That It Was Expected To Be The Resort
Of English Guests Was Apparent, From An Inscription Painted In White
Letters, Rather Askew, Upon A Black Board, To The Following Effect:
"Tea, Coffee, And Pastry-House."
We were invited to enter this splendid establishment by the moonshee,
who had evidently ordered a refection to be prepared
For the occasion.
Being unwilling to disappoint the old gentleman, we took the seats
offered to us, and ate the cakes, and drank the coffee, presented by
some respectable-looking Parsees, the owners of the shop, which they
had taken pains to set off in the European style. Although the natives
of India will not eat with us, as they know that we do not scruple
to partake of food prepared for their tables, they are mortified and
disappointed at any refusal to taste the good things set before us;
the more we eat, the greater being the compliment. I was consequently
obliged to convey away some of the cakes in my handkerchief, to avoid
the alternatives of making myself ill or of giving offence.
When we were sufficiently rested and refreshed, we followed the
moonshee to his mansion. The moon was at the full, and being at this
time well up, lighted us through the less thronged avenues of the
village, these tangled lanes, with the exception of a few candles,
having no other illumination. Here, seated in corners upon the ground,
were the more humble traders of the fair, venders of fruit, the larger
kind being divided into slices for the convenience of poor customers.
In one spot, a group of dissipated characters were assembled round
bottles and drinking-vessels (of which the contents bore neither the
colour nor the smell of sherbet), who were evidently determined to
make a night of it over the fermented juice of the palm.
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