Summary of the contents of the law books,

Account of the nine kinds of ordeal,.....

View of the civil polity of the Hindoos under their ancients kings,.......

Singular appearance of things when the Hindoo princes executed the laws re-

lative to ecclesiastical offences,.......

Extract from Sir W. Jones on the origin of the Hindoos,..

CHAP. II.-The Hindoo account of the origin of the casts,..

The baneful effect of the cast on different orders of Hindoos,.

Hindoo accounts of the power of the bramhons,.

The laws favourable to the interests of the bramhuns,..

Ibid.

Veneration paid to the bramhŭns,..

51

Proofs that the whole system was the invention of the bramhans for their own gain, 52

One hundred thousand bramhŭns entertained at one feast,....

53

Every circumstance of life converted into a source of gain to the bramhons,...... 54

Account of the ten ceremonies called Săngskarus, or purification of bramhuns

Account of the single order of bramhuns formerly existing in Bengal, and of the

multiplication and present state of the different orders of bramhuns,.

Ditto of the origin of the kooleenis,

....

Effects of the creation of this order of noble bramhins,

A thousand abortions said to be procured monthly in Calcutta,.

Ibid.

60

61

62

Ibid.

Ibid.

63

A shōodra raised to the rank of bramhun: his descendants called Vyasoktus,...... 64

Employments embraced at present by bramhuns, and their consequent degradation, Ibid.

Decline of the ecclesiastical system in the absence of the Hindoo civil power,........ Ibid.

Means of support still remaining to bramhans, arising from service, presents,

religious ceremonies, festivals, and what are equivalent to church-lands,

...... 65

Kshatriyus few in Bengal; their daily ceremonies similar to those of the bram-

A degree of manly spirit greater than in former times,..

Duties of shoodrus; the object of their daily worship,...

Trades in many instances pursued by them indiscriminately,

State of knowledge among the shōōdrus,.

Bramhuns deny that there are any pure shōōdrus at present,.....

Divisions of rank among the shoodrus which keep up distinctions as decidedly

as between bramhans and shoodrus,

State of the arts and manners among the different orders of shōōdrés,....

Ibid.

71

The voidyus privileged to wear the poita, their manners; the progress of know-
ledge among them, .....

Ibid.

Many of them follow the medical profession,.......

Ibid.

Other casts practise medicine,

72

Origin of the kayăst'hus, and different orders among them,

Ibid.

Importance of inducing the native doctors to use the vaccine matter for the cow-
pox, to prevent the great mortality arising from the small

pox,

Ibid.

Bramhans degraded by practising physic,

Ibid.

Ceremonies performed by the kayŭsť'hŭs,...

7S

Druggists; state of learning and manners amongst them,....

Ibid.

Brass-Founders; their origin, and the state of knowledge among them,.......... Ibid.

Shell-Ornament-makers; state of this manufacture,.......

74

Husbandmen; land-tax; farmers the servants of the corn-merchants; very poor;

Fruits of Bengal,...

Culture of the cotton plant, opium, tabacco, sugar cane, and different plants,

Effects of the climate on the natives and on Europeans,...

Comparison between the climates of Bengal and England,.

Extraordinary assertion of Forster respecting the climate,

. 87

.. 88

89

90

Remarks on the cast of barbers, and on the state of knowledge among them,...... 91

Ditto on the confectioners, potters, and weavers, and on the progress of these manu-
factures,

92

The preparation of cotton thread,

93

The Honourable Company's factories for muslin and silk,....

94

Names of the cloths exported from Bengal, with remarks on the nature of these

manufactures,......

95

Remarks on other casts of mechanics, among which are the sellers of flowers,

carpenters, washermen, goldsmiths, money-changers, oil-men, milk-men, &c... 98

Culture of the betle-nut,..

99

Domestic wares which are not known among the Hindoos,..

101

Remarks on the cast, employments, and state of knowledge among the fisher-

men, distillers, dancers, shoe-makers, mat-makers, &c......

102

General Remarks on the cast, its injustice, its effects on improvement, on social

order, &c....

106

Instances of the dreadful effects of loss of cast,.

108

Account of the Hindoos termed Peer-alees,...

109

Persons sinking in cast who are not excluded,

111

Method of expelling an out-cast,.

Efforts to regain cast,..

Heads of cast,

Evils arising from loss of cast diminished,

... Ibid.

112

Ibid.

113

Faults by which rank is forfeited winked at,..

Page.

113

114

A story on this subject,..

CHAP. III.-Ceremonies practised at the birth of children,

115

Family Records, nativities cast, 116-ceremonies at naming the child,.......... 117

Remarks on Hindoo names, 117-nourishing of children,

118

Incompetency of Hindoo mothers to teach their children,..

Ibid.

Teachers employed in education at the houses of the rich,.

Ibid.

Exercises of the village school, 119-female schools unknown,

119

Methods of removing sickness from children,....

120

Amusements of boys, 120-state of morals among Hindoo youth,.

Ibid.

Eight modes of marriage mentioned in the shastru,

121

The age at which the marriage ceremony takes place,

122

Directions for choosing a wife, 122-description of a Hindoo beauty,........ Ibid.

Persons employed to negociate marriages, 123-early marriages the source of

The marriage procession, 126-tricks practised on the guests by the villagers,....127

Ceremonies of marriage, 127-ditto after the marriage-the marriage feast,

Wedding procession after marriage when the bride returns home,..............130

Ceremonies at the house of the bride's father, 131-renewed after four or five

days,....

Expences incurred at weddings, 131-anecdotes on this subject,...

Other ceremonies at what is called the second marriage,

Marriage after the death of the first wife in eleven days,....

Ibid..

An old bachelor a phenomenon among the Hindoos, 134-women always marry

if possible,

134

A number of old maids married to an aged kooleen bramlun, "to take away

their reproach," as his friends were carrying him to the Ganges to die, ...... Ibid.

B

Page.

Widows among the lowest cast sometimes married in an irregular method,...... 134

Months in which marriages are mostly celebrated,

....

Ibid.

Girls substitute prayers to the gods for courtship,-seldom happy in marriage, 135

Virtues of an excellent wife described,

....

Extract from Bartolomeo on Hindoo women,•

Merits of husband and wife transferable after death,

Unchangeableness of Hindoo manners,••••••••

Ibid.

Remarks on the persons and features of the Hindoos, 137-on their powers of

mind, ibid.-on their dress, 138-on their address and behaviour, 139-Hin-

doo modes of salutation, ibid.-Hindoos fond of using extravagant compari-

sons, 140-method of directing letters, ibid.-Hindoo compliments,..

Forms of address on different occasions,

The form of their houses described, 142-the prices of building,

Account of good and evil omens,.

State of horticulture,...

The constitution of a household, 145-the work of a house-wife,.

Food of the Hindoos, 146-Customs at meals,..

Women never eat with their husbands,

....

141

... 141

Times of eating, 147-description of the Hindoo pipe (hooka), and tobacco, .... 147

Preparations for a feast-guests, 149-sisters give an annual feast to brothers, .. 149

Domestic conversation-mode of sitting,..

Bengalee towns-market-places-market-days,.

...

150

.. Ibid.

No Hindoo paper-makers, booksellers, nor binders, 151-method of writing,.... 151

Hawkers, fortune-tellers, &c. 151-prices of different articles of consumption,

Methods among the poor of maintaining a family,

Each one rears his own hut, and pays land-rent, 153-Hindoo money,.

Superstitious usages-astrologers, 154-dainos or witches,-incantations,

Remarks on Country Scenery, 156-Natural Curiosities,

Proverbial Sayings and Descriptions illustrative of manners,...

Conversations-between a man and his wife, 169-on the happy effects of poly-

152

153

154