CHAP. III. 
DESIGNATION OF THE SHOPS. 
55 
room in which a Malabar or a Creole offers cigars or tobacco 
for sale. Many of the shops are well fitted up and furnished, 
some with considerable pretension and display, especially 
those of the chemists and druggists, which, considering the 
size of the place, appear to he very numerous. Most of the 
craftsmen and skilled workmen of the place are Creoles, or 
ex-apprentices, with the exception of the cabinet-makers, of 
which a large proportion are Chinese, who are industrious 
and frugal, though said to be addicted to gaming. It was 
strange to a European to notice, in the shops of the Indians, 
the shopman or master seated cross-legged on the counter, 
with his goods piled on shelves on each side and behind him, 
so that he could exhibit his wares, serve his customers, 
and keep his accounts, without rising from his seat. The 
effect of climate, to which it is probable this habit is to be 
ascribed, would seem not confined to Asiatics. I heard a lady 
say she was on one occasion inquiring for a certain article, I 
think Berlin wool, when the shopkeeper replied he believed 
he had some, but it was “ up there,” pointing to a shelf near 
the ceiling, and that it was too hot for him to get the parcel 
down then. 
In numbers of the small shops the articles are both made 
and sold in the same place; and in some parts, especially in 
the Malabar or Asiatic quarter, both these proceedings are 
more frequently carried on in the open air than within doors. 
Many of the persons of colour seem fond of giving names to 
their shops, and these were at times somewhat amusing. I 
saw written over a cigar and tobacco shop which I frequently 
passed, “Au petit Fashionable;” over others, “ Au petite Ele¬ 
gance,” “ Au petit Cosmopolite,” &c. A little tinsmith’s shop, 
scarcely more than a couple of yards wide, and in front almost 
all window and door, had written over it, “ Au petit Espoir.” 
Over a confectioner’s shop was written, “Au Temple des 
Douces.” Other names were more strange and unexpected, 
