In Bombay, since hard times set in, the offices of Hamal and mussaulhave got a little mixed, and a man will show you characterstestifying that he has served in both capacities. Such a man is,properly speaking, simply a mussaul who has tried to do the Hamal'swork. The cleaner of furniture and the lighter of lamps and washerof plates and dishes cannot change places or be combined. I haveread that the making of one English pin employs nine men, but it is avain boast. The rudiments of division of labour are not comprehendedin Europe. In this country every trade is a breed. Rama is by birtha cleaner of furniture. This kind of employment came into thecountry with our rule, so that the domestic Hamal, who is an offshootof the palkee hamal, or "bearer," has not had time to become whatfanciers would call a permanent strain, and you will find that youcan convert Rama into a chupprasse, a malee, or even a ghorawalla,but into a mussaul never. He is a shoodra, sprung from the feet ofBrahma, and the Brahman, who sprung from the head of the same figure,despises him, but not with that depth of contempt with which hehimself despises the mussaul, who is an outcast, and sprang fromnowhere in particular. He cannot conceive that thirty generations ofwashing could purify the descendants of Mukkun so that he might touchthem and not be unclean. You, his master, rank theoretically withMukkun, and he will neither touch your meats nor the plate off whichyou have eatwelve them. He will keep your home clean, and even performsome personal services, for he has a liberal mind, and is there notalso a toolsee plant in a pot on a kind of earthen altar in front ofhis hut, before which he performs purificatory ceremonies everymorning? And does he not bathe after leaving your presence before heeats? If you pass by the clean place where he is about to cook hisfood in the afternoon, you will look at a large pot of water on the fire.When this gets warm--for Rama is not a Spartan--he will stand on asmooth stone, as sparingly clad as it is possible to be, and pour thewater on his head, polishing himself vigorously as it runs down hislimbs; then, after dressing his long hair and tying it in a knot onthe top of his head, he will sit down to eat, in a place by himself,with the feeling that he has warded off defilement from that whichgoeth in at his mouth. That which goeth out of his mouth gives himno concern.