-
Articles/Ads
Article PENCILLINGS EROM THE SKETCH-BOOK OE A MA... ← Page 3 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Erom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
demanded , in what we thought a very pompous manner , who we were , and what we wanted ? The young gentleman having received an official answer , together with a list of the passengers , re-entered his boat and returned to his ship .
Immediately a clatter might be heard below , arising from the fastening of trunks , cording of boxes , rattling of keys , and slamming to and fro of cabin-doors ; the steward and his assistants , obsequiously bowing , came down for presents as a remuneration for promoting our comfort on the passage ; but great as was the confusion and buBstle below , it was as nothing in comparison with that
on deck ; for , about six o ' clock , crowds of Doobashees or native agents , small bazaar merchants , and black servants , were admitted up the gangway from Musoolah boats , vessels built expressly to weather the surf . A scene , moreover , characteristic of the country we had come to , attracted general notice ; perhaps it is scarcely necessary for me to observe here , that it is an invariable custom in
the East , when addressing a superior , to speak in the third person ; to say " you , " or " thou , " is only proper when applied to an inferior or equal : thus natives , having any knowledge of the English language , use the words " master , " or " your honour , " in speaking to Europeans ; and as we came out of the cuddy we were accosted by them something after this fashion : " Tour honour got
good sea-cot blanket ? All things master choose I buy ! " Another would say , " Master , want hand-servant ? I plenty good characters got , master like I show , " very ludicrously suiting the action to the word by gestures in the most unapproved style of theatrical ranting ; but we were not to be caught . We had been duly warned of the attempts of these gentry by our seniors on board . The characters
often exhibited in this manner , though they have the appearance of being genuine , may be either direct forgeries , or probably those of gentlemen by whom the men presenting them had never been hired as servants , but had purchased them for a rupee or so from an original holder . It would be folly for any one to engage such persons as thus offer themselves , for a few hours will suffice to procure respectable
servants ashore , through the agency of any gentleman ' s butler resident in Madras , whom the cadet may visit , or when he has arrived even at his temporary home—the cadet quarters . I recollect the first sight of these longcloth-garment and muslin-turbanwearing creatures impressed me with an idea that they looked more
like old women , especially the more corpulent ones , than beings of the masculine gender . Eastern costume seems supremely ridiculous and effeminate till the eye becomes accustomed to it ; but after the novelty has worn off , and a gradual insight into native habits and customs has borne down the barriers of prejudice in his mind , the European is easily reconciled to these external distinctions of dress
and manner . Most of these men who visited the ship looked extremely artful , and certainly afforded ns , by their self-confident , pushing behaviour , no very favourable notion of the people among whom we were about to pass a long part of our existence .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Erom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
demanded , in what we thought a very pompous manner , who we were , and what we wanted ? The young gentleman having received an official answer , together with a list of the passengers , re-entered his boat and returned to his ship .
Immediately a clatter might be heard below , arising from the fastening of trunks , cording of boxes , rattling of keys , and slamming to and fro of cabin-doors ; the steward and his assistants , obsequiously bowing , came down for presents as a remuneration for promoting our comfort on the passage ; but great as was the confusion and buBstle below , it was as nothing in comparison with that
on deck ; for , about six o ' clock , crowds of Doobashees or native agents , small bazaar merchants , and black servants , were admitted up the gangway from Musoolah boats , vessels built expressly to weather the surf . A scene , moreover , characteristic of the country we had come to , attracted general notice ; perhaps it is scarcely necessary for me to observe here , that it is an invariable custom in
the East , when addressing a superior , to speak in the third person ; to say " you , " or " thou , " is only proper when applied to an inferior or equal : thus natives , having any knowledge of the English language , use the words " master , " or " your honour , " in speaking to Europeans ; and as we came out of the cuddy we were accosted by them something after this fashion : " Tour honour got
good sea-cot blanket ? All things master choose I buy ! " Another would say , " Master , want hand-servant ? I plenty good characters got , master like I show , " very ludicrously suiting the action to the word by gestures in the most unapproved style of theatrical ranting ; but we were not to be caught . We had been duly warned of the attempts of these gentry by our seniors on board . The characters
often exhibited in this manner , though they have the appearance of being genuine , may be either direct forgeries , or probably those of gentlemen by whom the men presenting them had never been hired as servants , but had purchased them for a rupee or so from an original holder . It would be folly for any one to engage such persons as thus offer themselves , for a few hours will suffice to procure respectable
servants ashore , through the agency of any gentleman ' s butler resident in Madras , whom the cadet may visit , or when he has arrived even at his temporary home—the cadet quarters . I recollect the first sight of these longcloth-garment and muslin-turbanwearing creatures impressed me with an idea that they looked more
like old women , especially the more corpulent ones , than beings of the masculine gender . Eastern costume seems supremely ridiculous and effeminate till the eye becomes accustomed to it ; but after the novelty has worn off , and a gradual insight into native habits and customs has borne down the barriers of prejudice in his mind , the European is easily reconciled to these external distinctions of dress
and manner . Most of these men who visited the ship looked extremely artful , and certainly afforded ns , by their self-confident , pushing behaviour , no very favourable notion of the people among whom we were about to pass a long part of our existence .