DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0110
CHAP. IV.
FISH DIET.
75
natives of the new country we were entering,
and I declined their request. These men used to
kill game for us ; and were ever ready to anticipate
our wishes. Their honesty was unimpeachable ; we
never lost any thing in our progress through a
strange country, protected by strangers on whom
we had no tie, and who had been brought from the
fields to enter our service.
The natives of the neighbouring countries, and
the higher class of people in Sinde, have a singular
notion regarding the fish diet of the inhabitants.
They believe it prostrates the understanding; and,
in palliation of ignorance in any one, often plead
that " he is but a fish-eater." The lower order
of the Sindians live entirely on fish and rice ; and
the prevailing belief must be of an old date, as
they tell an anecdote of one of the Emperors of
Delhi who addressed a stranger in his court with
the question from whence he came: he replied,
from Tatta; and the king turned away his head.
The stranger, recollecting the prejudice against his
country, immediately rejoined that he was not a
" fish-eater." I am not prepared to state how far a
fish diet may affect the intellect of the Sindian, but
I certainly remarked the prolific nature of the food
in the number of children on the banks of the Indus.
The greatest fault which an European would find
with the people of Sinde is their filthy habits.
They always wear dark-coloured garments from
religious motives; but the ablutions of the Prophet
are little attended to. People must be in easy cir-
cumstances, I believe, or cease to feel want before
FISH DIET.
75
natives of the new country we were entering,
and I declined their request. These men used to
kill game for us ; and were ever ready to anticipate
our wishes. Their honesty was unimpeachable ; we
never lost any thing in our progress through a
strange country, protected by strangers on whom
we had no tie, and who had been brought from the
fields to enter our service.
The natives of the neighbouring countries, and
the higher class of people in Sinde, have a singular
notion regarding the fish diet of the inhabitants.
They believe it prostrates the understanding; and,
in palliation of ignorance in any one, often plead
that " he is but a fish-eater." The lower order
of the Sindians live entirely on fish and rice ; and
the prevailing belief must be of an old date, as
they tell an anecdote of one of the Emperors of
Delhi who addressed a stranger in his court with
the question from whence he came: he replied,
from Tatta; and the king turned away his head.
The stranger, recollecting the prejudice against his
country, immediately rejoined that he was not a
" fish-eater." I am not prepared to state how far a
fish diet may affect the intellect of the Sindian, but
I certainly remarked the prolific nature of the food
in the number of children on the banks of the Indus.
The greatest fault which an European would find
with the people of Sinde is their filthy habits.
They always wear dark-coloured garments from
religious motives; but the ablutions of the Prophet
are little attended to. People must be in easy cir-
cumstances, I believe, or cease to feel want before