it is related that a young midshipman, going to the bath-room and being
confronted by a bare interior with nothing but the big jar in the
middle of it, very naturally concluded that _this_ was the bath. He
quickly stripped and got into it; but once in he found it impossible to
get out again. After vain endeavours, he rolled the big jar over bodily,
and, smashing it on the floor, triumphantly emerged from the fragments.
His friends afterwards pointed out to him that there was a hand-bucket
there, and enlightened him as to its uses.
Breakfast consists of light breads, eggs, cold meat in thin strips, and
fruit, and is served about nine. After breakfast any serious business
should be accomplished before the great heat of the day sets in. At
12.30 rice-table (or tiffin) commences. This is a serious meal, and must
carry you on till eight o'clock in the evening. The first dish, or
rather series of dishes, is that from which the meal takes its
name--_rice-table_. In partaking of this the visitor first places some
boiled rice upon a soup plate, and then on the top of it as many
portions of some eight or ten dishes which are immediately brought as he
cares to take--omelette, curry, chicken, fish, macaroni, spice-pudding,
etc.; and, lastly, he selects some strange delicacies from an octagonal
dish with several kinds of prepared vegetables, pickled fish, etc., in
its nine compartments. After this comes a salad, some solid meat (such
as beefsteak), sweets, and fruit. Finger-glasses are always provided,
and one notices that the salt is always moist, and also that it is not
customary to provide spoons for that article. At four, or thereabouts,
tea is brought to your room. This serves to rouse you from your siesta,
and you then proceed (being by this time again in pyjamas) to take your
second bath. After that, European garments are worn, and it is cool
enough either for driving or walking. The dinner, which is served at
eight, is much like an ordinary _à la Russe_ dinner, except that there
are rather more small vegetable dishes than is customary elsewhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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