The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-01-24
LIFE IN THE ORIENT.
The Warehouses of Dufferin Describes
Indian Dinner Party.

Indian Dinner Party.
Our first proceeding was to dress our
selves properly for this festival, and as
soon as we got to the house we were
taken into dressing room, were di-
vested of our own gowns, and were
draped in saris. Mine was most sue
cessful arrangement. The saris was
lovely, being made of a sort of silk
muslin with silver borders, and ] SUBJ
mitted entirely to the hands of the cos
tuner, so that when / was finished I
found myself in very pretty and cool
costume. We also put on little extra
jewelry, which was lent us, and pro-
ceeded to the dining-room. The floor
table was very large, for each person re-
quires a great space to dine in this
fashion; the cloth laid on the carpet
nearly filled the room, and on it were
candelabra and in front of each seat
from twenty-five to thirty little silver
bowls filed with all sorts of, to our
eyes, rather messy foods. One large
silver dish with pile Of rice in the
center of it was before each person. and
the edges of this we had to use instead
of ordinary plates.
Il was seated at the top OF the ''table''
BY myself, with velvet cushion behind
me, and / was afteYward much COMPILE
mented on the ease with which I man.
aged my dinner, seated like Buddha
on a mat. was told that I did it ''as
we'll as any Bengali," and that looked
like ''Hindo goddess" 1t was Diff
cult to eat, for the food had to be ma
nipulated gith unaided fingers, and yet
the dishes were of rather soft and
greasy kind, and some of them would
have required spoon rather than a
fork to lift them with, had either inn
plement been allowed. The native
ladies showed great dexterity in work.
ing up these savory morsels with the
dry rice, so as to form little balls,
but we were not equal to that, and
had to eat in much more untidy FASH
ion.
can scarcely tell you what the things
were, but there were very small por-
ticas of a great number of dishes, and
when one came to eatables which one
could recognize one found about twenty
samples of fruits ON the same plate. Two.
strawberries, two slices of cucumber,
two bits of tomato, few almonds, part
of a rose apple, bit of melon, pista-
chic nut etc.-homeopathic helpings OF
each variety. Then, in the way OF
sweets, there were dishes of all sorts Of
sugary cakes and cocoanut-paste fruits,
and bowls of sweet milky stuff with bits
of green nut floating in it. dipped
my greasy fingers into one dish after
another. and finally washed them in a
silver basin provided for the purpose.
We all enjoyed this dinner very much
and when it was over we received, in
addition to the wreaths Of flowers which.
already adorned our nec!xs and heads,
largo boquets, and piece of pan, to say
nothing of bits of spice handed around
in a silver vessel. Our hostess sweet
looking mother, pretty young sisters,
and sisters-in-law, talked to me in the
drawing room, while the band played
outside, and about 10 o'clock we took OF
our native costume and returned homo,
our hostess insisting upon presenting US
each with the saris We had worn.-Our-
viceregal Life in India. By the Ma-ch'
iouess Of Dufferin.