ENTERTAINMENTS. 309 



sarily absent from home during the greater part of the day. 

 In the morning the amusements of the Ladies are various, 

 but wholly different from those of a fashionable woman in 

 England. The native dealers carry their tempting wares 

 to the houses, and it is no unusual thing to see the apart- 

 ments strewed with the splendid productions of Cashmere 

 and other rare commodities of the East. Yet Indian orna- 

 ments are seldom worn where they are so common, and an 

 article of dress fresh from Europe is more highly prized. It 

 is not meant to be insinuated that the whole morning is 

 thus occupied. In no part of the world is female influence 

 more deeply felt, or more beneficially exercised, than in India. 

 There is nothing in the climate to prevent the cultivation of 

 all those accomplishments for which our fair countrywomen 

 are so justly famed ; and to the honour of the sex, they neg- 

 lect none oif those elevating pursuits which so strikingly dis- 

 tinguish the English gentlewoman. Many visits are paid 

 about two o'clock, the time of tiffin, which is a very sociable 

 and substantial meal. After this repast the gentlemen 

 return to their official occupations, and the ladies retire to 

 their apartments to read or rest as inclination dictates. In 

 the evening the whole Indian world, British and native, able 

 to sport an equipage, sally forth to breathe the cool air. In 

 Calcutta the race-course is the point of attraction ; at Ma- 

 dras the Mount Road ; while round the whole island of 

 Bombay runs a very beautiful drive, one turning of which 

 has by the gossips been denominated Scandal Point, — an- 

 other, Love Grove. 



Large dinner-parties are common, and, notwithstanding 

 the heat, go oft' well. The apartments are spacious, and 

 the punkah, which extends over the whole table, moderates 

 the temperature. Each person is attended by his own ser- 

 vant or servants. In a company composed of individuals 

 from different parts of India, the variety of costume exhibited 

 in the dress of their respective attendants is very striking. 

 The colours displayed in the turban and cumberbund are 

 usually those which in Europe would constitute the livery. 

 For the reasons already mentioned, a numerous retinue is 

 absolutely necessary. The khidmutgaror personal servant 

 often becomes much attached, and enters very fully into all 

 the habits of his master. 



At all the presidencies the parties at the government 



