The natives do, occasionally, make a weak, greenish, and blistered glass into _caraboys_, or great bottles for rose-water, and into lesser ones, such as the _gundies_, or itinerant perfumers, use; but this is on a very small scale, and chiefly supplied from broken tumblers, shades, &c., of European manufacture. There are persons at Patna, who have men constantly employed in purchasing broken glass, of every description, from the servants of Europeans, and in collecting such fragments as may be thrown out among the ordinary rubbish.
It must occasionally happen, that neither glass, nor _talc_, can be readily obtained; in which case, the best mode is to make light frames, and to pannel, or fill them up with wax-cloth, neatly nailed on. This is an admirable substitute, not only keeping out wind, rain, and dust, but, in the cold season, preserving the warmth of rooms, yet admitting sufficient light for ordinary purposes: I have very frequently resorted to this expedient, and even to frames of oiled paper; all I had to regret was, that they debarred my seeing what passed abroad. To a person just arrived from Europe, such would appear a most distressing privation; but, after experiencing a few seasons behind _tatties_, without being able to enjoy the light during the whole day, and that for months together, such recluseness would scarcely be considered worthy of notice: so true it is, that we gradually become habituated to the loss of ordinary enjoyments, of faculties, and even of civil and religious liberty!!!
Although _bungalows_ have not any ceilings of plaster, they are rendered inconceivably neat within, by means of a double sheet, made of very coarse cotton cloth, called _guzzy_; of which tents are usually constructed. These sheets are fitted to the several apartments respectively, are bound with strong tape around, and have, besides, various tapes forming an union cross of eight limbs, or rays, all meeting in the centre. As the cornices commonly project near a foot, abundance of space is left for lacing the sheet (called the _chandny_,) to battens, nailed to pegs built in the wall: these battens being firmly secured all the way round, about an inch above the cornice, admit the sheet to be strained very tight, so as to bag very little, if at all, in the centre. Some white-wash their _chandnies_, and take so much pains in establishing a firm appearance, as to render them very similar to well made ceilings. Without this last mode of preparation, music has no effect in a _bungalow_; indeed, at the best, the most powerful instrument is heard under very great disadvantages, owing to the number of apertures, the _satringes_, mats, couch and table covers, &c., all which deaden the tones considerably.