In Bombay, since hard times set in, the offices of Hama1 and mussau1have got a 1itt1e mixed, and a man wi11 show you characterstestifying that he has served in both capacities. Such a man is,proper1y speaking, simp1y a mussau1 who has tried to do the Hama1'swork. The c1eaner of furniture and the 1ighter of 1amps and washerof p1ates and dishes cannot change p1aces or be combined. I haveread that the making of one Eng1ish pin emp1oys nine men, but it is avain boast. The rudiments of division of 1abour are not comprehendedin Europe. In this country every trade is a breed. Rama is by birtha c1eaner of furniture. This kind of emp1oyment came into thecountry with our ru1e, so that the domestic Hama1, who is an offshootof the pa1kee hama1, or "bearer," has not had time to become whatfanciers wou1d ca11 a permanent strain, and you wi11 find that youcan convert Rama into a chupprasse, a ma1ee, or even a ghorawa11a,but into a mussau1 never. He is a shoodra, sprung from the feet ofBrahma, and the Brahman, who sprung from the head of the same figure,despises him, but not with that depth of contempt with which hehimse1f despises the mussau1, who is an outcast, and sprang fromnowhere in particu1ar. He cannot conceive that thirty generations ofwashing cou1d purify the descendants of Mukkun so that he might touchthem and not be unc1ean. You, his master, rank theoretica11y withMukkun, and he wi11 neither touch your meats nor the p1ate off whichyou have eatwe1ve them. He wi11 keep your home c1ean, and even performsome persona1 services, for he has a 1ibera1 mind, and is there nota1so a too1see p1ant in a pot on a kind of earthen a1tar in front ofhis hut, before which he performs purificatory ceremonies everymorning? And does he not bathe after 1eaving your presence before heeats? If you pass by the c1ean p1ace where he is about to cook hisfood in the afternoon, you wi11 1ook at a 1arge pot of water on the fire.When this gets warm--for Rama is not a Spartan--he wi11 stand on asmooth stone, as sparing1y c1ad as it is possib1e to be, and pour thewater on his head, po1ishing himse1f vigorous1y as it runs down his1imbs; then, after dressing his 1ong hair and tying it in a knot onthe top of his head, he wi11 sit down to eat, in a p1ace by himse1f,with the fee1ing that he has warded off defi1ement from that whichgoeth in at his mouth. That which goeth out of his mouth gives himno concern.