THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 169 



been touched by one of his companions who was a Mussel- 

 man, and in consequence, he was looked upon by those of 

 his caste as being polluted. In order to purify himself, he 

 was, by way of penitence, obliged to give a splendid dinner 

 to the Brahmins of the neighbourhood, the cost of which 

 absorbed about a month's wages : and to eat a suEfared 

 paste compounded of milk, butter, urine, and excrement, 

 the four being derived from the sacred animal of the 

 Brahmins ; which, although he knew its disgusting com- 

 position, he devoured with great devotional avidity, and 

 which completely effected his restoration to purity in the 

 eyes of his fellow Brahmins. 



In the hot season, ginger beer is a great favourite in 

 India as a beverage, especially v;hen cooled by immersion 

 in a freezing mixture of ice and saltpetre. It is prepared 

 much in the s^me manner as in this country. Milk-punch 

 and grog are also extensively used, as well as cooled soda- 

 water ( with a small quantity of wine ), lemonade, orgeat, 

 &c. These beverages, however, are used mostly by Europe- 

 ans ; the natives prepare a variety of cooling drinks from 

 almonds, the seeds of melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, &c. ; 

 adding to them arkh-e-goolab, arkh-e-keora and hedemusk^ 

 i. e,^ the distilled waters of roses, sweet scented pandan, 

 and the flowers of the Egyptian willow. They use also 

 a syrup made from the berries of the gtewia asiatica \ a 

 vinegar syrup flavoured with mint ; buttermilk ; milk- 

 and-water \ and curdled milk with salt and water ; those 

 who can afford to incur the expense of artificially cool- 

 ing these beverages, use, when ice connot be obtained, a 

 mixture of water and saltpetre, agitating in it the vessel 

 containing the liquid to be cooled. It is not always, how- 

 ever, that cold drinks are the most effective for quenching 

 the violent thirst experienced in the hot season ; on the 

 contrary, my own experience teaches me that the more 

 of these which are taken, the more the thirst increases ; 

 whilst a cup of warm tea or coffee with milk, produces a 

 contrary result, and should therefore be used in preference 

 to cold beverages in such cases. 



