of the family, under the shade of the fig tree. If the child be a son, the mother continues unclean twenty-one days; if a daughter, a month.

The respectable Hindoos, at the birth of a child, keep a record, drawn up by a gănŭků, or astrologer, who is informed by the father, or some relative, of the exact time of the birth, and is requested to cast the nativity of the child and open the roll of its fate. The gunŭků goes home, and draws up a paper, describing what will happen to the child annually, or during as many astronomical periods as he supposes he shall be paid for: indeed some of these rolls describe what will happen to the person during every period of his existence. This astrologer is paid according to the good fortune of the infant, from one roopee to one and two hundred. The parent carefully deposits this paper in his house, and looks at it occasionally, when any thing good or evil happens to his child. The nativity of sons is more frequently cast than that of daughters. Some persons merely keep the date of the birth; or they add the signs under which the child was born, without having its fate recorded. The poor keep no record whatever.

f

When the child is a few days old, the parents give it a name, which is generally that of a god, the Hindoos believing, that the repetition of the names of the gods is meritorious, and, operating like fire, consumes all sin. Some are the simple names of gods, as Narayŭnŭ, Kartiku, Gunéshu, Vŭroonů, Půvůnŭ, Bhōōt-nat'hŭ, Indră,

f Never that of its father.

s The names of the gods are also given to towns, gardens, pools, &c. as Shrēē-Rampoorů, the town of Ramŭ; Krishnŭ-vaganŭ, the garden of Krishnŭ; Lŭkshmēē-sagŭrŭ, the sea of Lŭkshmēē.

Gopală, Unŭntů, Eeshwuru, Koovérů, Mühů-dévŭ,i Bhugŭvanŭ, &c. and others have attached to the name of a god another word, as Ram, and Ram-prŭsadŭ, *Krishnŭ, and Krishnŭ-chŭrŭnů,' Bramhanŭndů," Shivu-nat'hŭ,” Sooryu-kant'hu. The names of the goddesses, with an additional word, is also given to men, as, Doorga chŭrŭnů, Gunga-Ramu, &c. These are very common names among the Hindoo men. Women are named after the goddesses, as Kalee, Doorga, Lukshmēē, Sūrus wŭtee, Gunga, Radha, &c. To these names some add single words, as Vishnoo-priya. A great portion of the various names of the gods and goddesses are chosen and given to men and women. The names of heroes and heroines are also given, as Yoodhist'hiru, and Bhēēmů; Droupŭdee, and Koontee. Names are also chosen from those of trees, flowers, &c. as Luvungu-lŭta,1 Půdmŭ,' Soodha-mookhēē,' Sŭkhee.*

1

The father makes known the name, though the mother has generally the privilege of choosing it. Some Hindoos place two lamps on two names beginning with the same letter, and choose that over which the lamp burns most fiercely. Besides the common name, another is given by selecting a letter from the name of the stellarmansion under which the child was born: this is used in the marriage contract, and at other ceremonies. I give an example from the name of one of the Sungskritŭ pundits in the Serampore printing-office: Krishnŭ happened to

h The common name for God.

i The great god.

* Průsadů, plea

sure; this name intimates that Ramŭ is pleased with this person. Churůnů, foot. m Anŭndŭ, joy. " Nat'hŭ, lord. o Kant'hů, The beloved of Vishnoo. The climbing plant Lŭvŭnga. • She whose mouth is like the water of life.

beautiful.

* The water-lily.

A female friend.

be the guardian deity of his friends; and they gave this boy, as his common name, Gopalu, one of the names of Krishnŭ and as he was born in the last division of the virgin, the Sungskritů name for which ends in t'h, his stellar name became T'hakooru-dasů.

:

Some parents give an unpleasant name to a child who may be born after repeated bereavements, as Dookhēē," Punch-kouree,* Haranŭ, Koorů, &c. They assign as the reason for this, that as the former were such pleasant children, and had such sweet names, they died through the envy of others. If the child live, they add the name of Ramu to one of the above names, as Dookhēē-Ramŭ, &c.

A Hindoo woman suckles her child, if she have only one, till it is five or six years old; and it is not uncommon to see such children standing and drawing the mother's breast. A Hindoo mother seldom employs a wet-nurse; nor is the child fed with prepared food before the expiration of six months. The children of the rich generally go naked till they arrive at their second or third year, and those of the poor till they are six or seven.

"Sorrowful.

taken away by force.

* Five kourees.

y The lost. 2 That which is

If a rich man sinks into poverty, such sayings as these are common: "See! how sharp men's teeth are!"-" He is ruined entirely because others could not bear to see his happiness."-Some Hindoos think, that the gods hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others; and that persons are able to injure others by the power of incantations.

It is very remarkable, that the Africans as well as the Hindoos suckle their children long after they are able to walk; that they eat only with the right hand; smoke out of a thing like the hookha; at eight days old shave the head of a child, and give it a name, &c. Their dances, like those of the Hindoos, are also distinguished by indecent gestures.

As Hindoo women never learn to read, they are unable to teach their children their first lessons, but a father may frequently be seen teaching his child to write the alphabet when five years old: at which age the male children are commonly sent to the village school.

Rich men employ persons to teach their children, even at five years of age, how to behave on the approach of a bramhun, a parent, a spiritual guide, &c. how to sit, to bow, and appear to advantage, in society. When a boy speaks of his father, he calls him t'hakoorŭ, lord; or of his mother, he calls her t'hakooranēē. When he returns from a journey, he bows to his father and mother, and, taking the dust from their feet, rubs it on his head. Considering their inferiority to Europeans in most of the affairs of polished life, the Hindoos in general deserve much credit for their polite address.

Almost all the larger villages in Bengal contain common schools, where a boy learns his letters by writing them, never by pronouncing the alphabet, as in Europe; he first writes them on the ground; next with an iron style, or a reed, on a palm leaf; and next on a green plantain leaf. After the simple letters, he writes the compounds; then the names of men, villages, animals, &c. and then the figures. While employed in writing on leaves, all the scholars stand up twice a day, with a monitor at their head, and repeat the numerical tables, ascending from a unit to gundas, from gundas to voorees, from voorees to punus, and from punŭs to kahůnus; and, during school hours, they write on the palm leaf the strokes by which

e

તા

Ꮒ

these numbers are defined. They next commit to memory an addition table, and count from one to a hundred; and after this, on green plantain leaves, they write easy sums in addition and subtraction of money; multiplication, and then reduction of money, measures, &c. The Hindoo measures are all reducible to the weights, beginning with rŭttees, and ending with munus. The elder boys, as the last course at these schools, learn to write common letters, agreements, &c.-The Hindoo schools begin early in the morning, and continue till nine or ten; after taking some refreshment at home, the scholars return about three, and continue till dark. The Bengalee school-masters punish with a cane, or a rod made of the branch of a tree; sometimes the truant is compelled to stand on one leg, holding up a brick in each hand, or to have his arms stretched out, till he is completely tired. These school-masters are generally respectable shōōdrăs, though in some instances bramhuns follow this employment. Their allowance is very small for the first year's education, about a penny a month, and a day's provisions. When a boy writes on the palm leaf, two-pence a month; after this, as the boy advances in learning, as much as four-pence or eight-pence a month is given.

There are no female schools among the Hindoos; every ray of mental improvement is carefully kept from the sex. As they are always confined to domestic duties, and care

A seed of the abrus pricatorius.

h Eighty lbs.

i An old adage is always present with the Hindoos, that if a woman learn to read, she will become a widow.-I am informed, however, that women teach the female children of kayŭst'hŭs and bramhuns to cut figures in paper and plantain leaves, and delineate other forms with paste on seats, walls, &c. Many are taught to spin thread, which is perhaps the most general female employment among the Hindoos.