Narrative of a Voyage to India; of a Shipwreck on board the Lady Castlereagh; and a Description of New South Wales — John Shaqi
Narrative of a Voyage to India; of a Shipwreck on board the Lady Castlereagh; and a Description of New South WalesCramp, W. B.
History
Narrative of a Voyage to India; of a Shipwreck on board the Lady Castlereagh; and a Description of New South Wales
Cramp, W. B.
India -- Description and travel; Lady Castlereagh (Ship); New South Wales -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
The roads here are very bad, being principally jungle; their principal
cultivation is paddy (a kind of oats). On my arrival at Nundihall I
was determined to rest for a couple of days, as two of my servants
were in a very ill state of health. Nundihall is a beautiful town, the
houses are built of brick, and are generally from three to four
stories high; the streets were very dirty, owing to the number of
paddy fields that surround the city, as the growth of it requires that
the earth should be completely covered with water. The natives are
generally Hindoos and Moors. The town is surrounded by a high brick
wall.
After leaving the town of Nundihall the roads were very bad, owing to
the quantity of stones, and hills which were very steep and difficult
to ascend. On the roads I had several disputes with the natives
passing through Wuntimuttall, owing to my servants and the peons
stealing the toddy from the trees. Toddy is a liquor which is
extracted from the top veins of the cocoa-nut trees, which runs
continually into a pot placed for that purpose. The liquor is very
pleasant, and is reckoned very wholesome when drank early in the
morning in a small quantity; if drunk in the heat of the day it causes
acidity in the bowels, and often is the cause of the death of many
Europeans. The natives drink it continually, and often get quite
intoxicated with it.
We arrived at Cuddapah on the 21st instant; it is a large and
commodious town, and is inhabited by Mussulmen. Cuddapah is situated
N. W. of Madras, one hundred and fifty-one miles distant, and the
general estimate of inhabitants is at about two hundred thousand. The
principal houses are built of brick and the inferior ones of mud.
The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and
practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct
branches--belief in God, in his angels, in his scriptures, in his
prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and lastly, in God's
absolute decrees. The points relating to practice, are prayer with
washings, &c., alms, fasting, pilgrimages, and circumcision.
The Mahometans pray five times in twenty-four hours, viz.: in the
morning before sun-rise, when noon is past and the sun begins to
decline from the meridian, in the afternoon before sun-set, in the
evening after sun-set and before day is closed, and again in the
evening and before the watch of the night. They fast with great
strictness during the whole month of Ramadan, from the time the new
moon first appears, during which period they must abstain from eating,
drinking, and all other indulgences, from day-break till night or
sun-set.
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