[Page 289, line 3] budli a temporary servant
[Page 289, line 15] Albert Docks The Royal Albert Dock in North Woolwich, East London. This is now (2007) part of the site of London City Airport.
[Page 289, line 15] British-India steamers The British India Steam Navigation Company, registered in 1856 and merged with the Pacific and Orient (P and O) Steam Navigation Co in 1914.
[Page 289, line 17] lascar was a generic term for South Asian seamen and particularly those from Bengal, India. See notes to “The Red Lamp” (Page 31, line 17) for a full description of this term.
[Page 290, line 4] tooth-combs fine-tooth(ed) combs with narrow close-set teeth.
[Page 290, line 14] jat caste, sect, tribe or race.
[Page 290, lines 15 and 18] Tamil a man from the most south-easterly Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The capital city was Madras, now named Chennai.
[Page 290, lines 17-20] lower oneself This paragraph refers to the fact that the Punjab, where Kipling had lived and worked had a more robust or tough lot of inhabitants – mostly Muslims, as compared to the smaller and gentler races of Madras, who are Hindus mainly, including Mahrattas and Tamils. [ORG]
[Page 290, line 25] bearer’s work tasks done by a personal servant, such as shaving his employer.
[Page 291, line 19] a cheap ulster A long loose overcoat, first made in Ulster in the north of Ireland.
[Page 291, lines 20 to 22] three shillings … half a sovereign … thirty shillings in decimal currency respectively £0.15 … £0.50 … £1.50. There were twenty shillings to the £ sterling.
[Page 292, line 24] housekeeper of the chambers the employee in charge of the housemaids in the apartments where the narrator lived.
[Page 293, line 8] Poplar A district in East London between the West and East India Docks, and not too far from the Royal Albert Dock.
[Page 293, line 12] Rewah or Rewa, a 4,017 ton vessel belonging to the British India Steam Navigation Company. She was built in 1882 and sold to Spain in 1905. (See the British India Steam Navigation Co. web-site 1880-1889)
[Page 293, line 19] bloater a smoked herring, which is smoked as a whole fish. A kipper, also a smoked herring, is gutted before smoking.
[Page 294, line 1] fly him fry it (the boy’s liver).
[Page 294, line 13] Chyebassa a 2,664 ton vessel belonging to the British India Steam Navigation Company. She was built in 1874 and scrapped at Bombay (Mumbai) in 1900. (See the British India Steam Navigation Co. web-site 1870-1879)
[D. P. ]
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