games of
chance unholy, and therefore incompatible with their mode of living. I am
not aware that gaming is prohibited by their law in a direct way,[8] but
all practices tending to covetousness are strictly forbidden; and, surely,
those who can touch the money called 'winnings' at any game, must be more
or less exposed to the accusation of desiring other men's goods.

Shampooing has been so often described as to leave little by way of
novelty for me to remark on the subject; it is a general indulgence with
all classes in India, whatever may be their age or circumstances. The
comfort derived from the pressure of the hands on the limbs, by a clever
shampooer, is alone to be estimated by those who have experienced the
benefits derived from this luxurious habit, in a climate where such
indulgences are needed to assist in creating a free circulation of the
blood, which is very seldom induced by exercise as in more Northern
latitudes. Persons of rank are shampooed by their slaves during the hours
of sleep, whether it be by day or by night; if through any accidental
circumstance the pressure is discontinued, even for a few seconds only,
the sleep is immediately broken: such is the power of habit.

The punkah (fan) is in constant use by day and night, during eight months
of the year. In the houses of the Natives, the slaves have ample
employment in administering to the several indulgences which their ladies
require at their hands; for with them fixed punkahs have not been
introduced into the zeenahnah:[9] the only punkah in their apartments is
moved by the hand, immediately over or in front of the person for whose
use it is designed. In the gentlemen's apartments, however, and in the
houses of all Europeans, punkahs are suspended from the ceiling, to which
a rope is fastened and passed through an aperture in the wall into the
verandah, where a man is seated who keeps it constantly waving, by pulling
the rope, so that the largest rooms, and even churches, are filled with
wind, to the great comfort of all present.

The female slaves, although constantly required about the lady's person,
are nevertheless tenderly treated, and have every proper indulgence
afforded them. They discharge in rotation the required duties of their
stations, and appear as much the objects of the lady's care as any other
people in her establishment. Slavery with them is without severity; and in
the existing state of Mussulmaun society, they declare the w