The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-21
AN ASIATIC CREW.

Curious Habiliments, Manners and Gus
toms of an East Indian ships Crew.
I The British steamship Aston Hall,
which arrived here q few days & from
Liverpool with a cargo of salt and phos-
plate, now being unioaded at the Queen
and Crescent wharf. is the object of much
interest in the Third district at present.
[ The cause of the attraction is the crew OF
the vessel, one of the most unique seen
here for some time. cosmopolitan as New
Orleans rightfully claims to be. The sail
ors in question comprise forty-six Mo
hammedans, whose garments of white
cotton with red turbans for headgear con
4trast strongly with the copper colored
visages Of the wearers. The weather yes
terday was not particularly warm, and
the sight of the crew as they were at work
discharging the cargo in summer attire
was calculated to send Il chill down the
back of the most indifferent observer.
The peculiarities of the people, however,
are not confined exclusively to their dress,
but also apply to their habits and GUS
toms, which are even more markedly
singular. They eat no beef nor pork, and
all food consumed by them must be pre-
pared, cooked and served by people OF
their own race.
Two casks are employed by the ship
for this purpose. They fare principally
upon rice and curry, huge pots of which
are cooked daily for their USE, and served
with u~nyarying monotony for breakfast,
dinner and supper. The rice is boiled
pfter their own methods, and the curry
bounded in the primitive style Which
prevailed among them d Thousand years
| age. A queer idea with them is that the
OF the stranger is sacrilegious and
communicates their food, which would be
Immediately disdained if ever subjected
to the simple touch of any other race.
This also applies to their cooking uten-
sis and all cooking implements employed
by them. Sometimes for d change they
eat mutton, blu the sheep must be killed
by their butcher secretly, 80 that even
the eyeSof the Christian may not gaze
upon the slaughter.
With some tribes of the race the idea is
even carried still further, the shadow Of a
| Christian falling upon their food unfit
ting it for use. A visit to their quarters
ia Che forward end of the ship revealed
| the fact that, though cleanliness is one of
th~einjunctions of the Mohamnedan faith.
| they were %palpably ignorant of its desira-
bility for it's own sake. The room III
which they were gathered at the evening
meal was their sleeping quarters, and also
served as q smoking oom and pantry as
| revealed by portions of a quartered sheep,
which was suspended from the ceiling.
The air was heavy with the fumes of
| Tobacco SIlOke fOl " DcCulidL udfOI5 plO-
duced from ~cherootS, which such of the
sailors who had finished their evening
meal We're putting vigorously. Perhaps
one of the most curious features OF the
reporters visit was the sight of these peo-
pie at supper. Eight or ten men were
seated tailor fashion around a large basin
Of rice, in the centre of which was 81
curry sauce of about the consistency of
honey.
The Hindoostanese would dip his right
hand into the dish, nnmindful of table
etiquette, and, rolling up into q wad
about a handful of the rice, would flavor
it with a little curry and then transfer
the morsel TO his mouth. His neighbor
would then proceed to do likewise, until
the whole circuit was completed. The
INTERPRETER, who accompanied The re-
porter, stated that the men never used
the left hand in eating, and that before
and after each meal they cleaned their
mouths thoroughly.
They possess fine teeth, q distinguish
ing feature which is found even among
the aged. While the Mohammedan creed
enjoins that they shall offer PRAYER to
Allah four or five times a day, they have,
sailorlike, grown Indifferent to the strict
DEGREES of their religion. They are very
clearly, however, u battle every day,
no matter how cold the weather may be.
They are, of course, teetotahsts, it being
a breach of their religious faith to touch
the tempting arrac.
AS sailors, they were said to compare
~unfavorably with the English in proper
tions of four to one, aud IN cases of emeF-
gency two English sailors We're worth &
Boatload of them. This was due to thu
fact that they were faralists pure an6
simple, and that not hing could alter thu
mysterious workings of Allah. The Mo
hammedans speak only Hindoostanee
and were engaged at Bombay about thret
months ago, the agreement in shipping
articles being that they should be re
turned to shat port at the expiration O.
twelve months.
AT every new moon the Asiatics dance
and sing, their peculiar exercises being
held at sunrise and sunset.
This is the first trip of the steamship
Astor Hall to this port, having previ
ously been engaged in the Bombay tradl
from Iiverpool.-Nea0 orleans Times.