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 much
taste. Sometimes the wife brings her husband a segar. This people, I am
sorry to say, are great smokers and chewers, practices of which I hope
that you, my dear children, will never be guilty. In Ceylon, it is
customary for females to smoke. Frequently, after the husband has smo