India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace].

  • Robert Wallace
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    India, both in the normal liquid form and also in numerous artificial forms. It constitutes a very important part of the food of Hindus who do not eat flesh, as through it they derive substantial nourishment, which greatly raises the standard of their bill of fare. Cow milk is that commonly used as a liquid. In some parts, as at Madura, it is the custom to drink milk only in the evening, though this is by no means general. Buffalo milk, although drunk in some places where the buffaloes are well fed and yield rich produce, is more generally subjected to some process of manufacture before it is consumed. Goat’s milk, apfain, although an article of general consumption, is especially used for invalids, as is the custom in this country. Buffalo milk is less digestible than cow milk, but as regards degrees of richness this varies with the breeds and with the food supplied. In Western India, where buffaloes are large, they are often better fed than the cows, and then they yield milk of good quality ; but in Madras and Southern India, including Ceylon, the breed is often neglected, and the yield is poor in both quantity and quality. The natives say if they drink this poor milk regularly they are liable to suffer from rheumatism ; and attacks of dysentery are at times attributed to it. No doubt one fruitful source of diseases of the skin prevalent in districts where the poorer classes exist largely on Ragi, Elensine coracana, is the absence or insufficient supply of milk. Yield.—Where good buffaloes are well cared for, as in Bombay, Poona, or Gujarat, where they arc fed on the best fodder and boiled corn, one will yield about 20 lb., or nearly two gallons of rich milk at a milking, which takes place twice a day.1 The yield of butter from this quantity of milk is about lb. An indigenous cow under similar liberal treatment produces little over half the quantity of 1 M. Ilossain says that in Northern India it is quite common for the Ilissar or Heryana buffalo to yield 50 lb. of milk per day.