220 INDIAN CUSTOMS. 



circumstance. I shall here digresss a little and 

 remark, that Europeans too often accustom them- 

 selves to wash their feet many times a-day, in 

 hot water. Although pleasing at the time, and 

 apparently of trifling consequence, it is, I am 

 convinced, a serious evil, by increasing the se- 

 cretions which were before too copious, and, if 

 persevered in for a length of time, will add con- 

 siderably to other unwholesome practices, which, 

 together with the heat of the climate, will soon 

 wear out an English constitution, and bring on 

 premature old age. 



I began this chapter with observing that the 

 customs of the natives of India ought to be at- 

 tended to by Europeans, and I shall here remark 

 that they did follow them in many instances on 

 their first settling there, which they have now 

 foolishly left off. One in particular I shall men- 

 tion, and that is their dressing with cool and 

 light apparel during the hot weather. When I 

 first arrived in India, a broad cloth coat was 

 scarcely ever seen in the hot months, except 

 on formal visits. At that time the Governor 

 General, Earl Cornwallis, always set a good ex- 

 ample at his own table, by taking off his coat at 

 dinner time, which was generally followed by all 



