natives, however wealthy, scrupulously insist upon leaves. All
respectable Hindoos lift their food with their fingers, using neither
knife, fork, nor spoon; and for this purpose they employ the right hand
only, the left being reserved for baser purposes. In drinking water,
many of them will not allow the _lotah_ to touch the lips; but, throwing
the head back, and holding the vessel at arm's length on high, with an
odd expertness they let the water run into their mouths. The sect of
Ramanujas obstinately refuse to sit down to a meal while any one is
standing by or looking on; nor will they chew betel in company with a
man of low caste. Ward has written, "If a European of the highest rank
touch the food of a Hindoo of the lowest caste, the latter will
instantly throw it away, although he may not have another morsel to
allay the pangs of hunger";--but this is true only of certain very
strait sects. There are numerous sects that admit proselytes from every
caste; but at the same time they will not partake of food, except with
those of their own religious party. "Here," says Kerr, "the spirit of
sect has supplanted even the spirit of caste,"--as at the temple of
Juggernath in Orissa, where the pilgrims of all castes take their
_khana_ in common.

At our quarters in Cossitollah even this progressive Karlee will not
taste of the food which has been served at our mess-table, though it be
returned to the kitchen untouched. But at least he is consistent; for
neither will he take medicine from the hand of a Sahib, however ill he
may be; nor have I ever known him to decline or postpone the performance
of this or that duty because it was Sunday,--as many knavish bhearers do
when they have set their hearts on a cock-fight. To compound for sins
one is inclined to, by damning those one has no mind to, it is not
indispensable that one should be a Christian.

The amiable Mr. James Kerr, of the Hindoo College of Calcutta, has
contrived an ingenious and plausible apology for the constitutional (or
geographical) laziness of Bengalese servants. He says: "A love of repose
may be considered one of the most striking features in the character of
the people of India. The Hindoos may be said to have deified this state.
Their favorite notion of a Supreme Being is that of one who reposes in
himself, in a dream of absolute quiescence. This idea is, doubtless, in
the first instance, a reflection of their own character; but, in
whatever way it origina