The following description of Hindoo females, though written respecting those living in another part of India, appears to be so just, that I have thought it right to copy it. Bartolomeo is certainly one of our best writers on Hindoo manners and customs. "Till their thirteenth year, they are stout and vigorous; but after that period, they alter much faster than the women' in any of the nations of Eurode. Early marriage, labour, and diseases, exhaust their constitutions before the regular time of decay. They are lively, active, and tractable; possess great acuteness; are fond of conversation; employ florid expressions, and a phraseology abundant in images; never carry any thing into effect till after mature deliberation; are inquisitive and prying, yet modest in discourse; have a fickle inconstant disposition; make promises with great readiness, yet seldom perform them; are importunate in their requests, but ungrateful when they have obtained their end; behave in a cringing obsequious manner when they fear any one, but are haughty and insolent when they gain the superiority; and assume an air of calmness and composure when they acquire no satisfaction for an injury, but are malicious and irreconcileable when they find an opportunity of being revenged. I was acquainted with many families who had ruined themselves with lawsuits, because they preferred the gratification of revenge to every consideration of prudence."

The merits and demerits of husband and wife are transferable to either in a future state: if a wife perform many meritorious works, and the husband die first, he will enjoy heaven as the fruit of his wife's virtuous deeds; and

f The Mŭhabharŭtů, and other shastrŭs, teach, that a female, when she offers herself on the funeral pile, removes the sins of her husband, and carries him with her to heaven. Savitree, a bramhunee, say the pooranus, raised her husband to life by her works of merit.

if the wife be guilty of many wicked actions, and the hus band die first, he will suffer for the sins of his wife. In the apprehensions of a Hindoo, therefore, marriage ought to be a very serious business.

SECT. III.-Notices relative to Manners and Customs in general.

THE Hindoos, notwithstanding their divisions into casts, and various sects, are scarcely less peculiar and isolated in their manners than the Chinese: their dress, their ceremonies, and their domestic economy, have been preserved without innovation from age to age. Still, however, the unchanging dress and modes of the Hindoos are natural and graceful, compared with those of a Chinese, who, with his long tail, his fantastic dress, his fan, his wooden shoes, and his chuckling sulam, looks more like a piece of carved work, than a human being walking at large on the earth.

Many of the higher orders of Hindoos, especially in the Northern provinces, are handsome in their features, having an oval face, and a nose nearly áquiline. Some are comparatively fair, and others quite black, but a dark brown complexion is most common, with black eyes and hair. The general expression of the countenance reminds you, that the Hindoo is mild and timid, rather disposed to melancholy, and effeminate pleasures. In Bengal, the greatest number are below the middle stature, and very slender in body; but this description does not altogether suit the Hindoos of the upper provinces, where you immediately perceive, that you are surrounded

with a people more robust and independent, though the general features are the same.

The Hindoos are generally loquacious, and the common people very noisy in conversation. Their youth are lively, inquisitive, and of quick perception. They appear to be capable of great improvement, and of imitating most of the European arts, and carrying them to the greatest perfection: either they are incapable of bold and original designs, or their long slavery to ancient patterns and usages has, like the Chinese shoe, made the whole race cripples.

The dress of the rich, in which there is neither buttons, strings, nor pins, is happily suited to the climate,: and produces a very graceful effect. Over their loins they fold a cloth which almost covers their legs, hanging down to the tops of the shoes. The upper garment is a loose piece of fine white cloth " without seam from top to bottom," thrown over the shoulders, and, except the head, neck, and arms, covering the whole body. The head is always uncovered, unless the heat or cold constrain the person to draw his upper garment over it like a hood. Shoes worn by the rich, are covered with gold

* Refore a Hindoo puts on a new garment, he plucks a few threads out of it, and offers them to different beings, that they may be propitious, and that it may wear well. The poor wear their garments till they are very filthy, and the pillow on which they sleep is never washed, notwithstanding their hair is oiled daily: their houses and garments are generally full of vermin.

1 A native, when he saw a picture of His Majesty George the Third in the house of the author, in a Roman habit, asked, why he wore garments like the Hindoos, and not like the English.

"The colour of the (Roman) gown is generally believed to have been white. As to attire for the head, the Romans ordinarily used none, except

and silver thread, are open at the heels, and curled up at the toes; stockings are very seldom worn.* Many Hindoos in the service of Europeans, to please their masters, wear the Musulman dress; put on a turban, and garments like a jacket and petticoat, or loose pantaloons. The poor have only a shred of cloth to cover their loins. The dress of the women differs from that of the men, in that they wear only one long garment, which, wrapped round the loins, comes over the shoulders, and occasionally over the head as a hood. In Bengal, a woman's garment is ten cubits long and two broad; in the southern parts of India, it is much longer: very few wear shoes. Ornaments are eagerly sought after, even by the poorest women, which they fix in their hair, on the forehead, in the ears, in the nose, round the arms, wrists, ancles, &c. They paint their finger-nails, and round the bottoms of their feet, red, and their eye-lashes black; their teeth are made red with eating panu.'

the lappet of their gown; and this was not a constant cover, but only occasional, to avoid the rain, or sun, or other accidental inconveniencies: hence it is, that we see none of the old statues with any on their heads."

It is remarkable, to what excellent uses the toes are applied in India. In England, it is hard to say whether they are of any use whatsoever. A man could certainly walk and ride without them; and these are the principal purposes to which the feet are applied in Europe. But here the toes are second-hand fingers: they are called the " feet fingers" in Bengalee. In his own house, a Hindoo makes use of them to fasten the clog to his feet by means of a button which slips between the two middle toes. The taylor, if he does not thread his needle, certainly twists his thread with them the cook holds his knife with his toes while he cuts fish, vegetables, &c.; the joiner, the weaver, &c. could not do without them, and almost every native bas twenty different uses for the toes. It is true, I have heard of a maimed sailor in England writing with his toes, which is rather more than what I have seen done in this country; but yet, this is only another proof of what might be done, even with the toes, if necessity should arise, to make us set our toes as well as our wits to work.

1 Panŭ, which is chewed like tobacco, consists of the leaf of the piper

In their forms of address, and behaviour in company, the Hindoos must be ranked amongst the politest nations. It is true, there is a mixture of flattery and of fulsome panegyric in their address, but this is given and received rather as the requirement of custom than the language of the heart. It is a polish always understood to lie on the surface; it pleases without deceiving any body. When he enters the presence of his spiritual guide, the Hindoo prostrates himself, and, laying hold of his feet, looks up to him, and says, You are my saviour;'-to a benefactor, he says, You are my father and mother;'to a man whom he wishes to praise, 'You are Religion incarnate; or, O Sir, your fame is gone all over the country; yes, from country to country.' As a Benefactor, you are equal to Kărnă." You are equal to Yoodhist❜hirum in your regard to truth.' 'You have overcome all your passions.' You shew due respect to all.' 'You are a sea of excellent qualities. service of your guardian deity.' and mother of bramhŭns, cows, and women.'

6

You are devoted to the
You are the father

There are five kinds of obeisance among the Hindoos, viz. 1. ŭstangŭ, in which the person prostrates himself, and makes eight parts of his body, viz. his knees, hands, temples, nose, and chin, touch the ground; 2 punchangu, in which the person makes his forehead, temples, and hands touch the ground; 3. dŭndavŭtů, simple prostration, in which the person causes his forehead to meet the

betel, the fruit of the ereca fausel, lime made of shells, and (at pleasure) of a number of spices.

1 Kărnă, the brother of Yoodhist'hirŭ, was very famous for his liberality. m King Yoodhist' hiru is on all occasions mentioned as a person the most tenacious of truth of any Hindoo that ever lived, and yet he was dragged to hell for lying,