HOW TO BOIL RICE. 



393 



twenty -five years old, who for reasons best known to himself 

 assumed the style and title of Sarkal, — Government ser- 

 vant. The meal concluded with becoming haste, and was 

 followed by that agreeable appearance of repletion which 

 is so pleasing to the Oriental Amphitryon. The Baloch 

 returned to squat upon their shins, and they must have 

 suffered agonies till 5 p.m., when the appearance of a 

 second and a more ceremonious repast enabled them once 

 more to perch upon their heels. It was hard eating 

 this time ; the shorwa, or mutton broth, thickened with 

 melted butter, attracted admiration ; the guests, however, 

 could only hint at its excellences, because in the East 

 if you praise a man's meat you intend to slight his so- 

 ciety. The plat de resistance was, as usual, the pillaw, 

 or, as it is here called, pulao, — not the conventional mess 

 of rice and fowl, almonds and raisins, onion-shreds, car- 

 domoms, and other abominations, which goes by that 

 name amongst Anglo-Indians, but a solid heap of rice, 

 boiled after being greased with a handful of ghee — 



(I must here indulge in a little digression. For the past 

 century, which concluded with reducing India to the 

 rank of a British province, the proud invader has eaten 

 her rice after a fashion which has secured for him the con- 

 tempt of the East. He deliberately boils it, and after 

 drawing off the nutritious starch or gluten called " con- 

 jee," which forms the perquisite of his Portuguese or his 

 Pariah cook, he is fain to fill himself with that which has 

 become little more nutritious than the prodigal's husks. 

 Great, indeed, is the invader's ignorance upon that point. 

 Peace be to the manes of Lord Macaulay, but listen to and 

 wonder at his eloquent words ! — " The Sepoys came to 

 Clive, not to complain of their scanty fare, but to propose 

 that all the grain should be given to the Europeans, who 

 required more nourishment than the natives of Asia. The 



