The whole of the Lilliputian assembly uttered their lesson as I
passed, all raising their voices at the same time, and rendering it, I
imagine, rather difficult to determine whether each pupil repeated his
or her part correctly.
I would fain have lingered for a few minutes, but my attendants
officiously showing the way, I walked across a paved yard and up two
flights of steps to the shop of which I came in search, which was kept
by a good-looking Parsee. The trade of this person was designated
as that of a _bottlee wallah_, which being literally rendered means
'bottle-fellow,' but, according to a more free translation, a dealer
in glass, lamps, candlesticks, preserved meats in tin-cases, &c. &c.
I found a vast stock of the articles most in request in Indian
housekeeping, such as wall-shades, and all descriptions of earthen and
hard-ware, all of which he sold at very moderate prices, but having
executed the part of my commission which related to candlesticks, I
was unable to find the more _recherche_ articles of which I came in
quest.
I had been told that a great variety of ornamental china, the real
product of the Celestial Empire, was to be seen in the native shops
in Bombay. Though showy in appearance, this sort of china is of little
value, except to mark how much the manufacture has degenerated since
Europeans have learned to make their own teacups.
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