he evening, and considered a great indulgence by the Natives. The
ice-men bring round both iced creams, and sherbet ices, in many varieties;
some flavoured with oranges, pomegranates, pine-apple, rose-water, &c.

They can produce ices at any season, by saltpetre, which is here abundant
and procured at a small price; but strange as it may appear, considering
the climate, we have regular collections of ice made in January, in most
of the stations in the Upper Provinces, generally under the
superintendence of an English gentleman, who condescends to be the
comptroller. The expenses are paid by subscribers, who, according to the
value of their subscription, are entitled to a given quantity of ice, to
be conveyed by each person's servant from the deposit an hour before
day-break, in baskets made for the purpose well wadded with cotton and
woollen blankets; conveyed home, the basket is placed where neither air
nor light can intrude. Zinc bottles, filled with pure water, are placed
round the ice in the basket, and the water is thus cooled for the day's
supply, an indulgence of great value to the sojourners in the East.

The method of collecting ice is tedious and laborious, but where labour is
cheap and the hands plenty the attempt has always been repaid by the
advantages. As the sun declines, the labourers commence their work; flat
earthen platters are laid out, in exposed situations, in square
departments, upon dried sugar-cane leaves very lightly spread, that the
frosty air may pass inside the platters. A small quantity of water is
poured into the platter; as fast as they freeze their contents are
collected and conveyed, during the night, to the pit prepared for the
reception of ice. The rising sun disperses the labourers with the ice, and
they seek their rest by day, and return again to their employ; as the lion,
when the sun disappears, prowls out to seek his food from the bounty of
his Creator. The hoar frost seldom commences until the first of January,
and lasts throughout that month.

'Roshunie'[51] (Ink).---Ink, that most useful auxiliary in rendering the
thoughts of one mortal serviceable to his fellow-creatures through many
ages, is here an article of very simple manufacture. The composition is
prepared from lampblack and gum-arabic; how it is made, I have yet to
learn.

The ink of the Natives is not durable; with a wet sponge may be erased the
labour of a man's life. They have not yet acquired the art of printing