The fires kept up in the houses of the natives of Turkey are in fixed stoves, or under chimnies, which do not answer the purposes of fumigation. Whereas, the Indian, by means of a moveable stove, unintentionally fumigates the whole house; making the eyes of all smart with the smoke. This fuel is not bituminous; but, in every situation, is either wood, or the dried dung of cattle. Besides, the floor of a Hindu’s house is, perhaps daily, washed with a thick solution of cow-dung, whence a freshness is diffused, not perhaps very gratifying, in point of savour, to an European’s nostrils, but assuredly anti-septic, and answering various good purposes; especially as the walls are, to the height of, perhaps, three or four feet, smeared with the same mixture. The use of tobacco is common to both Turkey and India, and may be considered as contributary to a resistance against the damps during the rainy season, as well as against infection.
With regard to the apprehensions arising from filth, fortunately, they are not better founded than those just noticed as dependant on the narrowness of the streets. This lucky evasion of disease is not, however, to be attributed to any attention on the part of the natives individually, or to the fostering care of the native governments. Few towns of any importance but are built on the borders of some navigable river, of which there are abundance throughout the country. The swarms of vultures, kites, crows, and of a large kind of butcher bird, standing at least six feet high, called the _argeelah_, added to the immense numbers of _pariah_ dogs, generally roving at liberty, and unacknowledged by any particular owner; together with the multitude of jackalls, that patrol through the cities, as well as the plains, during the night, all contribute to remove whatever carrion, or putrescent matter, may be exposed to their researches.
It would not, perhaps, be so easy to keep cities in a state of tolerable cleanliness in such a hot climate, if the inhabitants subsisted on butchers’ meat. The shambles alone would prove highly offensive: it is therefore fortunate that the natives make rice and vegetables their principal food. There being no privies attached to houses in general, is an additional benefit; though accompanied with some small inconvenience, it being requisite to walk to the outskirts of the city, or, eventually, among some ruins, on all occasions. The privies of the higher orders of natives, and of Europeans in general, are built on a plan which admits of instantly removing the filth; a practice never neglected by a servant, whose office consists only in that duty, and in sweeping the house at various times of the day.