man in a manner unknown even amongst the most savage tribes. The apathy of the Hindoos has been noticed by all who are acquainted with their character: when a boat sinks in a storm on the Ganges, and persons are seen floating or sinking all around, the Hindoos in those boats which may remain by the side of the river, or in those passing by at the time, look on with perfect indifference, perhaps without moving an oar for the rescue of those who are actually perishing.

What is the crime for which a person frequently forfeits his cast, and becomes an outcast and an exile for ever? Perhaps he has been found eating with a virtuous friend; or, he has embraced the religion of his conscience; or, he has visited other countries on business, and has been compelled, by the nature of his situation, to eat food not cooked by persons of his own cast. For these, or other reasons, the cast proscribes him his father's house, and if his mother consent to talk with him, it must be by stealth, or at a distance from the place which was once his home, into which he must never more enter. Hence the cast converts hospitality, friendship, and the desire to visit foreign realms, into crimes, and inflicts on the offender, in some cases, a punishment worse than death itself. Ghünŭshyamŭ, a bramhŭn, about thirty-five years ago, went to England, and lost his rank. Gokoolă, another bramhun, about the same time, went to Madras, and was renounced by his relations; but, after incurring some expense in feasting bramhůns, he regained his cast. In the year 1808, a blacksmith, of Serampore, returned from Madras, and was disowned by his friends, but after expending two thousand roopees amongst the bramhŭns, he was restored to his family. In the year 1801, the mother of Kalee-prŭsad-ghoshŭ, a rich kayŭst'hŭ, of Benares,

mixed with water upon the soil which surrounds them. In general, about this time rain descends. In twenty days more he weeds the ground around the young canes, and, should there have been no rain, he again waters them. The leaves have now put forth, and the young plants arisen: he strips these leaves partly off, and wraps them round the canes, that the wind may have access to the plants; and he repeats this several times, and waters and weeds them as it may be needful during the six following months. In December or January, he cuts the canes, and sells them in the market, or makes molasses.1

* The Bengal cultivator, though destitute of a barometer, is commonly very sagacious in his prognostications about the weather. His reasonings on this subject are exactly like those of the Jews, Matt. xvi. 2, 3. As in some parts of the year his all depends on rain, he dislikes very much "clouds without water," and can feel the force of the latter comparison when applied to the wicked, much more strongly than a person living in a climate like that of England.

The sugarcane, says Mr. Colebrooke, whose very name was scarcely known by the ancient inhabitants of Europe, grew luxuriantly throughout Bengal in the remotest times. From India it was introduced into Arabia, and thence into Europe and Africa. A sudden rise in the price of sugar in Great Britain, partly caused by a failure in the crops of the West Indies, and partly by the increasing consumption of this article throughout Europe, was felt as a serious evil by the British nation. Their eyes were turned for relief towards Bengal; and not in vain. An immediate supply was obtained from this country; and the exportation of sugar from Bengal to Europe, which had commenced a few years earlier, still continues; and will, it is hoped, be annually increased to meet the growing demand for it. From Benares to Rung-poorů, from the borders of Assam to those of Kǎtǎků, there is scarcely a district in Bengal, or its dependant provinces, wherein the sugarcane does not flourish. It thrives most especially in the provinces of Benares, Véhar, Rung-poorů, Veerbhoomee, Vŭrdhŭmanů, and Médineepoorŭ; it is successfully cultivated in all and there seems to be no other bounds to the possible production of sugar in Bengal but the limits of the demand and consequent vent of it. The growth for home consumption, and for the inland trade, is vast, and it only needs encoura~

The mill used in this work is of the most simple and clumsy construction: the trunk of a tree, about seven cubits long, is put into the earth to the depth of about two cubits, leaving three cubits above ground, excavated at the top about a foot deep, and perforated, near the bottom, to let out the liquor. Into this excavation falls another trunk of a tree like a pestle, which passes through a hollow piece of wood resembling a hopper, in which is placed the cane, cut into small lengths. From this pestle is suspended a lever, to which five or six bullocks are fastened to draw it round, and thus bruise the sugarcane. A board is hung to the lever, and stones put on it, to preserve the balance. Sometimes a man sits on this board for this purpose, and goes round with the machine. To prevent the lever from sinking down, it is tied to the top of the trunk which is fastened in the ground. This mill is called Mŭhashalu. The oil mill is upon the same construction, but smaller, and requires only one bullock. The Hindoos have another mill, called Churkee, which is in the form of two screws, rolling one upon another. At each end two persons sit to turn the screws round; and in the middle, on each side, two other persons sit, and receive and give back the lengths of the cane till the juice is sufficiently squeezed out. A pan is put beneath to receive the juice, which is afterwards boiled into molasses, from which the Hindoos make sugar, sugar-candy, and many sorts of sweet

meats.

ment to equal the demand of Europe also. It is cheaply produced, and frugally manufactured. Raw sugar, prepared in a mode peculiar to India, but analogous to the process of making muscovado, costs less than five shillings sterling per cwt. An equal quantity of muscovado sugar might be here made at little more than this cost; whereas, in the British West Indies, it cannot be afforded for six times that price.

No argument, says Mr. Colebrooke, occurs against the probability of annotto, madder, coffee, cocoa, cochineal, and even tea, thriving in British India. India does furnish aloes, asafoetida, benzoin, camphire, cardamums, cassia lignea and cassia buds, arrangoes, cowries, China root," cinnabar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs, mace, elephants' teeth, gums of various kinds, mother of pearl, pepper, (quicksilver, and rhubarb, from China,) sago, scammony, senna, and saffron; and might furnish anise, coriander, and cumin seeds, and many other objects, which it would be tedious to enumerate.

The soil of the lower parts of Bengal, as far as the tide reaches, is a porous clay, on a substratum of very black clay, which lies at a greater or less depth, according to circumstances. That of the middle parts of Bengal is a rich deep loam, and that of the upper parts north of the Ganges, is diversified with loam and clay; most of the lower lands, on the margins of the rivers, being loamy, and the higher lands clay. In some instances, however, this order is inverted, the lower parts being clay, and the high lands loam. The Hindoos seldom manure their land.a

m China root grows naturally on the mountains near Sylhet; has been introduced into the Mission Garden, Serampore, and might be cultivated to any extent.

" The general soil of Bengal is clay, with a considerable proportion of silicious sand, fertilized by various salts, and by decayed substances, animal and vegetable. In the flat country, sand is every where the basis of this stratum of productive earth: it indicates an accession of soil on land which has been gained by the dereliction of water. The progress of this operation of nature presents itself to the view in the deviations of the great rivers of Bengal, where changes are often sudden, and their dates remembered.— Mr. Colebrooke.

The author collected observations on the state of the weather in Bengal, during the year 1804, which were presented to the reader at large in the former edition: the result of the whole will be found in the following summary, which he knows not where to introduce with more propriety than in this place:

From that statement it appeared, that in,what the natives call the cold, or harvest, season, viz. from about the middle of November to the middle of January, the thermometer stood, in November, at from 75 to 80; in December, from 66 to 70.

In the dewy season, viz. from the middle of January to the same period in March, the thermometer was from 74 to 88. In the former part of January it was very cold, but afterwards, (in consequence of the haziness of the atmosphere), it became warmer, and the thermometer ascended up to 90. Still, however, down to the end of February, the air was cool and pleasant, though woollen clothes became rather burdensome to those persons who do not spend their days under the punkha.

In what the natives call the vůsŭntů, or budding time,

。 The punkha is a frame of wood about twelve feet long, three or four feet wide, and two inches thick, covered with canvas, and suspended by ropes from the top of the room. It is generally hung over the dining table, and is drawn and let go again, so as to agitate the air, by a servant standing at one side of the room. In the hot weather, some Europeans sit under the punkha from morning till night, and place their couches under it, when they take a nap; several are kept going in the churches at Calcutta during divine service. A leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, and pared round the edges, forms a very exceilent fan, which, when painted, looks beautiful, and which is waved by a servant standing behind the chair.