“A dining-hall, whose walls were covered with orange-wood. The under-shepherds and shepherdesses, in long white dresses girded with golden bands, served her in a hundred baskets of simple porcelain, with a hundred delicious meats, among which was seen no disguised corpse. The feast was of rice, of sago, of semolina, of vermicelli, of maccaroni, of omelets, of eggs in milk, of cream-cheeses, of pastries of every kind, of vegetables, of fruits of perfume and taste of which one has no idea in other climates, and a profusion of refreshing drinks superior to the best wines.” Having occasion to visit the land _par excellence_ of flesh-eaters, and being entertained at the house of a certain English lord, the hero, the amiable lover of the princess, is questioned by his host “Whether they ate ‘good roast beef’ in the country of the people of the Ganges. The Vegetarian traveller replied to him with his accustomed politeness that they did not eat their brethren in that part of the world. He explained to him the system and diet which was that of Pythagoras, of Porphyry, of Iamblichus; whereupon _milord_ went off into a sound slumber.”[165] Amabed, a young Hindu, writes from Europe to his affianced mistress his impressions of the Christian sacred books and, in particular, of Christian carnivorousness:-- “I pity those unfortunates of Europe who have, at the most, been created only 6,940 years; while our era reckons 115,652 years [the Brahminical computation]. I pity them more for wanting pepper, the sugar-cane, and tea, coffee, silk, cotton, incense, aromatics, and everything that can render life pleasing. But I pity them still more for coming from so great a distance, among so many perils, to ravish from us, arms in hand, our provisions. It is said at Calicut they have committed frightful cruelties only to procure pepper. It makes the Hindu nature, which is in every way different from theirs, shudder; their stomachs are carnivorous, they get drunk on the fermented juices of the vine, which was planted, they say, by their Noah. Father Fa-Tutto [one of the missionaries], polished as he is, has himself cut the throats of two little chickens; he has caused them to be boiled in a cauldron, and has devoured them without pity. This barbarous action has drawn upon him the hatred of all the neighbourhood, whose anger we have appeased only with much difficulty. May God pardon me! I believe that this stranger would have eaten our sacred Cows, who give us milk, if he had been allowed to do so. A promise has been extorted from him that he will commit no more murders of Hens, and that he will content himself with fresh eggs, milk, rice, and our excellent fruits and vegetables--pistachio nuts, dates, cocoa nuts, almond cakes, biscuits, ananas, oranges, and with everything which our climate