The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

Rs. 7 foi* about ] 68 lbs., or the equivalent of \'^ seers per rupee, 'file keep of a pony can be calculated on this basis with reference to the estimates for the Punjab, remembering that 3 seers should be sufficient per diem. All country produce is dear, and meat very bad. Mutton has to be imported from Madras; beef is tough, and people live largely on fowls. The seer is not used in Burmah ; the viss, a weight of about lbs., taking its place. Milk is about six bottles the rupee, and is often adulterated. Butter unobtain- able. Many people do not eat it, and when they do, have recourse to tinned butter fi-om England. In Rangoon good reliable milk can be obtained for children from the Lunatic Asylum. Vegetables are also imported from Madras and Calcutta. So is fruit. In fact, at first sight Burmah appears to be the last place on which the eye of annexation would be cast ! Still, it is said to be very beautiful, and life there very pleasant, when once the initial strangeness has worn off. The following are current prices of supplies translated into pounds: Mutton, 8 annas; fish, 6 annas; beef, 6 annas; goat’s flesh, 6 ann.as; fowls, 12 annas each; ducks, 1 rupee; potatoes, Ij annas; vegetables, 4^ annas. With these prices the authors wonder how the usual boarding contract of 1 rupee 8 annas to 2 rupees which prevails all over India can extend to Burmah. But it does. Nothing shows the lack of cai’e in housekeeping, which is so remarkable throughout the East, moie than the fact that with ever varying prices the authors have always to go back to the one old formula, “ Oh ! from thiee lo four rupees a clay for two people.” Certainly, if it can be done for this in Rangoon, it ought to be as much less in other parts of India as it undoubtedly is in the Punjab. Punkah coolies, being very dear, are seldom kept— the syce, or the gardener, when one is kept, pulling them for meals between the 15th March and the breaking of the south- west monsoon in June. wever, is never very great, are unknown. The rainy is a ceaseless pour for ten 3^ The Complete Indian or twelve weeks. During this time^ the weather-bound in- mates of the house amuse themselves in tiying to prevent their Lares and Penates from being reduced to a pulp. Upper Burmah is drier, and Mandalay is colder. Mosquitoes are numerous and obtrusive, and unless punkahs are kept going, must be endured till the veil of night (a mosquito net) falls between them and you. During the rainy season the greatest care should be taken, not only of your photographs, but of yourself, as the damp heat is most depressing and relaxing. In Rangoon itself there is, however, plenty of gaiety and amusement. Estimate for Monthly Household Expenditure in the Punjab and North-West Provinces for a Newly Married Couple. Rs. House rent fiO to 80 House servants . . , . . . . . 68 „ 70 Stable servants, two ... .... 11 Keep of one horse, including farrier, oil, and litter, M’ith grain at 20 seers per rujiee, and a ration of 3 seers . 9 Bazaar account for two people ..... 60 Charcoal and wood ....... 10 Bearers’ account, oil, matches, odds and ends . . 14 Furnishing house completely ...... 800 The prices of furniture ai’e the same as Madras ; if any- thing, cheaper.