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Business & Management
Roser
“Brilliant insights regarding concepts of manufacturing systems for both practitioners
and academics”
—Dr. Masaru Nakano, Professor at Keio University, former manager of Toyota Central

"FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER" IN THE HISTORY OF MANUFACTURING

R&D Laboratories, Inc.
“What an incredible abundance of facts and information comprehensively gathered and
uniquely assembled. Its thorough production presents the fastest, best, and cheapest way to

"Faster, Better,
make each reader more knowledgeable”
—Dr. Stefan Bleiweis, Professor of International Management
“Roser links the progression of tools and processes from the Stone Age to emerging society
to division of labor far earlier than most other scholars. He illustrates the regular progression
of technology to improve productivity and closes with the future of work. Thought provoking
and a necessary addition to the library of those in industry today.”

Cheaper" in the
—Mark Warren, manufacturing engineer and amateur historian
The industrial revolution, mechanization, water and steam power, computers, and automation
have given an enormous boost to manufacturing productivity. “Faster, Better, Cheaper" in the
History of Manufacturing shows how the ability to make products faster, better, and cheaper
has evolved from the Stone Age to modern times. It explains how different developments over
time have raised efficiency and allowed the production of more and better products with less

History of Manufacturing
effort and materials, and hence faster, better, and cheaper. In addition, it describes the stories
of inventors, entrepreneurs, and industrialists and looks at the intersections among technolo-
gy, society, machines, materials, management, and–most of all–humans.
"Faster, Better, Cheaper" in the History of Manufacturing covers not only the technical
aspects (mechanization, power sources, new materials, interchangeable parts, electricity,
automation), but organizational innovations (division of labor, Fordism, Taylorism, Lean). Most
of all, it is a story of the people who invented, manufactured, and marketed the products. From the Stone Age to Lean
This essential book:
• Covers the entire history and evolution of “faster, better, and cheaper products” from
Manufacturing and Beyond
the Stone Age to modern times and beyond
• “Connects the dots” of the historic development to give an unique overarching view on

Christoph Roser
why and where we are now in manufacturing
• Includes insightful conclusions, lessons learned from the past, and an outlook into
the future
The effect of good or bad management on manufacturing is a recurring theme in many
chapters—This is a story of successes and failures. It is not only about technology but social
aspects. Ultimately, it is not a book about machines but about people!

K27519
ISBN-13: 978-1-4987-5630-3
90000

9 781498 756303
"Faster, Better,
Cheaper" in the
History of Manufacturing
From the Stone Age to Lean
Manufacturing and Beyond
"Faster, Better,
Cheaper" in the
History of Manufacturing
From the Stone Age to Lean
Manufacturing and Beyond

Christoph Roser

Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

A PRODUCTIVITY PRESS BOOK

·Hand axe by Michel-Georges Bernard and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

·Smith from “Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung”, around 1425.

·Girl working in an American textile mill 1910. Photo by Lewis Hine.

·Automotive spot welding factory. Image by KUKA Systems GmbH and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 Unported license.

·Ford Magneto Assembly Line 1913.

·Steam engine designed by James Watt. Image from Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 1885-1890.

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© 2017 by Christoph Roser

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Names: Roser, Christoph, author.

Title: “Faster, better, cheaper” in the history of manufacturing : from the
Stone Age to lean manufacturing and beyond / Christoph Roser.
Description: 1 Edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016003463 | ISBN 9781498756303
Subjects: LCSH: Manufacturing processes--History.
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A blind date on Valentine’s Day in Haymarket.
Contents
List of Figures...................................................................................... xiii
Preface..................................................................................................xvii
Acknowledgments................................................................................xxi

Chapter 1 Failure and Success in Manufacturing—The

General Motors–Toyota NUMMI Joint Venture............... 1

Section I  The Age of the Artisan

Chapter 2 The Stone Age...................................................................... 9

2.1 The First Manufacturing Technique—Cutting...........10
2.2 The Second Manufacturing Technique—Changing
Material Properties..........................................................13
2.3 The Third Manufacturing Technique—Joining..........14
2.4 The Fourth Manufacturing Technique—Coating......15
2.5 The Fifth Manufacturing Technique—Casting
and Molding.....................................................................17
2.6 The Sixth Manufacturing Technique—Forming........18
2.7 Manufacturing at the End of the Stone Age................19
Bibliography............................................................................... 20

Chapter 3 The Urban Revolution—The Emergence of Society........ 23

3.1 The Neolithic Revolution—From Nomadic
Hunters to Settled Farmers............................................24
3.2 Early Division of Labor—The Emergence
of the Artisan during the Bronze Age..........................26
3.3 At the Bottom of the Social Hierarchy—Slave
Labor and Its Supervision.............................................. 28
3.4 Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age....... 30
Bibliography................................................................................31

vii
viii • Contents

Chapter 4 Advances during Antiquity.............................................. 33

4.1 Breaking the Energy Constraint—Animal,
Water, and Wind Power................................................. 34
4.2 Accumulating Knowledge—Science
and Engineering Writings..............................................37
4.3 The First Standardization—The Harappan Culture.... 39
4.4 Imperial China................................................................ 44
4.5 The Roman Empire..........................................................52
Bibliography............................................................................... 60

Chapter 5 The Middle Ages in Europe.............................................. 63

5.1 The Rise of the Towns.................................................... 64
5.2 Agricultural Developments........................................... 66
5.3 Spread of Early Labor-Saving Technology.................. 68
5.4 The Role of Medieval Guilds..........................................70
5.5 The Putting-Out System.................................................76
Bibliography................................................................................78

Section II  The Industrial Revolution—

Manufacturing Gets Mechanized

Chapter 6 Early Modern Europe........................................................ 81

6.1 Manufacturing Technology...........................................82
6.2 Working Together—The Emergence
of the Manufactory..........................................................83
Bibliography............................................................................... 86

Chapter 7 Pioneers of a New Age—The Factory System.................. 87

7.1 The Arsenal of Venice—The Largest Industrial
Site in Europe of Its Time.............................................. 88
7.2 Ironmonger Ambrose Crowley
and the Economies of Scale............................................94
7.3 Potter Josiah Wedgwood—The Science
of Manufacturing Processes...........................................97
 Contents • ix

7.4 John Lombe’s Silk Mill in Derby—Mechanization

and Industrial Espionage..............................................102
7.5 Sir Richard Arkwright and the Cromford Cotton
Mill—Full-Scale Mechanization.................................106
7.6 The Montgolfier Paper Mill—Pioneer in Human
Relations..........................................................................110
Bibliography..............................................................................115

Chapter 8 Fire Is Stronger than Blood and Water—Steam Power....117

8.1 The Development of the Steam Engine......................117
8.2 The First Engineering Workshops—Matthew
Boulton and the Soho Manufactory........................... 122
8.3 Power Goes Mobile—Steam Powered Locomotion.... 127
8.4 Steel—A New Industry Based on Fire and Iron........130
8.5 The Invisible Industry—Chemicals............................133
Bibliography..............................................................................138

Chapter 9 Interchangeable Parts—The End of Filing

in Assembly..................................................................... 141
9.1 Honoré Blanc and French Musket Production..........144
9.2 Block Production at Portsmouth.................................151
9.3 The Unwilling Entrepreneur—Eli Terry’s
Wooden Clocks..............................................................159
9.4 Springfield and Harpers Ferry Armories—
The American System of Manufacturing...................161
9.5 What about Eli Whitney?.............................................172
Bibliography..............................................................................174

Chapter 10 Social Conflict................................................................. 177

10.1 Effect on Society.............................................................178
10.2 Destroy What Destroys You—Luddite Frame
Breaking..........................................................................181
10.3 Working Conditions in the Factories.........................184
10.4 Government Actions for the Workers........................189
Bibliography..............................................................................191
x • Contents

Section III  Modern Times—Mass

Production for the Masses

Chapter 11 Technological Advances................................................. 195

11.1 Infinite Power—Electricity...........................................196
11.2 New Manufacturing Technologies Based
on Electricity................................................................. 204
11.3 Plastics and Rubber...................................................... 207
11.4 Machine Technology.................................................... 209
11.5 Screwed—Reversible Fasteners....................................213
Bibliography..............................................................................214

Chapter 12 Science Meets Shop Floor............................................... 217

12.1 The Beginning of Manufacturing Management.......217
12.2 Frederick Winslow Taylor—The Father
of Scientific Management............................................ 222
12.3 Taylor’s Legacy...............................................................233
12.4 Further Progress in Scientific Management..............235
12.5 The Development of Time Studies—REFA
and MTM........................................................................239
Bibliography............................................................................. 243

Chapter 13 The Assembly Line and the Era of the Industrial

Empires............................................................................ 245
13.1 The First Assembly Lines—Consumer Products..... 246
13.2 Building an Industrial Empire—Mass
Production Needs Mass Selling...................................253
13.3 Sewing Machines, Typewriters, and the Bicycle
Craze................................................................................255
13.4 The Birth of the Automobile........................................259
13.5 The Father of Mass Production—Henry Ford
and His Model T........................................................... 263
13.6 The Flaws of Fordism and the Rise of GM.................275
Bibliography............................................................................. 280

Chapter 14 Centrally Planned Economies—War, Communism,

and Other Catastrophes.................................................. 283
14.1 World War I................................................................... 284
 Contents • xi

14.2 World War II................................................................. 286

14.3 Postwar Economic Miracles.........................................291
14.4 The Failed Experiment—Communism......................293
14.5 Communist Russia—Five-Year Plans for Chaos...... 294
14.6 Communist China—The Great Leap Forward
into the Great Famine.................................................. 299
Bibliography............................................................................. 303

Chapter 15 *Click* Let-Me-Do-This-for-You *Clack*—Computers

in Manufacturing............................................................ 305
15.1 Continuous Processing Industry................................ 306
15.2 Computer-Controlled Machine Tools....................... 307
15.3 The Helping Hand—Industrial Robots......................312
15.4 Computerized Production Planning..........................318
Bibliography..............................................................................322

Chapter 16 The Toyota Production System and Lean

Manufacturing................................................................ 325
16.1 The Founding of Toyota................................................327
16.2 Taiichi Ohno and the Toyota Production System.....332
16.3 The West Wakes Up...................................................... 340
16.4 Lean Manufacturing—The New Religion?................ 342
16.5 Gurus and Snake Oil Salesmen.................................. 345
16.6 What Else Happened besides Lean?........................... 347
Bibliography..............................................................................351

Section IV The Cutting Edge

Chapter 17 Where Are We Now?....................................................... 357

17.1 Significance of Manufacturing....................................359
17.2 Lessons Learned from History....................................361
17.3 The Big Potential: Decision Making.......................... 363
17.4 Need for Speed.............................................................. 367
17.5 Need for Flexibility....................................................... 369
17.6 Need for Labor Relations..............................................372
Bibliography..............................................................................373
xii • Contents

Chapter 18 Things to Come............................................................... 375

18.1 Three-Dimensional Printing........................................375
18.2 Downfall of the Automotive Industry........................378
18.3 Rise of Robotics............................................................. 382
18.4 The End of Work?......................................................... 385
Bibliography............................................................................. 388

Timelines.............................................................................................. 391
Index..................................................................................................... 393
About the Author................................................................................. 411
List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Artist image of a Homo habilis.................................................11

Figure 2.2 1.8-million-year-old Oldowan hand axe.................................12
Figure 2.3 Chauvet Cave paintings of horses............................................16
Figure 2.4 Venus of Dolni Vestonice..........................................................18
Figure 3.1 One of the oldest tools for grinding grain..............................25
Figure 3.2 Assyrian prisoners of war, around 700–692 BCE.................29
Figure 4.1 Diagram of a Persian windmill................................................35
Figure 4.2 Harappan weights from around 3000 BCE............................41
Figure 4.3 Map of the Indus Valley culture............................................. 43
Figure 4.4 Roman milling scene.................................................................53
Figure 4.5 Large bakery in Ostia Antica, Rome...................................... 54
Figure 4.6 Prefabricated Roman sarcophagus..........................................59
Figure 5.1 Depiction of a smith...................................................................65
Figure 7.1 Map of the Arsenal of Venice in 1797..................................... 90
Figure 7.2 Schematic of the material flow in the Arsenal of Venice......91
Figure 7.3 Engraving of Josiah Wedgwood...............................................97
Figure 7.4 Vittorio Zonca’s drawing of the spinning machine............104
Figure 7.5 John Lombe’s five-floor silk mill............................................105
Figure 7.6 Portrait of Sir Richard Arkwright..........................................107
Figure 7.7  ourtyard of Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford
C
Cotton Mill................................................................................108
Figure 8.1 James Watt.................................................................................119
Figure 8.2 Steam engine designed by James Watt................................. 120
Figure 8.3 Matthew Boulton.................................................................... 123

xiii
xiv • List of Figures

Figure 9.1 Water-raising machine with different gears.........................143

Figure 9.2 Tumbler for U.S. muskets around 1850.................................146
Figure 9.3  ven the walls of the Château de Vincennes near Paris
E
were not able to protect Blanc’s workshop located in its
dungeon.....................................................................................149
Figure 9.4 Portsmouth block mill shaping machine..............................156
Figure 9.5 Thomas Blanchard’s copying lathe........................................168
Figure 10.1  ddie Card, probably 10 years old, claims to be 12,
A
working in an American textile mill in 1910.....................188
Figure 11.1 The City of Light..................................................................... 200
Figure 12.1 Woman Walking Downstairs................................................221
Figure 12.2 Frederick Winslow Taylor.................................................... 222
Figure 13.1 Oliver Evans, the Watt of America...................................... 247
Figure 13.2 Overview of the first automatic flour mill......................... 248
Figure 13.3 Norton’s automatic can-making line, 1883........................252
Figure 13.4 The high wheel and the safety bicycle................................ 258
Figure 13.5 Bertha Benz, first long-distance driver...............................261
Figure 13.6 Henry Ford and his Model T in 1921................................. 265
Figure 13.7 The test track on the roof of the Fiat Lingotto plant........ 267
Figure 13.8 Ford magneto assembly line in Highland Park, 1913...... 268
Figure 14.1 We Can Do It!......................................................................... 287
Figure 14.2 Training within Industry Job Methods card..................... 290
Figure 14.3 Propaganda photo of Alexei Stakhanov............................. 298
Figure 15.1 Unimate robot produced under license by Kawasaki.......314
Figure 15.2 The first articulated robot with six axes..............................315
Figure 16.1 Sakichi Toyoda, king of inventors....................................... 328
Figure 16.2 Taiichi Ohno...........................................................................333
Figure 17.1 RFID chip............................................................................... 369
 List of Figures • xv

Figure 18.1 Example of a 3-D-printed part.............................................376

Figure 18.2 Google self-driving vehicle prototype................................ 382
Figure 18.3 Autonomous humanoid robot by team IHMC................. 384
Figure A.1  imeline of events corresponding to the chapters
T
in Section I................................................................................391
Figure A.2 Timeline of events corresponding to the chapters
in Sections II and III.............................................................. 392
Preface

Manufacturing: Originated in Middle French, from Medieval Latin man-

ufactura, which originated from Latin manu for hand and factus for make.
First Known Use: 1567. (1) The act or process of producing something;
(2) the process of making wares by hand or by machinery especially when
carried on systematically with division of labor; (3) a productive industry
using mechanical power and machinery.

“manufacturing” Merriam-Webster.com, 2016

MY GRANDPARENTS’ WORKSHOP
As a child, I was frequently playing in my grandfather’s workshop. My
grandfather, Hermann Kurz, was a silversmith in Schwäbisch Gmünd,
southern Germany, and his workshop was a six-year old’s dream. In every
corner, there was something new to discover. Many large machines were
powered by a belt from an overhead shaft that was driven by an electric
motor, which I never got to work. Tools and parts were in every corner.
A bag of close to 50 lion paw-shaped silver feet for teapots was collect-
ing dust in one corner, and a box of long out-of-date nonmetric screws in
another corner, mixed with a generous amount of parts for candleholders
everywhere. However, what amazed me the most was his large collection
of hammers. More than 400 different hammers were hanging in special
cabinets. These hammers had all kinds of heads you could imagine for dif-
ferent purposes that were a mystery to me, and sizes ranging from so big
that I could barely lift it to tiny hammers probably more suited to a clock-
maker. A modern hardware store would probably have fewer hammers
than my grandfather’s workshop. Overall, my grandfather was a skilled
silversmith, and his workshop was a child’s dream.
My grandmother, Emilie Kurz, on the other hand, chose the most
unusual profession for a woman who was born during World War I. She
was a fully trained Meisterin (master craftswoman) for galvanization, a
craft that involved acids, poisons, and (back then very modern) electricity,
xvii
xviii • Preface

combined with shiny, polished gold and silverware. These dangerous com-
ponents were probably the main reason why I was never allowed to play
in her workshop. She was the first and, for a long time, the only female
master craftswoman in galvanization far and wide and one of the very few
women of her time with any kind of technical master craftsman degree.
I visited her workshop only once and was struck by the radical differ-
ence compared to my grandfather’s workshop. Her workshop was very
organized and clean. There were no random things lying around. The few
things that were in the workshop had the feel that they were placed there
on purpose, rather than the chaotic placement of my grandfather’s work-
shop. Overall, it was very boring for a six-year old.
Just as their workshops differed, so did their working styles. My grand-
father enjoyed tinkering with metal and making stuff, while my grand-
mother’s goal was to make money. It was my grandmother who ran the
family business and made sure my grandfather’s tinkering also turned
a profit. Especially during the hard times during World War II and the
devastation afterward, my family was starving frequently. Back then, my
grandmother provided most of the income. She spoke some English—
another thing unusual in Germany for her time—and therefore was able
to do business with the American soldiers, when about 15,000 were sta-
tioned in the area of Schwäbisch Gmünd after World War II. American
GIs were pretty much the only people with some purchasing power after
the German reichsmark lost its value. For the soldiers interested in buy-
ing silverware, my grandmother was the only silversmith in the area
who spoke English. Hence, she soon attracted lots of business. My fam-
ily accepted nearly any form of payment. The U.S. dollar was, of course,
much preferred over the near-worthless reichsmark, but she also bartered
her goods for Pall Mall cigarettes, Hershey’s chocolate, Maxwell coffee, or
anything else a GI could get his hands on.
While the Americans had much more purchasing power than Germans
after the war, they were still common soldiers. Like in most wars, the men
crawling through the dirt and dying in combat were usually not from the
wealthy upper class. Hence, the real money was elsewhere. My grand-
mother found out that the British upper class also liked silverware. Yet, sil-
ver goods in Britain were taxed with a punitive luxury tax. Therefore, the
British gentry loaded up on tax-free silverware during their holiday visits
to the English-speaking Mediterranean island of Malta. Again, my grand-
mother, with her English skills, was able to get into business with jewel-
ers in Malta’s capital, Valetta. British silverware was usually made from
 Preface • xix

Sterling silver, containing 92.5% silver. Common German silverware, on

the other hand, contained only 83.5% silver. Hence, German goods con-
tained about 10% less silver and were therefore about 10% cheaper. Even
though my grandparents’ goods were clearly marked as 835 silver, British
vacationers bought them just the same. Soon my family was preparing
weekly shipments of silverware to Malta, which quickly turned into the
most significant source of income and helped us to put food on the table
after the war.
Since my childhood, I have learned much about manufacturing sys-
tems and Lean manufacturing. Hence, I now understand that while my
grandfather was a skilled silversmith, my grandmother was a much better
manufacturer. She wasted no effort or material, did not indulge in a large
number of tools (who in the world needs 400 hammers?), had her work-
shop clearly structured, and was intensely focused on turning her work
into money. In my view, manufacturing without the intent to make money
is just a hobby, not a profession.
This book is not about hobbies; it is about making money through man-
ufacturing. Industry is on a never ending quest to produce faster, better,
and cheaper. The book shows how different developments over time raised
efficiency and allowed production of more with less effort and materials.
This brought us a large part of the wealth and prosperity we enjoy today.
Whenever possible, the stories of real inventors and industrialists are told,
including not only their successes but also their problems and failures. The
effect of good or bad management on manufacturing is a recurring theme
in many chapters, as is the fight for intellectual property. This is not only
a story of successes but also about failures; not only about technology but
also about social aspects. It is not a book about machines but about people!
Acknowledgments
It took me almost a decade to write this book about the history of manu-
facturing. However, this book would not have been possible without the
help of many others. Throughout my career, I was lucky to have many
different mentors who went above and beyond their duty to help me. For
this, I thank my mentors Professor Dr. Ernst Kühner, Professor Dr. David
Kazmer, Professor Dr. Masaru Nakano, and Dr. Gernot Strube.
In the process of writing this book, I also received much helpful feedback
from reviewers. Hence, I would like to thank Christoph Albrecht, Werner
Bergholz, Stefan Bleiweis, Karl-Ludwig Blocher, Machiko Hoshino-Roser,
David Kazmer, Roland Kurz, Hartmut Lorentzen, Masaru Nakano, Anke
Roser, Jochen Roser, Cheong Tsang, and many more for their valuable
input. I also thank Manisha Rath for her dedication in organizing my
notes.
As it turns out, writing a book is one thing; getting it published is another.
Hence, I also thank Mark Warren for making the connection to CRC Press
and pointing out some juicy bits of history. I would like to thank my agent,
Maryann Karinch, and the acquiring editor at Productivity Press, Michael
Sinocchi, for sorting out the details of the publishing contract.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents and my beloved wife for their
support.

xxi
1
Failure and Success in Manufacturing—
The General Motors–Toyota
NUMMI Joint Venture

I’m part of the team; I don’t have a team. Let people maintain their own
personality.

Rick Madrid
Team leader at NUMMI

The General Motors (GM) Fremont plant, around 1980, was one of the
worst automotive plants ever to operate in the United States (Womack 1990,
p. 81). Even the United Auto Workers (UAW) union representatives—who
rarely see problems with its members—considered Fremont to have the
worst workforce ever (Siegel 2010). A host of problems plagued it, mostly
stemming from very low morale of the employees.
The quality of GM was already mediocre at best, but the quality of the
vehicles produced in Fremont was the worst within GM (Shook 2010).
Workers intentionally sabotaged many vehicles. For example, empty cola
bottle caps were left in the doors with the sole purpose to annoy the cus-
tomer through its clanking sound. Or worse, half-eaten tuna sandwiches
were welded in (Childress 2013, p. 219). Cars were intentionally scratched.
Screws on safety-critical parts were deliberately left loose. The employees
wanted to hurt the company by hurting the customer.
Even if the workers tried to produce quality products, the system worked
against them. The most important rule in the Fremont plant was to never,
ever stop the assembly line. Even in the case of accidents, the line did not
stop. Hence, all problems were simply pushed downstream, resulting in
miserable quality at the end of the line. Sometimes, engines were installed

1
2 • “Faster, Better, Cheaper” in the History of Manufacturing

backward; other cars had brakes or steering wheels missing. Some cars
would be half of one model and another half of a completely different
model. Many cars arrived at the end of the line incomplete or defective,
unable to drive, and they had to be towed (Glass 2010).
All kinds of illegal activities were also readily available within the plant.
Sex, drugs, and gambling were widespread. A large part of the workforce
was drunk, if they showed up at all. On an average day, one out of five
people simply did not show up, with Mondays being considerably worse.
Yet, the assembly line must not stop. Some days, when there were too few
people to start the line, management simply hired people from the bar
across the street on the spot so they could start the line. Of course, this
worsened quality even more (Siegel 2010).
People hated working there, yet due to a lack of alternatives, they had to
stay with their secure jobs. The only thing they did with enthusiasm was
quarrel and fight. Both workers and management were constantly occupied
with disputes, mostly through formal grievances, even for minor disagree-
ments. Strikes, including wildcat, strikes were common. Management did
not help either by belittling and micromanaging its workers.
Finally, GM had enough and put this sorry excuse of a plant out of its
misery. The plant closed in March 1982, and 5000 people lost their jobs
with only three weeks’ notice (Turner 1990).
Two years later, the plant reopened as a Toyota–GM joint venture named
New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., better known as NUMMI.
Production restarted in the same buildings as the old Fremont plant
(adding only a stamping plant). The manufacturing technology was also
not much different (Adler, Goldoftas, and Levine 1998). Incredibly, they
rehired mostly former employees of the old Fremont plant. With virtually
the same machines, materials, and manpower, it looked like NUMMI was
destined to repeat the previous miserable manufacturing system.
To everybody’s surprise, the plant turned out to be the best automotive
plant in the United States. Quality by far exceeded that of any other GM
plant. In fact, quality exceeded that of any other U.S. automotive plant and
was very close to the then-legendary quality of the Toyota plants in Japan.*
Productivity also soared, and the new NUMMI plant produced almost

* Quality is usually measured in defects per 100 vehicles. In 1992, the average U.S. automotive maker
had 136 defects per 100 vehicles. European cars were even worse with 158. Japan was far ahead
with only 105 defects per 100 vehicles (not only Toyota but all Japanese carmakers). NUMMI, with
only 83 defects per 100 vehicles, reached quality levels similar to those of Toyota (Adler 1995).
Failure and Success in Manufacturing—GM–Toyota NUMMI Venture • 3

twice as many vehicles with the same labor force as before.* The cost per
vehicle was reduced by $750 (Keller 1989, p. 130). Even employee morale,
previously the biggest handicap to success, reached amazingly high levels.†
Absenteeism, previously at 20%, reached very low levels, below 3%. Annual
employee turnover was also less than 6% (Adler 1995). Many workers, for
the first time in their lives, enjoyed coming to work.
What happened? What turned the pathetic old Fremont plant into the
stellar outperforming NUMMI plant, and that with the same workforce,
to boot?
Toyota changed the culture in the plant. The manufacturing system
used the same hardware, but the software of running a manufacturing
system was very different. Toyota was able to implement its highly success-
ful Toyota Production System at NUMMI. There were too many changes
to list them all here, but probably the biggest change was that Toyota
worked with the workers, not against them. Toyota treated its workers
with respect, valued their input, and not only allowed but even encour-
aged them to make decisions related to their workplace. While Fremont
was based on conflict, NUMMI was based on teamwork, and everybody
was treated with respect and fairness.
Another major difference was the focus on quality. At Fremont, the
quality control department checked quality after production. At NUMMI,
every worker was responsible for quality. At Fremont, the most important
rule was to never, ever stop the assembly line. At NUMMI, workers not
only were allowed to stop the line, they even had to stop the line if there
was a quality problem. As a result, Fremont needed 12% of its space for
rework, whereas NUMMI used only 7% (Keller 1989, p. 132).
The hiring of new employees also received much more significance.
On average, NUMMI personnel spent 35 hours with every potential new
employee during the hiring process. This was not only to find good employ-
ees but also to instill a sense of importance into the potential employees
(Keller 1989, p. 132). In comparison, Fremont sometimes simply picked up
new temporary employees in the bar across the street.

* The old Fremont plant needed 29.1 salaried hours per produced vehicle, and the comparable GM
Framingham plant needed 30.8. NUMMI required only 19.6 hours per vehicle, comparable to
the best plants of the world, for example, the Toyota Takaoka plant in Japan, with 18.0 hours
per vehicle. Note that the NUMMI workforce on average was 10 years older than the Takaoka
workforce (Adler 1995). Inventory levels were also reduced from two weeks at Fremont to two days
at NUMMI, while Takaoka had only two hours’ worth of inventory (Womack 1990, p. 81ff).
† Worker satisfaction in 1991 was very high at 90%. Similarly, satisfaction with job security reached

89% in 1991 (Adler 1995).

4 • “Faster, Better, Cheaper” in the History of Manufacturing

There were many other changes. For example, the workers’ assignments
were more flexible, as the number of job categories was reduced from
183 to 4. There was a strong focus on reducing waste and streamlining
the manufacturing process. Floor space was used much more efficiently
(Keller 1989, p. 129). Many things were done differently, creating a new
superior manufacturing system that made NUMMI the best automotive
plant in America.
One of the goals of GM in this joint venture was to learn the secret of
Toyota. They wanted to understand the magic with which the Japanese
produced superior cars at lower cost. Only, there was no secret. It was
respect, common sense, and hard work to improve lots of little details.
GM wanted to apply the learnings from NUMMI to its other plants.
Except, they did not get it. They did not get it at all. The former Fremont
plant had a culture of oppression, threats, and distrust. NUMMI was
based on respect, trust, and teamwork. However, GM management used
the only management style they knew and wanted to force and bully their
employees at other plants into trusting them. Incredibly, they set up a com-
petition between two plants, Van Nuys near Los Angeles and Norwood in
Cincinnati. The loser would be shut down.
Unsurprisingly, this trust me or get fired approach did not work. From
the beginning, most employees were highly suspicious about this new
NUMMI thing. Union representatives of these plants called it the most
dangerous scheme ever conjured up by GM to rob workers of their union.
They were suspicious that all of this was just a tool for layoffs. Actually,
they were right, as GM indeed wanted to reduce the headcount by 25%
(Keller 1989, p. 137f). Norwood rejected the NUMMI approach altogether,
and nothing was implemented. Van Nuys reluctantly played along, but
their heart was never in it.
Van Nuys mechanically implemented many of the successful approaches
at NUMMI, but without the trust of the workers, these did not work. For
example, the ability to stop the line soon led to the line being stopped
so often that both productivity and quality declined (Keller 1989, p. 139).
Both management and employees resisted the change, and any ideas con-
nected with NUMMI often met stiff resistance in other plants simply
because it was from NUMMI.
This lack of understanding and disinterest also extended to the upper
management. A Toyota manager said that GM understood the changes
as far as the hardware and the plant layout are concerned. But I’m afraid
that GM upper management doesn’t understand the basic concept (Inkpen
Failure and Success in Manufacturing—GM–Toyota NUMMI Venture • 5

2008). Toyota executives visiting NUMMI were very interested in the

details on the shop floor. GM executives, on the other hand, did a five min-
ute fly-by, looking for a magic bullet that they can delegate others to imple-
ment in other plants. A GM boardroom meeting on the secret of NUMMI
drew on 25 studies and lots of data but resulted only in a huge discussion
without any conclusion (Keller 1989, p. 142).
Toyota, on the other hand, learned successfully how to work with U.S.
unions (Clarke 2002), preparing them for further ventures into U.S.-based
Toyota plants. They also kept their NUMMI graduates in larger groups of
30 to 60 people, whereas GM diluted their impact by having them fight the
GM culture in other plants alone (Finkelstein 2004). Toyota also proved
that the Toyota Production System is not dependent on the Japanese culture
but can also be successfully applied in other countries. Nowadays, Toyota
has plants in more than 20 countries (Reingold 1999, p. 64) and produces
in excess of 50% of all Toyota vehicles outside of Japan (Marsh 2012, p. 56).
At GM, Van Nuys eventually won the deplorable competition, and GM
closed Norwood in 1987. However, Van Nuys did not have much time to
enjoy its victory, as GM also closed it only five years later in 1992.
Overall, GM learned little. Especially, top management resisted the
change. While GM did improve some aspects eventually (Sato 2008,
p. 255), it was not enough to turn things around. In 2009, GM had the big-
gest bankruptcy in U.S. history, costing taxpayers $50 billion (Siegel 2010).
Toyota, on the other hand, became the largest carmaker in the world and
is highly profitable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, P.S., 1995. Democratic Taylorism: The Toyota Production System at NUMMI, in:
Lean Work: Empowerment and Exploitation in the Global Auto Industry. Wayne State
University Press, Detroit, MI.
Adler, P.S., Goldoftas, B., Levine, D.I., 1998. Stability and Change at NUMMI, in: Between
Imitation and Innovation: Transfer and Hybridization of Production Models in the
International Automobile Industry. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Childress, J.R., 2013. Leverage: The CEO’s Guide to Corporate Culture. Principia Associates,
London.
Clarke, C., 2002. Forms and Functions of Standardisation in Production Systems of the
Automotive Industry: The Case of Mercedes-Benz (Doctoral). Freie Universität
Berlin, Berlin.
Finkelstein, S., 2004. Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their
Mistakes. Portfolio, New York.
6 • “Faster, Better, Cheaper” in the History of Manufacturing

Glass, I., 2010. “NUMMI.” This American Life. Radio broadcast from Public Radio
International.
Inkpen, A.C., 2008. Knowledge Transfer and International Joint Ventures: The Case of
NUMMI and General Motors. Strategic Management Journal 29, 447–453. doi:10​
.1002/smj.663.
Keller, M., 1989. Rude Awakening: The Rise Fall and Struggle for Recovery of General Motors.
William Morrow & Co, New York.
Marsh, P., 2012. The New Industrial Revolution. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Reingold, E.M., 1999. Toyota—A Corporate History. Penguin, London.
Sato, M., 2008. The Toyota Leaders: An Executive Guide. Vertical, New York.
Shook, J., 2010. How to Change a Culture: Lessons from NUMMI. MIT Sloan Management
Rev. 51(2), 63–67.
Siegel, R., 2010. “The End of the Line for GM–Toyota Joint Venture.” All Things Considered.
Radio broadcast from National Public Radio.
Turner, L., 1990. NUMMI—Japanische Produktionskonzepte in den USA. Articles
and Chapters. In M. Muster & U. Richter (Eds.), Mit Vollgas in den Stau:
Automobilproduktion, Unternehmensstrategien und die Perspektiven eines ökolo-
gischen Verkehrssystems, 78–87, VSA-Verlag, Hamburg, Germany.
Womack, J.P., 1990. The Machine That Changed the World: Based on the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology 5-Million-Dollar 5-Year Study on the Future of the Automobile.
Later Printing. Scribner, Rawson Associates, New York.
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The four troops of the 16th Lancers, from the ‘Ely,’ disembarked,
and encamped on the glacis of Fort William; the ‘General Hewitt,’
with the remainder of the regiment, did not arrive until six weeks
afterwards, having watered at the Cape.
Calcutta has been styled the City of Palaces, and it well deserves
the name. The Government House stands on the Maidān, near the
river; the city, and St. Andrew’s Church, lie behind it; to the left is
that part called Chowringhee, filled with beautiful detached houses,
surrounded by gardens; the verandahs, which generally rise from
the basement to the highest story, give, with their pillars, an air of
lightness and beauty to the buildings, and protecting the dwellings
from the sun, render them agreeable for exercise in the rainy
season.
The houses are all stuccoed on the outside, and seem as if built of
stone. The rent of unfurnished houses in Chowringhee is very high;
we gave 325 rupees a month for ours, the larger ones are from 4 to
500 per month.
The style of an Indian house differs altogether from that of one in
England.
The floors are entirely covered with Indian matting, than which
nothing can be cooler or more agreeable. For a few weeks, in the
cold season, fine Persian carpets, or carpets from Mirzapore are
used. The windows and doors are many; the windows are to the
ground, like the French; and, on the outside, they are also protected
by Venetian windows of the same description. The rooms are large
and lofty, and to every sleeping-apartment a bathing-room is
attached. All the rooms open into one another, with folding-doors,
and pankhās are used during the hot weather. The most beautiful
French furniture was to be bought in Calcutta of M. de Bast, at
whose shop marble tables, fine mirrors, and luxurious couches were
in abundance. Very excellent furniture was also to be had at the
Europe shops, made by native workmen under the superintendence
of European cabinet and furniture makers; and furniture of an
inferior description in the native bazaars.
On arriving in Calcutta, I was charmed with the climate; the
weather was delicious; and nothing could exceed the kindness we
experienced from our friends. I thought India a most delightful
country, and could I have gathered around me the dear ones I had
left in England, my happiness would have been complete. The
number of servants necessary to an establishment in India, is most
surprising to a person fresh from Europe: it appeared the
commencement of ruin. Their wages are not high, and they find
themselves in food; nevertheless, from their number, the expense is
very great.

The Sircar.
A very useful but expensive person in an establishment is a sircar;
the man attends every morning early to receive orders, he then
proceeds to the bazaars, or to the Europe shops, and brings back for
inspection and approval, furniture, books, dresses, or whatever may
have been ordered: his profit is a heavy per centage on all he
purchases for the family.
 SIRCAR.

‎‫‏فاني پارکس‏‬‎

One morning our sircar, in answer to my having observed that the

articles purchased were highly priced, said, “You are my father and
my mother, and I am your poor little child: I have only taken two
annas in the rupee, dustoorie.”
This man’s language was a strong specimen of Eastern hyperbole:
one day he said to me, “You are my mother, and my father, and my
God!” With great disgust, I reproved him severely for using such
terms, when he explained, “you are my protector and my support,
therefore you are to me as my God.” The offence was never
repeated. The sketch of “the sircar” is an excellent representation of
one in Calcutta: they dress themselves with the utmost care and
most scrupulous neatness in white muslin, which is worn exactly as
represented; and the turban often consists of twenty-one yards of
fine Indian muslin, by fourteen inches in breadth, most carefully
folded and arranged in small plaits; his reed pen is behind his ear,
and the roll of paper in his hand is in readiness for the orders of the
sāhib. The shoes are of common leather; sometimes they wear them
most elaborately embroidered in gold and silver thread and coloured
beads. All men in India wear mustachoes; they look on the bare
faces of the English with amazement and contempt. The sircar is an
Hindoo, as shown by the opening of the vest on the right side, and
the white dot, the mark of his caste, between his eyes.
Dustoorie is an absolute tax. The durwān will turn from the gate
the boxwallas, people who bring articles for sale in boxes, unless he
gets dustoorie for admittance. If the sāhib buy any article, his sirdar-
bearer will demand dustoorie. If the mem sāhiba purchase finery,
the ayha must have her dustoorie—which, of course, is added by the
boxwalla to the price the gentleman is compelled to pay.
Dustoorie is from two to four pice in the rupee; one anna, or one
sixteenth of the rupee is, I imagine, generally taken. But all these
contending interests are abolished, if the sircar purchase the article:
he takes the lion’s share. The servants hold him in great respect, as
he is generally the person who answers for their characters, and
places them in service.
It appeared curious to be surrounded by servants who, with the
exception of the tailor, could not speak one word of English; and I
was forced to learn to speak Hindostanee.
To a griffin, as a new comer is called for the first year, India is a
most interesting country; every thing appears on so vast a scale,
and the novelty is so great.
In December, the climate was so delightful, it rendered the
country preferable to any place under the sun; could it always have
continued the same, I should have advised all people to flee unto
the East.
My husband gave me a beautiful Arab, Azor by name, but as the
Sā’īs always persisted in calling him Aurora, or a Roarer, we were
obliged to change his name to Rajah. I felt very happy cantering my
beautiful high-caste Arab on the race-course at 6 a.m., or, in the
evening, on the well-watered drive in front of the Government
House. Large birds, called adjutants, stalk about the Maidān in
numbers; and on the heads of the lions that crown the entrance
arches to the Government House, you are sure to see this bird (the
hargilla or gigantic crane) in the most picturesque attitudes, looking
as if a part of the building itself.
The arrival of the 16th Lancers, and the approaching departure of
the Governor-general, rendered Calcutta extremely gay. Dinner
parties and fancy balls were numerous; at the latter, the costumes
were excellent and superb.
Dec. 16th.—The Marquis of Hastings gave a ball at the
Government-house, to the gentlemen of the Civil and Military
Services, and the inhabitants of Calcutta; the variety of costume
displayed by Nawābs, Rajahs, Mahrattas, Greeks, Turks, Armenians,
Mussulmāns, and Hindoos, and the gay attire of the military,
rendered it a very interesting spectacle. Going to the ball was a
service of danger, on account of the thickness of one of those
remarkable fogs so common an annoyance during the cold season at
the Presidency. It was impossible to see the road, although the
carriage had lights, and two mashalchees, with torches in their
hands, preceded the horses; but the glare of the mashals, and the
shouts of the men, prevented our meeting with any accident in the
dense cloud by which we were surrounded.
Palanquins were novel objects; the bearers go at a good rate; the
pace is neither walking nor running, it is the amble of the biped, in
the style of the amble taught the native horses, accompanied by a
grunting noise that enables them to keep time. Well-trained bearers
do not shake the pālkee. Bilees, hackeries, and khraunchies, came in
also for their share of wonder.
So few of the gentry in England can afford to keep riding-horses
for their wives and daughters, that I was surprised, on my arrival in
Calcutta, to see almost every lady on horseback; and that not on
hired hacks, but on their own good steeds. My astonishment was
great one morning, on beholding a lady galloping away, on a fiery
horse, only three weeks after her confinement. What nerves the
woman must have had!
Dec. 16th.—The Civil Service, the military, and the inhabitants of
Calcutta, gave a farewell ball to the Marquis and Marchioness of
Hastings, after which the Governor-general quitted India.
On Christmas-day the servants adorned the gateways with hārs,
i.e. chaplets, and garlands of fresh flowers. The bearers and
dhobees brought in trays of fruit, cakes, and sweetmeats, with
garlands of flowers upon them, and requested bakhshish, probably
the origin of our Christmas-boxes. We accepted the sweetmeats, and
gave some rupees in return.
They say that, next to the Chinese, the people of India are the
most dexterous thieves in the world; we kept a durwān, or porter at
the gate, two chaukidārs (watchmen), and the compound (ground
surrounding the house) was encompassed by a high wall.
1823. Jan. 12th.—There was much talking below amongst the
bearers; during the night the shout of the chaukidārs was frequent,
to show they were on the alert; nevertheless, the next morning a
friend, who was staying with us, found that his desk with gold
mohurs and valuables in it, had been carried off from his room,
together with some clothes and his military cloak. We could not
prove the theft, but had reason to believe it was perpetrated by a
khansāmān (head table servant) whom we had discharged, connived
at by the durwān and chaukidārs.
March 20th.—I have now been four months in India, and my idea
of the climate has altered considerably; the hot winds are blowing; it
is very oppressive; if you go out during the day, I can compare it to
nothing but the hot blast you would receive in your face, were you
suddenly to open the door of an oven.
The evenings are cool and refreshing; we drive out late; and the
moonlight evenings at present are beautiful; when darkness comes
on, the fire-flies illuminate the trees, which appear full of flitting
sparks of fire; these little insects are in swarms; they are very small
and ugly, with a light like the glow-worm’s in the tail, which, as they
fly, appears and suddenly disappears: how beautifully the trees in
the adjoining grounds are illuminated at night, by these little
dazzling sparks of fire!
The first sight of a pankhā is a novelty to a griffin. It is a
monstrous fan, a wooden frame covered with cloth, some ten,
twenty, thirty, or more feet long, suspended from the ceiling of a
room, and moved to and fro by a man outside by means of a rope
and pullies, and a hole in the wall through which the rope passes;
the invention is a native one; they are the greatest luxuries, and are
also handsome, some being painted and gilt, the ropes covered with
silk, and so shaped or scooped, as to admit their vibratory motion
without touching the chandeliers, suspended in the same line with
the pankhā, and when at rest, occupying the space scooped out. In
the up country, the pankhā is always pulled during the night over the
chārpāī or bed.
The weather is very uncertain; sometimes very hot, then suddenly
comes a north-wester, blowing open every door in the house,
attended with a deluge of heavy rain, falling straight down in
immense drops: the other evening it was dark as night, the lightning
blazed for a second or two, with the blue sulphureous light you see
represented on the stage; the effect was beautiful; the forked
lightning was remarkably strong; I did not envy the ships in the bay.
The foliage of the trees, so luxuriously beautiful and so novel, is to
me a source of constant admiration. When we girls used to laugh at
the odd trees on the screens, we wronged the Chinese in imagining
they were the productions of fancy; the whole nation was never
before accused of having had a fanciful idea, and those trees were
copied from nature, as I have found from seeing the same in my
drives and rides around Calcutta. The country is quite flat, but the
foliage very fine and rich. The idleness of the natives is excessive;
for instance, my ayha will dress me, after which she will go to her
house, eat her dinner, and then returning, will sleep in one corner of
my room on the floor for the whole day. The bearers also do nothing
but eat and sleep, when they are not pulling the pankhās.
Some of the natives are remarkably handsome, but appear far
from being strong men. It is impossible to do with a few servants,
you must have many; their customs and prejudices are inviolable; a
servant will do such and such things, and nothing more. They are
great plagues; much more troublesome than English servants. I
knew not before the oppressive power of the hot winds, and find
myself as listless as any Indian lady is universally considered to be; I
can now excuse, what I before condemned as indolence and want of
energy—so much for experience. The greatest annoyance are the
musquito bites; it is almost impossible not to scratch them, which
causes them to inflame, and they are then often very difficult to
cure: they are to me much worse than the heat itself; my irritable
constitution cannot endure them.
The elephantiasis is very common amongst the natives, it causes
one or both legs to swell to an enormous size, making the leg at the
ankle as large as it is above the knee; there are some deplorable
objects of this sort, with legs like those of the elephant—whence the
name. Leprosy is very common; we see lepers continually. The
insects are of monstrous growth, such spiders! and the small-lizards
are numerous on the walls of the rooms, darting out from behind
pictures, &c. Curtains are not used in Calcutta, they would harbour
musquitoes, scorpions, and lizards.

The Chŭrŭk Pooja.

THE CHŬRŬK PŪJĀ

‎‫‏فاني پارکس‏‬‎

The other day, hearing it was a Burra Din, (day of festival in

honour of the goddess Kālee, whose temple is about a mile and a
half from Calcutta,) I drove down in the evening to Kālee Ghaut,
where, had not the novelty of the scene excited my curiosity, disgust
would have made me sick. Thousands of people were on the road,
dressed in all their gayest attire, to do honour to the festival of the
Chŭrŭk Pooja, the swinging by hooks. Amongst the crowd, the most
remarkable objects were several Voiragee mendicants; their bodies
were covered with ashes, their hair clotted with mud and twisted
round their heads; they were naked all but a shred of cloth. One
man had held up both arms over his head until they had withered
and were immoveable, the nails of the clenched fists had penetrated
through the back of the hands, and came out on the other side like
the claws of a bird. To fulfil some vow to Vishnoo this agony is
endured, not as a penance for sin, but as an act of extraordinary
merit. At first the pain must be great, but it ceases as the arms
become benumbed. A man of this description is reckoned
remarkably holy, having perfect dependence upon God for support,
being unable, his arms having become immoveable, to carry food to
his mouth or assist himself. Two or three other mendicants who were
present had only one withered arm raised above their heads. Some
Hindoos of low caste, either for their sins or for money, had cut
three or four gashes in the muscular part of the arm, and through
these gashes they kept running a sword, dancing violently all the
time to hideous music; others ran bamboos as thick as three fingers
through the holes in the arm, dancing in the same manner. One man
passed a spit up and down through the holes, another a dagger, and
a third had a skewer through his tongue.
A little further on were three swinging posts erected in this
fashion; a post some thirty feet in height was crossed at the top by a
horizontal bamboo, from one end of which a man was swinging,
suspended by a rope, from the other end another rope was fastened
to a horizontal pole below, which was turned by men running round
like horses in a mill. The man swung in a circle of perhaps thirty feet
diameter, supported by four iron hooks, two through the flesh of his
back, and two in that of his chest, by which, and a small bit of cloth
across the breast, he was entirely supported: he carried a bag in one
hand, from which he threw sweetmeats and flowers to the populace
below. Some men swing with four hooks in the back and four on the
chest without any cloth, eight hooks being considered sufficient to
support the body. The man I saw swinging looked very wild, from
the quantity of opium and bengh he had taken to deaden the sense
of pain. Bengh is an intoxicating liquor, which is prepared with the
leaves of the Gánja plant (Cannabis Indica).
 Hindoos of the lower castes are very fond of this amusement,
accidental deaths occasioned by it are reckoned about three per
cent. Sometimes four men swing together for half an hour; some in
penance for their own sins; some for those of others, richer men,
who reward their deputies and thus do penance by proxy.
Khraunchies full of nāch girls were there in all their gaily-coloured
dresses and ornaments, as well as a number of respectable men of
good caste.
I was much disgusted, but greatly interested.
Sentries from the Calcutta militia were stationed round the swings
to keep off the crowd.
The men on the mound at the foot of the second swing run round
with the bamboo frame which is connected with the pole, at the
summit of which are the cross bamboos. As they proceed, the four
men above swing merrily on their hooks, scattering flowers and
sweetmeats on the people, and repeating verses and portions of the
shāstrs.
 CHAPTER IV.
RESIDENCE IN CALCUTTA.

“debt is a man’s husband

[13].”

“i.e. A man in debt is always at the mercy of his creditors, as a woman at her
husband’s.”
1823.—Baboo Ramohun Roy—Nāch girls—Children in India—Sickness in the Fort—
The Rains—Vessels for a Voyage on the Ganges—Indian Fever—Arrival of Lord
Amherst—Introduction of Steam-boats on the Hoogly—Interest of Money in
Calcutta—Robberies—Jamh o Deen, Prince of Mysore—The Doorga Pooja—
Images of Clay—the Races—Chinese Screens—The Dog Crab.

1823, May.—The other evening we went to a party given by

Ramohun Roy, a rich Bengallee baboo; the grounds, which are
extensive, were well illuminated, and excellent fireworks displayed.
In various rooms of the house nāch girls were dancing and
singing. They wear a petticoat measuring, on dit, one hundred yards
in width, of fine white or coloured muslin, trimmed with deep
borders of gold and silver; full satin trousers cover the feet; the
doputta, or large veil, highly embroidered, is worn over the head,
and various ornaments of native jewellery adorn the person.
They dance, or rather move in a circle, attitudinizing and making
the small brass bells fastened to their ankles sound in unison with
their movements. Several men attended the women, playing on
divers curiously-shaped native instruments.
The style of singing was curious; at times the tones proceeded
finely from their noses; some of the airs were very pretty; one of the
women was Nickee, the Catalani of the East. Indian jugglers were
introduced after supper, who played various tricks, swallowed
swords, and breathed out fire and smoke. One man stood on his
right foot, and putting his left leg behind his back, hooked his left
foot on the top of his right shoulder; just try the attitude pour passer
le temps. The house was very handsomely furnished, everything in
European style, with the exception of the owner.
The children of Europeans in India have a pale sickly hue, even
when they are in the best of health; very different from the chubby
brats of England.
All the Indian fruits appear very large, and a new comer thinks
them inferior in point of flavour to the European; as for the far-
famed mangoes, I was disgusted with them, all those to be had at
that time in Calcutta being stringy, with a strong taste of turpentine.
The fort is spacious and handsome, but very hot from the
ramparts that surround it. The 44th Queen’s have lost three officers
by death, nine more have returned to England on sick certificate,
and three hundred of the privates are in hospital; this in six months!
The mortality amongst the privates has been dreadful, owing, I
believe, to the cheapness of spirituous liquors, and exposure to the
sun.
Port or sherry is seldom seen on table, during the hot weather;
Madeira is not much used; Burgundy, Claret, and light French wines
are very rationally preferred.
Where the climate is so oppressive, what are luxuries indeed at
home, are here necessary to health and existence; to walk is
impossible, even the most petty Europe shop-keeper in Calcutta has
his buggy, to enable him to drive out in the cool of the evening.
June 1st.—This is the first day of the month; the morning has
been very hot, but at this moment the rain is descending, as if the
windows of heaven were again opened to deluge the earth; the
thunder rolls awfully, and the forked lightning is very vivid. I never
heard such peals of thunder in Europe. No one here appears to think
about it; all the houses have conductors, and as the storm cools the
air, it is always welcomed with pleasure by those on shore.
Our friends who are going to Lucnow have hired their boats, an
absolute fleet! I must describe the vessels.
1st. A very fine sixteen-oared pinnace, containing two excellent
cabins, fitted up with glazed and Venetian windows, pankhās, and
two shower-baths. In this vessel our friend, his lady, and their infant,
will be accommodated.
2dly. A dinghee for the cook, and provisions.
3rdly. An immense baggage boat, containing all their furniture.
4thly. A vessel for the washerman, his wife, and the dogs.
 5thly. A large boat with horses. 6thly. A ditto. What a number of
boats for one family! The hire of the pinnace is twenty rupees a-day,
about 2l.; the other boats are also very expensive. They will be three
or four months before they arrive at Lucnow; they quitted us the
12th of June.
I have now become acquainted with the three seasons in India;
the cold weather, the hot winds, and the rains. The last have set in;
it is quite warm; nevertheless, the rains descend in torrents for some
hours daily: pankhās are still necessary.
The natives are curious people; my ayha was very ill yesterday,
and in great pain, she would take no medicine unless from a doctor
of her own caste; brandy was prescribed; she would not take it, said
it was very wicked to drink it, that she would sooner die; therefore I
was obliged to leave her to her fate, and sent her home to her
friends; she is a good and honest servant.
In July, my husband was seized with one of those terrific Indian
fevers, which confined him to his bed about fourteen days; he got
up looking very transparent and ghostlike, and in a state of great
debility, from which he was some time in recovering. Happily, he was
saved from a premature epitaph.
I had great trouble with the servants, with the exception of five of
them; a speech made by the ayha is worthy of record:—“It would be
a great pity if the sāhib should die, for then—we should all lose our
places!”—symptoms of fine feelings!
Lord Amherst arrived, and we attended a party given to those
over whom he had come to reign.
There is much talk here of a passage to India by steam. “Cœlum
ipsum petimus stultitiâ,” which means, “On veut prendre la lune par
les cornes.” Heaven forefend that I should find myself in a steam-
boat, in a fine rolling sea and a brisk gale, off the Cape. I should not
hesitate to give the preference to the twelve hundred ton ship. Some
of the old rich Indians, as they are called at home, will have full
opportunity to try its safety before my time is come. We have,
however, established a steam-boat upon the Hoogly, which goes
about four knots against tide; something prodigious in a river where
the tide runs like lightning, and with tremendous force.
At this time we became anxious for an appointment up the
country, at a cooler and healthier station than Calcutta, far removed
from the damp, low, swampy country of Bengal Proper.
August 29th.—The Governor-general and Lady Amherst are great
favourites in Calcutta; the latter renders herself particularly
agreeable to her guests at the Government-house. The new
Governor-general is so economical he has discharged a number of
servants, quenched a number of lamps; on dit, he intends to plant
potatoes in the park at Barrackpore; people are so unaccustomed to
anything of the sort in India, that all this European economy
produces considerable surprise.
It happens that in India, as in other places, they have an absurd
custom of demanding a certain portion of the precious metals in
exchange for the necessaries and luxuries of life, to procure which, if
you have them not, you are forced to borrow from agents, the
richest dogs in Calcutta: and why? Because, forsooth, they merely
require now eight per cent, (formerly ten) added to which, after your
debt reaches a certain amount, they oblige you to ensure your life,
and in this ticklish country the rate of insurance is very high.
In the third place, which to us is the argumentum ad hominem,
many and many are the lives that have been sacrificed, because
poor miserable invalids have been unable from their debts to leave
India. Interest—horrible interest—soon doubles the original sum,
and a man is thus obliged to pay the debt three or four times over,
and after that he may put by a fortune to support him in his native
land.
Do not suppose I am painting; this is the plain fact, of which
almost every month furnishes an example.
A man on first arrival (a griffin) cannot or will not comprehend
that “one and one make eleven[14].”
 Sept. 7th.—Since our arrival we have been annoyed with constant
robbery in the house. Seventy rupees were stolen one day, and now
they have carried off about eighteen silver covers that are used to
put over tumblers and wine-glasses to keep out the flies; in
consequence we have discharged our Ooriah bearers, who we
suspect are the thieves, and have taken a set of up country men.
Oct. 1st.—We have had a singular visitor, Shahzadah Zahangeer
Zaman Jamh o Deen Mahomud, Prince of Mysore, the son of Tippoo
Sāhib, and one of the two hostages.
He resides in a house near us, and sent us word he would honour
us with a visit. The next morning he called, and sat two hours. He
had studied English for twelve months. Seeing a bird in a cage, he
said, “Pretty bird that, little yellow bird, what you call?”—“A canary
bird.” “Yes, canary bird, pretty bird, make fine noise, they not grow
here.” In this style we conversed, and I thought my visitor would
never depart. I was ignorant of the oriental saying, “Coming is
voluntary, but departing depends upon permission[15];” his politesse
made him remain awaiting my permission for his departure, whilst I
was doubting if the visit would ever terminate. At last he arose,
saying, “I take leave now, come gen soon.” The next day he sent
three decanters full of sweetmeats, very like the hats and caps that
used to be given me in my childish days, mixed with caraway
comfits, and accompanied by this note:—
“Some sweetmeats for Missess ⸺ with respectful thanks of P.
Jamh o Deen.” I suppose my visitor Prince Jamh o Deen did not
understand the difference between compliments and thanks. I did
not comprehend why the sweetmeats had been sent, until I was
informed it was the custom of the natives to send some little
valueless offering after paying a visit, and that it would be
considered an insult to refuse it.
13th.—We went to a nāch at the house of a wealthy Baboo during
the festival of the Doorga Pooja or Dasera, held in honour of the
goddess Doorga. The house was a four-sided building, leaving an
area in the middle; on one side of the area was the image of the
goddess raised on a throne, and some Brahmins were in attendance
on the steps of the platform. This image has ten arms, in one of her
right hands is a spear with which she pierced a giant, with one of
the left she holds the tail of a serpent, and the hair of the giant,
whose breast the serpent is biting; her other hands are all stretched
behind her head, and are filled with different instruments of war.
Against her right leg leans a lion, and against her left leg the above
giant. In the rooms on one side the area a handsome supper was
laid out, in the European style, supplied by Messrs. Gunter and
Hooper, where ices and French wines were in plenty for the
European guests. In the rooms on the other sides of the square, and
in the area, were groups of nāch women dancing and singing, and
crowds of European and native gentlemen sitting on sofas or on
chairs listening to Hindostanee airs. “The bright half of the month
Aswina, the first of the Hindu lunar year, is peculiarly devoted to
Doorga. The first nine nights are allotted to her decoration; on the
sixth she is awakened; on the seventh she is invited to a bower
formed of the leaves of nine plants, of which the Bilwa[16] is the
chief. The seventh, eighth, and ninth are the great days, on the last
of which the victims are immolated to her honour, and must be killed
by one blow only of a sharp sword or axe. The next day the goddess
is reverently dismissed, and her image is cast into the river, which
finishes the festival of the Dasera.
“On the fifteenth day, that of the full moon, her devotees pass the
night in sports and merriment, and games of various sorts: it is
unlucky to sleep; for on this night the fiend Nicumbha led his army
against Doorga, and Lukshmi, the goddess of prosperity, descended,
promising wealth to those who were awake[17].”
A short time before this festival, the Sircars employed in Calcutta
generally return home to enjoy a holiday of some weeks.
Immense sums are expended by the wealthy Baboos during the
Doorga Pooja.
 Dec. 2nd.—Would you believe that we sit at this time of the year
without pankhās, with closed windows, and our floors carpeted! In
some houses, fires are adopted. We have not yet come to this,
though I occasionally have found it cold enough to desire one. The
mornings are delightful, and the nights so cold, I sleep under a silk
counterpane quilted with cotton, called a Rezai.
The natives form images in clay; the countenances are excellent;
the eyes, eyelids, and lips move remarkably well; they are very
brittle; they represent servants, fakīrs, and natives of all castes: the
best, perhaps, are to be procured in or near Calcutta; they are
attired according to the fashion of the country, and cost from eight
annas to one rupee each.
We are in the midst of our gaieties, balls, plays, and parties,
agreeably varied. Our first meeting (the races) is held during this
month; for we have our Derby, and Oaks, and Riddlesworth. The
Riddlesworth is with us a very interesting race, all the riders being
gentlemen, and sometimes ten or twelve horses starting. From the
stand, of a clear morning, there is a good view of the horses during
the whole of their course.
We have just received from China two magnificent screens, of
eight panels each; they are exceedingly handsome, and keep out the
glare by day and the air by night: I think I may say they are
magnificent.
Amongst the ornaments of the household, let Crab the terrier be
also mentioned; he is much like unto a tinker’s dog, but is humorous
and good-tempered, plays about, chases cats, and kills rats, not only
in the stable, but house, and serves us in the place of a parvulus
Æneas.
 CHAPTER V.
RESIDENCE IN CALCUTTA.
1824—Advantages and Disadvantages—Interest never sleeps—Barrackpore—
Cairipoor—The Fakir—The Menagerie—Hyena—Change of residence to
Chowringhee road—Mouse and Spotted Deer—Bengallee Goats—Lotteries—
Trial by Rice—The Toolsee—Epidemic Fever—Burmese War—Major Sale—
Haileybury—The Hooqŭ—Dr. Kitchener—Death of Lord Byron—Early Marriages
—Pleasures of the Cold Season—Indian Hospitality—Knack of Fortune-making
lost.

January, 1824.—The advantages of a residence in Calcutta are

these: you are under the eye of the Government, not likely to be
overlooked, and are ready for any appointment falling vacant; you
get the latest news from England, and have the best medical
attendance. On the other hand, you have to pay high house-rent;
the necessary expenses are great; and the temptations to squander
away money in gratifying your fancies more numerous than in the
Mofussil.
A friend, now high in the Civil Service, contracted, on his arrival
here about eighteen years ago, a debt of 15,000 rupees, about
1500l. or 1800l. Interest was then at twelve per cent. To give
security, he insured his life, which, with his agent’s commission of
one per cent, made the sum total of interest sixteen per cent. After
paying the original debt five times, he hoped his agents upon the
last payment would not suffer the interest to continue accumulating.
He received for answer, “that interest never slept, it was awake night
and day;” and he is now employed in saving enough to settle the
balance.
I wish much that those who exclaim against our extravagances
here, knew how essential to a man’s comfort, to his quiet, and to his
health it is, to have every thing good about him—a good house,
good furniture, good carriages, good horses, good wine for his
friends, good humour; good servants and a good quantity of them,
good credit, and a good appointment: they would then be less
virulent in their philippics against oriental extravagance.
15th.—The Governor-general has a country residence, with a fine
park, at Barrackpore; during the races the Calcutta world assemble
there: we went over for a week; it was delightful to be again in the
country. Lady Amherst rendered the Government-house gay with
quadrilles and displays of fireworks; but I most enjoyed a party we
made to see the ruins of an ancient fort, near Cairipoor, belonging to
the Rajah of Burdwan, about five miles from Barrackpore, and
thought them beautiful.
The road was very bad, therefore I quitted the buggy and
mounted an elephant for the first time, feeling half-frightened but
very much pleased. I ascended by a ladder placed against the side
of the kneeling elephant; when he rose up, it was like a house
making unto itself legs and walking therewith.
We went straight across the country, over hedges and ditches, and
through the cultivated fields, the elephant with his great feet
crushing down the corn, which certainly did not “rise elastic from his
airy tread.” The fields are divided by ridges of earth like those in
salterns at home; these ridges are narrow, and in general, to
prevent injury to the crops, the mahout guides the elephant along
the ridge: it is curious to observe how firmly he treads on the narrow
raised path.
By the side of the road was a remarkable object:—
“The appearance of a fakir is his petition in itself[18].” In a small
hole in the earth lay a fakir, or religious mendicant; the fragment of
a straw mat was over him, and a bit of cloth covered his loins. He
was very ill and quite helpless, the most worn emaciated being I
ever beheld; he had lain in that hole day and night for five years,
and refused to live in a village; his only comfort, a small fire of
charcoal, was kindled near his head during the night. Having been
forcibly deprived of the property he possessed in the upper
provinces, he came to Calcutta to seek redress, but being
unsuccessful, he had, in despair, betaken himself to that hole in the
earth. An old woman was kindling the fire; it is a marvel the jackals
do not put an end to his misery. The natives say, “It is his pleasure
to be there, what can we do?” and they pass on with their usual
indifference: the hole was just big enough for his body, in a cold
swampy soil.
There is a menagerie in the park at Barrackpore, in which are
some remarkably fine tigers and Cheetahs. My ayha requested to be
allowed to go with me, particularly wishing to see an hyena. While
she was looking at the beast, I said, “Why did you wish to see an
hyena?” Laughing and crying hysterically, she answered, “My
husband and I were asleep, our child was between us, an hyena
stole the child, and ran off with it to the jungle; we roused the
villagers, who pursued the beast; when they returned, they brought
me half the mangled body of my infant daughter,—that is why I
wished to see an hyena.”
Before we quitted Calcutta, we placed the plate in a large iron
treasure chest. A friend, during his absence from home, having left
his plate in a large oaken chest, clamped with iron, found, on his
return, that the bearers had set fire to the chest to get at the plate,
being unable to open it, and had melted the greater part of the
silver!
It appears as if the plan of communicating with India by steam-
boats will not end in smoke: a very large bonus has been voted to
the first regular company who bring it about, and the sum is so
considerable, that I have no doubt some will be bold enough to
attempt it.
In Calcutta, as in every place, it is difficult to suit yourself with a
residence. Our first house was very ill defended from the hot winds;
the situation of the second we thought low and swampy, and the
cause of fever in our household. My husband having quitted college,
was gazetted to an appointment in Calcutta, and we again changed
our residence for one in Chowringhee road.
Prince Jamh o Deen, hearing me express a wish to see what was
considered a good nāch, invited me to one. I could not, however,
admire the dancing; some of the airs the women sang were very
pretty.
 Calcutta was gay in those days, parties numerous at the
Government-house, and dinners and fancy balls amongst the
inhabitants.
A friend sent me a mouse deer, which I keep in a cage in the
verandah; it is a curious and most delicate little animal, but not so
pretty as the young pet fawns running about the compound
(grounds) with the spotted deer. The cows’ milk generally sold in
Calcutta is poor, that of goats is principally used: a good Bengallee
goat, when in full milk, will give a quart every morning; they are
small-sized, short-legged, and well-bred. The servants milk the goats
near the window of the morning room, and bring the bowl full and
foaming to the breakfast-table.
Feb. 27th.—My husband put into one of the smaller lotteries in
Calcutta, and won thirteen and a half tickets, each worth 100
rupees: he sent them to his agents, with the exception of one, which
he presented to me. My ticket came up a prize of 5000 rupees. The
next day we bought a fine high caste grey Arab, whom we called
Orelio, and a pair of grey Persian horses.
Feb. 28th.—Trial by Rice.—The other day some friends dined with
us: my husband left his watch on the drawing-room table when we
went to dinner: the watch was stolen, the theft was immediately
discovered, and we sent to the police. The moonshee assembled all
who were present, took down their names, and appointed that day
seven days for a trial by rice, unless, during the time, the watch
should be restored, stolen property being often replaced from the
dread the natives entertain of the ordeal by rice. On the appointed
day the police moonshee returned, and the servants, whom he had
ordered to appear fasting, were summoned before him, and by his
desire were seated on the ground in a row.
The natives have great faith in the square akbarābādee rupee,
which they prefer to, and use on such occasions in lieu of, the
circular rupee. In the plate entitled “Superstitions of the Natives,”
No. 5, is a representation of this coin.
 The moonshee, having soaked 2lbs. weight of rice in cold water,
carefully dried it in the sun: he then weighed rice equal to the
weight of the square rupee in a pair of scales, and, calling one of the
servants to him, made him take a solemn oath that he had not taken
the watch, did not know who had taken it, where it was, or any
thing about it or the person who stole it. When the oath had been
taken, the moonshee put the weighed rice into the man’s hand to
hold during the time every servant in the room was served in like
manner. There were thirty-five present. When each had taken the
oath, and received the rice in his hand, they all sat down on the
ground, and a bit of plantain leaf was placed before each person.
The moonshee then said,—
“Some person or persons amongst you have taken a false oath;
God is in the midst of us; let every man put his portion of rice into
his mouth, and having chewed it, let him spit it out upon the
plantain leaf before him; he who is the thief, or knows aught
concerning the theft, from his mouth it shall come forth as dry as it
was put in; from the mouths of those who are innocent, it will come
forth wet and well chewed.”
Every man chewed his rice, and spat it out like so much milk and
water, with the exception of three persons, from whose months it
came forth as dry and as fine as powder. Of these men, one had
secreted two-thirds of the rice, hoping to chew the smaller quantity,
but all to no purpose; it came perfectly dry from his mouth, from the
effect of fear, although it was ground to dust. The moonshee said,
“Those are the guilty men, one of them will probably inform against
the others;” and he carried them off to the police. It is a fact, that a
person under great alarm will find it utterly impossible to chew and
put forth rice in a moistened state, whilst one who fears not will find
it as impossible to chew and to spit it out perfectly dry and ground
to dust. An harkāra, in the service of one of our guests, was one of
the men whom the moonshee pronounced guilty; about a fortnight
before, a silver saucepan had been stolen from his master’s house,
by one of his own servants. Against another, one of our own men,
we have gained some very suspicious intelligence, and although we
never expect the watch to be restored, we shall get rid of the
thieves. So much for the ordeal by rice, in which I have firm faith.
May 4th.—The weather is tremendously hot. A gentleman came in
yesterday, and said, “this room is delightful, it is cold as a well;” we
have discovered, however, that it is infested below with rats and
musk-rats, three or four of which my little Scotch terrier kills daily;
the latter make him foam at the mouth with disgust. My little dog
Crab, you are the most delightful Scotch terrier that ever came to
seek his fortune in the East!
Some friends have sent to us for garden-seeds. But, oh! observe
how nature is degenerated in this country—they have sent alone for
vegetable-seeds—the feast of roses being here thought inferior to
the feast of marrowfat peas!

THE TOOLSEE.
An European in Calcutta sees very little of the religious ceremonies
of the Hindoos. Among the most remarkable is the worship of the
toolsee, in honour of a religious female, who requested Vishnoo to
allow her to become his wife. Lukshmee, the goddess of beauty, and
wife of Vishnoo, cursed the woman on account of the pious request
she had preferred to her lord, and changed her into a toolsee plant.
Vishnoo, influenced by his own feelings, and in consideration of the
religious austerities long practised by the enamoured devotee, made
her a promise that he would assume the form of the shalgramŭ, and
always continue with her. The Hindoos, therefore, keep one leaf of
the toolsee under and another upon the shalgramŭ.—See Fig. 5, in
the plate entitled “The Thug’s Dice.”
“The sweet basil is known by its two leaves[19].” Throughout a
certain month they suspend a lota (earthen vessel) over the toolsee
filled with water, and let the water drop upon it through a small hole.
The Hindoo, in the sketch “Pooja of the Toolsee,” is engaged in this
worship, perhaps reading the Purana, in which a fable relates the
metamorphosis of the nymph Toolsee into the shrub which has since
borne her name. The whole plant has a purplish hue approaching to
black, and thence, perhaps, like the large black bee of this country, it
is held sacred to Krishna, in whose person Vishnoo himself appeared
on earth.

PŪJA OF THE TULSĪ.

‎‫‏فاني پارکس‏‬‎

The Hindoos venerate three kinds of toolsee—the kala (ocimum

sanctum), purple-stalked basil; the small-leaved toolsee; and the
suffaid toolsee, white basil or Indian tea. The leaves of the latter are
used by those in India who cannot afford the tea of China; they are
highly aromatic. The Hindoos have faith in their power to cure
diseases, and use them with incantations to dispel the poison of
serpents.
 This plant is held in estimation by the Mussulmāns as well as the
Hindoos. It is recorded of the prophet that he said: “Hásan and
Húsain are the best young princes of paradise. Verily, Hásan and
Húsain are my two sweet basils in the world.”
At Benares I saw, on the side of the Ganges, a number of pillars
hollowed at the top, in which the Hindoos had deposited earth and
had planted the toolsee; some devotees were walking round these
pillars, pouring water on the sacred plant and making sālām. My
bearers at Prag had a toolsee in front of their house, under a peepul
tree; I have seen them continually make the altar of earth on which
it was placed perfectly clean around it with water and cow-dung;
and of an evening they lighted a little chirāgh (small lamp) before it.
If one of these sacred plants die, it is committed in due form to
Gunga-jee: and when a person is brought to die by the side of the
sacred river, a branch of the toolsee, the shrub goddess, is planted
near the dying man’s head.
The shalgramŭ is black, hollow, and nearly round; it is found in
the Gunduk river, and is considered a representation of Vishnoo;
each should have twenty-one marks upon it, similar to those on his
body. The shalgramŭ is the only stone which is naturally divine; all
the other stones worshipped are rendered sacred by incantations.
A pan of water is suspended over this stone during the hottest
month in the year, exactly in the same manner as over the toolsee in
the sketch; and during the same month another pan is placed under
the stone, in which the water is caught, and drunk in the evening as
sanctified.
Ward mentions that some persons, when ill, employ a Brahmin to
present single leaves of the toolsee sprinkled with red powder to the
shalgramŭ, repeating incantations. A hundred thousand leaves are
sometimes presented. It is said that the sick gradually recover as
each additional leaf is offered. When a Hindoo is at the point of
death, a Brahmin shows him the marks of the shalgramŭ, of which
the sight is supposed to insure the soul a safe passage to the
heaven of Vishnoo. When an Hindoo takes an oath, he places a sprig
of toolsee on a brass lota, filled with the sacred water of the Ganges,
and swears by Gunga-jee[20]. If a small part of the pebble god be
broken, it is committed to the river. I bought several of these stones
from a Brahmin at the great Mela at Prag. I gave two old Delhi gold
mohurs to a native jeweller, to make into an ornament for the
forehead after a native pattern. My jemmadār took the mohurs, and,
rubbing them on a shalgramŭ, gave it to me to keep, in order to
compare the purity of the gold on its return when fashioned, with
that of the red gold I had given the man to melt. In making fine
jewellery the natives put one-fourth alloy; they cannot work gold so
impure as that used by English jewellers, and contemptuously
compare it to copper.
In the plate entitled “The Thug’s Dice,” Fig. 6 represents the
shalgramŭ, shalgram, or salagrama; it is a small heavy black circular
stone, rather flattened on one side, with the cornu Ammonis strongly
marked upon it.
Fig. 5 is one covered by the leaves of the kala toolsee, purple-
stalked basil.
No. 7 is still heavier, perfectly black and smooth, without any
marks. This was the touchstone, and a little gold still remaining upon
it.
“Gold is known by the touchstone, and a man by living with
him[21].”
“Some salagrams are perforated in one or more places by worms,
or, as the Hindoos believe, by Vishnŭ in the shape of a reptile; some
are supposed to represent his gracious incarnation, but when they
border a little in colour on the violet they denote a vindictive avatār,
such as Narasinga, when no man of ordinary nerve dares keep them
in his house. The possessor of a salagrama preserves it in clean
cloth; it is frequently perfumed and bathed; and the water thereby
acquiring virtue, is drunk, and prized for its sin-expelling property.”
The shalgrams, which are in my possession, are of exactly the
shape and size represented in the sketch.
 July 17th.—On this day, having discovered a young friend ill in the
Writer’s Buildings, we brought him to our house. Two days
afterwards I was seized with the fever, from which I did not recover
for thirteen days. My husband nursed me with great care, until he
fell ill himself, and eleven of our servants were laid up with the same
disorder.
The people in Calcutta have all had it; I suppose, out of the whole
population, European and native, not two hundred persons have
escaped; and what is singular, it has not occasioned one death
amongst the adult. I was so well and strong—over night we were
talking of the best means of escaping the epidemic—in the morning
it came and remained thirty-six hours, then quitted me; a strong
eruption came out, like the measles, and left me weak and thin. My
husband’s fever left him in thirty-six hours, but he was unable to quit
the house for nine days: the rash was the same. Some faces were
covered with spots like those on a leopard’s skin. It was so
prevalent, that the Courts of Justice, the Custom House, the Lottery
Office, and almost every public department in Calcutta, were closed
in consequence of the sickness. In the course of three days, three
different physicians attended me, one after the other having fallen
ill. It is wonderful, that a fever producing so much pain in the head
and limbs, leaving the patient weak, reduced, and covered with a
violent eruption, should have been so harmless; after three weeks,
nobody appeared to have suffered, with the exception of two or
three children, whom it attacked more violently than it did grown-up
people, and carried them off.
The politicians at home have anticipated us in reckoning upon the
probability of a Burmese war. We have hitherto been altogether
successful. I saw yesterday a gold and a silver sword, and a very
murderous looking weapon resembling a butcher’s knife, but on a
larger scale. A necklace (so called from its circling the neck, for it
was composed of plates of gold hammered on a silken string), and
some little squab images, gods, perhaps, taken from a chief, whom
Major Sale of H. M. 13th, dispatched in an attack upon a stockade,
leaving the chief in exchange part of the blade of his own sword,
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