190 



every one when he had done eating, to get up, wash his hands, 

 and take a draught of water; and so in continual succession, until 

 the poor came in, and ale up all; for the Arabs never set by 

 any thing that is brought to table: when they kill a sheep, they 

 dress it all; call in their neighbours, and the poor, and finish every 

 thing. An Arab prince will often dine in the street before his 

 door, and call to all that pass, even to beggars, in the usual ex- 

 pression of Bismillah; that is, in the name of God: these poor 

 people then sit down, partake of the dinner, and when they have 

 done, retire with the usual form of returning thanks. 



The familiarity to which I alluded in another entertainment 

 at a pharisee's house, where Mary uses the box of oitment, is not 

 only common, but is far from being deemed either disrespectful or 

 displeasing. During my visit at Cambay I usually wore a corne- 

 lian ring containing my name cut in Persian characters; which 

 I used as a seal to official papers at Dhuboy. This being ob- 

 served by the sciddees and nabob's attendants when we supped 

 at his garden-house, they approached me with that sort of free- 

 dom I have just mentioned, not only to admire the ring, but to 

 take it off my finger, and hand it round among each other, and to 

 the servants of the vizier and noblemen present, exclaiming Yacoob 

 Forbes: this was circulated, and by that appellation I found my- 

 self afterwards generally known and greeted throughout the city 

 of Cambay. 



Exclusive of the religious pleasure resulting from a perusal of 

 the sacred scriptures, there is a peculiar satisfaction in comparing 

 these ancient records with modern manners and customs in liiu- 

 dostan. Until my journey to Cambay and Ahmedabad, I knew 



