Polynesian., 1852-04-17

\ Written for the Saturday Evening Post.
Mr.. EDITOR IL have read an extract from " A
Lady's Voyage Round the World" in which she
gives an account of the mode of living adopted by
the Missionaries in China, Persia and India, which,
whether designedly or not does make an impress
sion upon the mind of the reader the antipodes of
fthe truth. l will not refer you to the statements
of the Missionaries themselves but to other gentle
men, high-minded and honorable who have been
there.
In remarklng upon this tissue misrepresentation
| would at the outset say that would not require
more labor, mental and bodily, of man born in
cold CLINE, and transferred to hot one, than
would of that same man in the cold cline in which
he was born, and where he had lived to manhoods
age. Nor would require of him more work, or
more of the spirit of sefdenial, than of minister
or missionary in christian land, and sustained by
the comforts of civilized life.
The writer remarks that she had supposed that
the Missionaries had "forsook all personal IN
DILIGENCE; all conueniences and com forts of life
lired ,cith the people under one roof; ate out of
one dish, and so forth"
Mrs. p, by supposing that the Missionaries, or
any other class of persons, in going to India or
China should do so, shows at once her lack of good
Judgment or common sense in the case. She would
make most miserable physician, or nurse, thus to
prescribe to persons in the torrid and frigid, or
temperate zones, the same mode Of diatetics.
| What she means by "personat induig ence," I
know not. / know that the Missionaries dress
plainly, and to suit the climate where the ther-
mometer ranges from 20 to ITO the year round.
The clothing is such as they generally wear in
their native land in hot summer season. In a
great many cases, their clothing IS made at home,
and sent out to them. The Hindoo men in their
ordinary dress, wear little clothing. The great
mass of laboring men and women wear an under
garment made of muslin, some yard-and-a-half
wide and four or five yards long, which is wrapped
round and round the waist, in some cases hanging
down below the knees but, ordinarily tucked up.
The females wear, in addition, thin DRESS to sup
port the chest, with tight sleeves, and reaching
only to the elbow. About hands breath of the
waist is naked. The great mass of the laborers,
mechanics and shop-keepers at their work in their
shops, and at home in their houses, have no cloth
ing on the upper part of their person.-They shave
off all the hair of the head, and wear skull-caps,
and over them the pure all or turtan. In Bengal
multitudes of men and women, after their daily alb
lutions anoint their bodies with cocoa nut OIL
they are oiled froDhead to foot.
Would Madame Pfeifer recommend that all
Europeans and Americans should initiate the Hin
docs in the style of their dress. She is surprised
they do not do so. In the Mysore district, multi
tudes of the females have no clothing except the
garment described above. When they appear in
company they dress themselves In neat and clean
garments. And some few can afford to wear CASH
mere shawls, and garments more costly than the
millions among whom they dwell. remark again
that European gentlemen in India, of all classes.
dress very much in the same way they did when
at home, always seeking comfort in their dress.
This is emphatically true concerning the Mission
aries-when the Missionaries visit the officers of
Government, or are engaged In official duty, they
dress in black
AS to the palankeen beares it is their caste acork
to carry the palkee, and they do nothing else.
And it is no disgraceful for palkee-walla to
carry palkee, than it is for man in a store to
carry package of goods from the store home to
the purchaser 1t is DO more disgraceful than
threshing with the fail, nor as hard work.
These palankeen bearers sometimes do sleep un-
der the same roof with the Missionary, but they
generally go home to their families and return the
next day, if needed, as all good husbands should
do. The nurse, if there be one in the house.
sleeps under the same roof with her employer, and
on her own bed.
Madame P. also learned from books that the
Missionaries and their families eat out of dish,
Hindoo-like, without forks or spoons. But when
she went into the country, she made the wonderful
discovery that Europeans and Americans used
knives and forks, and spoons, and plates, and cups
and saucers, when they could get them, Just as
they did at home. Aye, more, they had their meals
on table, and not on the floor that each
child had its own plate cup, and in all respects
lived as>they did at home.
Did Madame Pfelffer eat rice and curry ct of
the same dish with Hindoo, or by herself, with
out the use of spoon, when she was in India?
Rice and curry is very good, but Missionaries
prefer spoon in eating it, to their fingers.
Madame P. found that the Missionaries lived
quite in the manner of opuent gentlemen. have
handsome houses, fitted up with every convenience
and luxury" Well, this may be so or not, just as
you institute the comparison As to the luxuries of
India, the two greatest, and which can seldom be-
obtained, are cool ,cater and cool air. AS to the
estaJles the Missionaries, it is true, have their
share. They get plantains for or cents doz
en- oranges, 2 or for cent; mangoes, of a
cent apiece dates, or cents pound; and so
with all the different kinds of fruits in the country
1t would be cheaper if they could live ,oihout eat
ing, but the doctors in India think that system of
regimen is not adapted to the climate, and hence
they adopt another course.
They have every convenience" says Madame
Up. Not always-for they can't always afford toI
get them. An American Mssionary's salary is
about $780, one-third that of Lieut. in the In
dian Service. Many of them live in one-story
houses, the floors raised about or feet above
the ground, and filled up with stones and clay, and
beaten down solid and covered with hard plaster
to keep the mongoose and white ants from coming
up through the floor; over this is placed Chinese
mating, which costs some 25 cents yard. Car
pets are soon destroyed by the ants, and are too
warm for use. In towns, the roofs are covered
with half-crcle clay tiles, burnt with rice chat
IN the country, the house are covered with straw,
or bamboo leaves. The caves OF these houses are
low, to keep out the heat. Where they have two
storied houses the Missionaries live up stairs and
have the lower part of the house for schoo-room,
or godown (ware-room.
But this is not all :-some Of the Missionanes
have fine, delightful beds, aye, magnificent, if you
choose, to1o2eep on. Not the downy feathers, torn