
would pollute them to such a degree that they must be broken to pieces.

The hearth is generally placed on the south-west side, which is said to
be the side of the _god of fire_, because they say that this god actually
dwells there.
The domestic customs of this people are very different from ours. The
men and women do not eat together. The husband first eats, then the
wife. The wife waits upon the husband After she has cooked the rice,
she brings a brass plate, if they are possessors of one; or if not, a piece
of a plantain-leaf, and puts it down on the mat before him. She then
bails out the rice, places it upon the leaf, and afterwards pours the
currie over it. This being done, the husband proceeds to mix up the
currie and the rice with his hands, and puts it into his mouth. He never
uses a knife and fork, as is customary with us. The currie of which I
have spoken is a sauce of a yellow color, owing to the _munchel_, a
yellow root which they put in it. This and onions, kottamaly-seeds
mustard, serakum, pepper, etc., constitute the ingredients of the currie.
Some add to these ghea, or melted butter, and cocoa-nut milk. By the
cocoa-nut milk, I do not mean the water of the cocoa-nut. This--except
in the very young cocoa-nut, when it is a most delicious beverage--is
never used. The milk is squeezed from the meat of the cocoa-nut, after
it has been reduced to a pulp by means of an indented circular iron
which they use for this purpose.
After the husband has eaten, the wife brings water for him to wash his
hands. This being done, she supplies him with vettalay, paakku,
shell-lime, and tobacco, which he puts into his mouth as his dessert.
The vettalay is a very spicy leaf. Why they use paakku, I do not know.
It is a nut, which they cut into small pieces, but it has not