Aristocratic Habits. 
II 
ed his name to King: from many hints later let fall it was easy to be 
seen that he must have had a very adventurous past. It seemed that lie 
had served in the Hussar Guards at Potsdam and became non-commis- 
sioned officer, but, having got into some scrape or other, had consider- 
ed it wiser to get away clandestinely and come out to the West Indies 
where finally, in Demerara, he made an ample living by stuffing birds 
and mammals: he sold these to the ships’ captains and Garrison offi- 
cers before their return to Europe dearer than what they could have 
bought them for in England. His acquaintanceship certainly , did not con- 
tribute to exactly the most pleasant of the recollections which I brought 
back with me to Europe. 
lit). Before entering into any further details of my life in George- 
town, let us take a peep into the internal arrangements of the houses of 
the aristocracy. Like that of their lives their whole get-up exceeds the 
ordinary bounds of good old English comfort. The chief requirement 
of a comfortable residence naturally consists in giving ventilation as 
much scope as possible and assisting it still more in opening all doors 
and window's: but each window' is here supplied with green jalousies 
which are let down when the glass windows are opened, and so that tho 
lights should burn evenly of an evening, large tastefully cut glass globes 
are placed over them. On the first floor, the more or less roomy dining- 
hall generally occupies the middle of the building: next to it are two 
side rooms. Behind these apartments runs a gallery, on which are to 
be seen both the steps leading to the next floor as well as a pantry, a 
small room for keeping the table linen and service as w ell as the food 
removed from the table. The kitchens are never in the main building 
but generally in outhouses: there are no vaults and underground cel- 
lars, and likewise no basements. The upper floors are arranged as on 
the lowest one. Stone houses are generally discounted, because during 
the rainy season they are usually reckoned damp and unhealthy. Shin 
gle roofs are even preferred to those with tiles, because they supply a 
much better and healthier water to the cisterns than the latter. The 
most glorious wooden mosaic covers the walls and flooring of (lie rooms 
but unfortunately this is now being greatly supplanted by carpets com- 
ing into fashion: to keep this wainscoting and flooring continually clean, 
both are rubbed weekly with lemon-juice or shaddock ( Potnpelnuss ) 
which not only fulfils its purpose, but considerably cools the air and 
spreads an extremely pleasant perfume throughout the building. 
lot). The beds of the sleeping-rooms consist generally of mattress- 
es with a light feather pillow: the great four-poster is surrounded with 
a thin gauze to keep off the absolutely unbearable mosquitoes at each 
season. Every adult member of the family has his own bedroom. 
151. Five p.m. strikes and everybody with any pretensions at all to 
culture, position, or outward superiority, hurries off to the Promenade, 
the Spanish Alameda, the Italian Corso, the one public place where the 
whole aristocracy is seen united, though divided by political and dom- 
estic differences : he who goes on foot would expose evidence of his own 
poverty, and would accordingly prove ‘impossible” in those circles. 
As a rule, walking is avoided here more than anywhere else and any 
one enjoying but a fair amount of means keeps his own trap which is 
very generally a light two-wheeled vehicle called a gig, or at most a 
