But a
Mohammedan has, with some unimportant reservations, highly rational
notions as concerns the eatable and the drinkable. His endless variety
of kabobs and pilaus is worthy of all commendation; and his sherbets,
which refresh without a sting or a resipiscent headache next morning,
are no doubt the style of phlegm-cutters and gum-ticklers which one
had better patronize pretty exclusively while between the tropics. The
gentleman of the circumcision whom I had for host was, I suspect,
something of an epicure, and his cooking was such as I found eminently
toothsome. My dinner was on the floor at the polite hour of eight,
after which he would come to me for a short talk and to chant a little
Persian poetry. At nine he was due in his harem, which, he gave me to
understand, was a populous establishment.
For my special service he detailed, to my surprise, not a man, but a
young woman, who, I take it, was in bonds. Under considerate Hindoo
and Mohammedan masters slavery is, however, the lightest of hardships,
and the damsel appropriated to wait on me, if she were not a slave,
could not have been lighter-hearted. A student of all the natural
products of the East, I did not neglect while there to bestow a proper
share of study on Indian womankind; and as my Fyzabad abigail was a
noteworthy specimen of her species, I may as well gratify the
curiosity of the untraveled to know what she was like.
Pages:
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201