It Was Evidently The Child Of Wealthy
Parents, Being Dressed In A Silk Shirt Embroidered And Trimmed With
Silver, A
Cap of the same upon its head, and numerous jewels besides.
The whole of the Lilliputian assembly uttered their lesson
As I
passed, all raising their voices at the same time, and rendering it, I
imagine, rather difficult to determine whether each pupil repeated his
or her part correctly.
I would fain have lingered for a few minutes, but my attendants
officiously showing the way, I walked across a paved yard and up two
flights of steps to the shop of which I came in search, which was kept
by a good-looking Parsee. The trade of this person was designated
as that of a bottlee wallah, which being literally rendered means
'bottle-fellow,' but, according to a more free translation, a dealer
in glass, lamps, candlesticks, preserved meats in tin-cases, &c. &c.
I found a vast stock of the articles most in request in Indian
housekeeping, such as wall-shades, and all descriptions of earthen and
hard-ware, all of which he sold at very moderate prices, but having
executed the part of my commission which related to candlesticks, I
was unable to find the more recherche articles of which I came in
quest.
I had been told that a great variety of ornamental china, the real
product of the Celestial Empire, was to be seen in the native shops
in Bombay. Though showy in appearance, this sort of china is of little
value, except to mark how much the manufacture has degenerated since
Europeans have learned to make their own teacups. I wished to obtain
a few specimens, but could not succeed. My friend, the bottlee wallah,
though very civil, could not afford me the information I required,
nor have I yet been able to obtain it. I have seen some handsome jars,
plates such as are used in England for the deposit of visitors' cards,
&c., which were purchased for a few annas, and have been told that
I might procure any quantity I pleased, but the where is still a
mystery.
All the information obtainable in Bombay must be fished out in an
extraordinary manner, both natives and Europeans seeming to make it a
rule never to commit themselves by a direct reply to any question;
in every single instance, up to the present time, I have always, upon
making an inquiry, been referred to somebody else. Neither do I
find the same zeal manifested in the servants, which amounts to
officiousness on the other side of India. I have sent them to purchase
the china, but can get nothing but rubbish, knowing all the while that
there are plenty of a better description to be had.
Upon my return, the bottlee wallah accompanied me to the carriage in
waiting, and as I paused to notice some of the children in the school,
introduced me to a group of his own sons and daughters, well decked
out in jewels, and otherwise richly dressed. The instruction given at
these schools I understood to be merely oral, the repetition of a few
verses, intended rather to pass away the time and keep the children
out of mischief, than as a foundation of more useful studies. I
hope that the system will be improved, for the pupils seemed to be
extremely intelligent, and capable of better things.
Returning home, I passed several shops, in which the artizans of a
very beautiful manufacture, peculiar to Bombay, were at work. Desks,
dressing-cases, work-boxes, card-cases, ink-stands, and a variety of
other ornamental fancy articles, are made of sandal-wood, covered and
inlaid with ivory, ebony, and a material resembling silver. They copy
the best patterns, and produce exceedingly elegant appendages for
the drawing or dressing-room tables. A desk, handsomely fitted up and
lined with velvet, is sold for seven or eight pounds; large ink-stands
and blotting books for twenty rupees, and card-cases for six or eight.
It is impossible, while perambulating the Fort of Bombay, to avoid
a feeling of apprehension concerning a catastrophe, which sooner or
later seems certain to happen, and which nothing short of a miracle
appears to prevent from taking place every night; I mean the
destruction of the whole by fire. All the houses are constructed of
the most combustible materials, and the greater number belonging to
the native quarter are thatched. Though contrary to law, many of the
warehouses contain gunpowder, while the immense quantity of oil
and spirits stored up in them would render a conflagration, once
commenced, most fearful. Few or no precautions seem to be taken by the
natives against fire. There are lights burning in every room of every
house, fires are continually made outside, whence a single spark
might set the whole in flames; and added to these dangers, are the
prejudices of the great number of the inhabitants, whose religious
feelings would prevent them from making the slightest endeavour to
stay the progress of the element which they worship. Nor would the
destruction of property be the sole danger. It is terrible to think
of the fearful risk of life in a place in which escape would be so
difficult. The gates of the Fort are few in number, and of narrow
dimensions; a new one is now constructing, probably with some view
to an emergence of the kind. The natives, upon the occasion of its
proposal, evinced their readiness to assist in the execution of a plan
so advantageous to the place of their abode, and immediately advanced
half the sum which this necessary improvement would cost - namely,
thirty thousand rupees - which were subscribed and paid into the
treasury in the course of a week.
In 1803 or 1804, a very destructive conflagration actually took place
in the Fort of Bombay, and upon that occasion, in order to save the
castle, which did then, and does now, contain an immense quantity of
gunpowder, the authorities were obliged to bring out cannon to batter
down the surrounding houses, for the purpose of arresting the progress
of the flames.
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