ishman and the Indian as a rule naturally
gravitate into different compartments, not from mutual antipathy, but
because the habits of the two nations are so different that travelling
together makes practical difficulties.

The nature of some of these mutual difficulties may be indicated.
Indians are extremely particular about cleaning their teeth. But the
English custom of using a toothbrush, which is only renewed after a
period of uncertain duration, is looked upon by the Indian as a most
objectionable practice. To retain, and to carry about with you in your
bag an instrument which has been used for such a purpose, he feels to
be an indication of great want of refinement. His own "toothbrush" is
the first finger of his right hand, sometimes supplemented by a small
twig taken from a certain tree, which twig he throws away after the
operation. The process is carried out with immense energy, and it is
accompanied by alarming guttural sounds. The manipulator has with him
a brass vessel, from which he takes deep draughts of water, which he
squirts out again with great force. He generally chooses a public
place for this toilet operation, such as the front doorstep of his
house in a crowded street. The extraordinary publicity given to many
domestic matters, with which we are accustomed to associate the idea
of privacy, tries the feelings of the Englishman just as much as the
sensibilities of the Indian are shocked by the permanent toothbrush.

To the new-comer from England the dress of the average Indian woman
looks rather scanty. But, on the other hand, the skirts of English
ladies, sometimes trailing behind them, and possibly gathering up
unknown defilements, awaken in the Indian feelings of disgust.

No Hindu, of whatever rank, would ever think of taking food in his own
country except with his fingers. In serving rice and other food to
guests at a feast, the hand is always the agent used for the purpose.
Indian Christians, except the few who have become completely
Europeanised, rarely take their food in any other way. The arguments
used by an Indian in defence of the custom were reasonable. "We always
wash," he said, "before we eat, so we know that everybody's hand is
clean. And after the meal, before we go to other duties, we wash our
hands again. You, on the contrary," he went on to say, "eat with
spoons and forks which have been in the mouths of hundreds of
different people. You leave them to be cleaned by servants wh