Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with Sketches of Anglo-Indian Society, 1. köideW.H. Allen and Company, 1835 |
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Common terms and phrases
acquainted afford Allahabad amid amongst amusement Anglo-Indian animals appearance attendants ayah bazaar bearers beauty belonging Benares Bengal Berhampore boats brahmins British budgerow bungalows Calcutta camels cantonments Cawnpore celebrated chillum Chinsurah cloth cold season consequence crowded dák distance district domestic Doorga dress elephants England English entertain establishment Etawah European exceedingly favourable female festival frequently Ganges ghaut ground handsome Hindoo Hindostan honour houses India inhabitants Jumna jungles kafila khansamah ladies Lucknow luxuriant magnificent ment military Monghyr Moosulman native nautch girls neighbourhood neighbouring night numerous object occasion officers ornaments Oude palanquin party Patna performed persons picturesque plain possess procured punkahs racter rains rank regiments render residents rich river rupees scarcely scene secure seen sepoys servants shew silver splendid splendour station tent thing tion tombs travellers trees upper provinces usually verandah village whole wild wind young
Popular passages
Page 316 - Yet, amid a very credulous and ignorant population, it is astonishing what success may be attained by an impostor, who is, at the same time, an enthusiast. It is such as to remind us of the couplet which assures us that " The pleasure is as great In being cheated as to cheat.
Page 184 - Delhi the opinions entertained upon the subject are widely, though secretly, circulated through the medium of the native ukhbars, scandalous chronicles very much resembling a few of our English newspapers, except that they are in manuscript ; the language is Persian, and the editors do not scruple to write at full length the names of those who are the subjects of the most atrocious libels. It is not very easy for an European to procure a sight of these animadversions upon the conduct of himself or...
Page 43 - The opinion entertained by the Princess Huncamunca respecting the expediency of short courtships seems to prevail. A gentleman, desirous to enter the holy pale, does not always wait until he shall meet with some fair one suiting his peculiar taste, but the instant that he hears of an expected arrival, despatches a proposal to meet her upon the road : this is either rejected in tola, or accepted conditionally ; and if there should be nothing very objectionable in the suitor, the marriage takes place.
Page 21 - ... proceeding, no doubt, at all times and in all places ; but one for which young women do not, it is to be feared, entertain quite so wholesome a horror as their mammas. ' Few opinions ' (this competent judge informs us) ' can be more erroneous than those which prevail in Europe upon the subject of Indian marriages. According to the popular idea, a young lady visiting the Honourable Company's territories is destined to be sacrificed to some old, dingy, rich, bilious nawaub, or, as he is styled...
Page 100 - ... take pleasure. In a hall paved with marble, supported by handsome stone pillars, and blazing with lights, sixty guests perhaps are assembled : punkahs wave above their heads ; and chowries, of various kinds, some of peacock's plumes, others of fleecy cowtails, mounted upon silver handles, are kept in continual agitation, to beat off the flies, by attendants beautifully clad in white muslin. At every third or fourth chair the hookah, reposing on an embroidered carpet, exhibits its graceful splendours...
Page 37 - There cannot be a more wretched situation than that of a young woman who has been induced to follow the fortunes of a married sister, under the delusive expectation that she will exchange the privations attached to limited means in England for the far-famed...
Page 309 - The office of strangler in these gangs is never allowed to be selfassumed ; but is conferred, with due ceremony, after the fitness of the candidate, in point of firmness, bodily strength, and activity, has been ascertained, and a sufficient degree of expertness in the use of the roomal...
Page 9 - Company's charter will in all probability send out, cannot fail to effect a striking change in the mercantile classes of Calcutta. Next to the jewellers' shops, the most magnificent establishment in the city is that of the principal bookseller, Thacker & Co. ; there are others of inferior note, which have circulating libraries attached to them ; but the splendid scale of this literary emporium, and the elegance of its arrangements, place it far above all its competitors. The profit obtained upon...
Page 37 - ... or into an inner room in a tent; she makes perhaps a third in a buggy, and finds herself always in the way ; she discovers that she is a source of continual expense ; that an additional person in a family imposes the necessity of keeping several additional servants, and that where there is not a close carriage she must remain a prisoner.
Page 185 - European to procure a sight of these animadversions upon the conduct of himself or his friends ; some artifice is requisite to obtain samples of the method employed to amuse the reading portion of the native community at the expense of persons differing so widely in the habits of their public and private life. As the writers are not very scrupulous in the language they use, there is not a little difficulty in making an extract, which will display the spirit of their comments, without shocking the...