they wear no shoes nor hats; they lie on a mat laid on the ground; the wife spins thread for her own and her husband's clothes, and the children go naked. A man who procures a roopee monthly, eats, with his wife and two children, two muns of rice in the month, the price of which is one roopee. From hence it appears, that such a day-labourer must have some other resource, otherwise he could not live: if he is a Musulman, he rears a few fowls; or, if a Hindoo, he has a few fruit trees near his house, and he sells the fruit. If by these, or any other means, the labourer can raise half a roopee or a roopee monthly, this procures him salt, a little oil, and one or two other prime necessaries; though vast multitudes of the poor obtain only, from day to day, boiled rice, green pepper puds, and boiled herbs: the step above this, is a little oil with the rice. The garments of a farmer for a year (two suits) cost about two roopees (5s.); whilst those of a servant employed by a European, cost about sixteen, (40s). A few rich men excepted, the Hindoos burn in their houses only oil; they will not touch a candle. Some of the rich place a couple of wax candles in the room which contains the idol.

In country places, houses are never rented: the poor man gives about two-pence annually for the rent of a few yards of land, and on this, at his own expense, he rears his hut. A rich land-owner frequently gives to bramhåns, and men of good cast, land on which to build their houses rent-free. Poverty, instead of exciting pity in this country, only gives rise to the reflection, 'He belongs to a degraded class: he is suffering for the sins of a former birth, and is accursed of the gods.'

The coins which circulate in Bengal are, gold-mohurs,

value 16 roopees; half-mohŭrs, quarter-mohŭrs, two roopees, and one roopee (gold pieces); roopees, half roopees, quarter roopees, half-quarter roopees, and one ana pieces (silver); copper poise, four of which make an ana, half poise, quarter poise, and shells calls kourees, from the Maldive islands; 5760 of the latter sell for a roopee. Labourers among the native masters, are paid daily in kourees; the daily market expenses are paid with these shells, and they are given in alms to beggars, as well as used on other occasions. A shopkeeper as stoutly refuses to receive a kouree with a hole in it, as another man does a counterfeit roopee. The gold and silver coin is very frequently counterfeited; but the coiner is not punished with death. The weights and measures used by the Hindoos are various, from eighty pounds to a barleycorn. In casting up numbers, many count their fingers and finger joints.

The Hindoos are enveloped in the greatest superstition, not only as idolaters, but in their dread of a great variety of supernatural beings, and in attaching unfortunate consequences to the most innocent actions. They never go

The Hindoos consult astrologers on many occasions: the questions they ask refer to almost all the affairs of life: as, whether an article bought for sale will produce profit or not; whether a child in the womb will be a boy or a girl; whether a wife will bear children or not; when certain family troubles will be over; whether a cause pending in a court of justice will be decided in a person's favour or not; whether a person will enjoy prosperity in a new house which he is building or not; whether a person will acquire riches or not; whether a person's death will happen at an holy place or not; how many wives a person will marry; which wife will be most beautiful which wife a person will love most; how many children by each wife; how long a person will live; at the time of death, will a person retain his senses or not; at that time, which son will be present; a youth asks, which god he shall choose as his guardian deity; shall he choose his father's spiritual guide, or a new one, &c. &c.

across a rope which ties an animal, nor across the shadow of a bramhun or an image; this is a rule laid down in one of the shastrus, for which no reason is assigned. We may suppose, however, with respect to the shadow of a bramhŭn or an image, that the rule is meant to preserve a proper reverence in the minds of the people.

Many persons in Bengal are called dainus, or witches, whose power is exceedingly dreaded: they are mostly old women: a man of this description is called Khokusů. Amongst other things, it is said, they are able, while sitting near another, imperceptibly to draw the blood out of his body, and by a look, to make a person mad. If a dainŭ shakes her hair in a field at night, it is said, that a number of dainus immediately assemble, and dance and play gambols together as long as they choose, and that if any one comes within the magic circle, he is sure to fall a victim to their power. When a person falls suddenly sick, or is seized with some new disorder, or behaves in an anaccountable manner, they immediately declare that he is possessed by a dainu. Sometimes the dainŭ is asked, why she has entered this person; she replies, that when she came to ask alms, he reproached her. Asking her who she is, she hesitates, and begs to be excused, as her family will be disgraced; but they again threaten her, when she gives a wrong name; but being again or more severely threatened, at last she replies, "I am such a person, of such a village;" or, "I am such a person's mother." The people then peremptorily order her to come out she promises and is then asked on what side she will fall, and what she will take, in going out; whether she will take a shoe in her mouth or not. This she refuses, declaring that she belongs to a good family; but at last she consents to take a pan of water; and after two

or three attempts, she actually carries the pan of water betwixt her teeth, to the porch, where, after sitting down with caution, she falls down on the right side in a state of insensibility. The attendants then sprinkle some water in the person's face, repeating incantations, and in a few minutes the possessed comes to himself, arises, and goes into the house. This is the common method with dainus. The persons who have been thus bewitched, are said to be numerous my informants declared, that they had seen persons in these circumstances, who had been thus delivered from this possession. In former times, the Hindoo rajas used to destroy the cast of a dainŭ.

The Hindoos have the strongest faith in the power of incantations to remove all manner of evils. The vanŭ incantation is said to empower an arrow shot into a tree to make it wither immediately. Many Hindoo married women, who are not blessed with children, wear incantations written with lac on the bark of the bhōōrjjŭ, in order to obtain this blessing. They wear these charms on the arm, or round the neck, or in the hair, inclosed in small gold or brass boxes. The Hindoos repeat incantations, when they retire to rest, when they rise, when they first set their foot on the ground, when they clean their teeth, when they eat, when they have done eating, when it thunders, when they enter on a journey, when their head or belly aches, when they see an idol, when they put on new clothes, when they want to kill or injure a supposed enemy, when they wish to cure the scab in sheep, &c. If diseases are not cured by an incantation, and the person dies, they say, the words of the incantation were not pronounced rightly, or a word was left out, or, they impute it to some other accident; the power of the incanMen who keep suakes and exhibit them to the public, assemble some

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tation they never question. If a person recovers on whose account an incantation was uttered, they say, the incantation was well repeated. Some men have a great name for their supposed knowledge of incantations, and for their dexterity in using them for the destruction of enemies; some incantations are efficacious in proportion to the number of times they are repeated. When I asked a learned pundit, why the Hindoos had been so often subdued by other nations, seeing they were in possession of incantations so potent, he said, that those for destroying enemies were difficult to be procured.

Remarks on Country Scenery, made during a journey.As the boat glides along, drawn by our boat-men, we perceive the corn in full growth on both sides of the river -proofs of the care of Him on whom all the creatures wait; and, if imagination could supply a pleasing variety of hill and dale, and some green hawthorn hedges, we might fancy ourselves passing through the open fields in our own country; and the ascending larks, the reapers cut

times in great numbers, and pretend, by incantations, to subdue the power of poison after permitting snakes, retaining their venemous fangs, to bite them. On these occasions, two stages are erected near to each other, which are occupied by two snake combatants, who alternately challenge each other, using the most provoking language, like men about to engage in some desperate enterprize. When the challenge is accepted, the person takes the challenger's snake, and suffers it to bite him in the arms, and in any other parts of the body, while his friends at the bottom of the stage join him in repeating incantations, and encourage him, by their addresses, to persevere in this desperate folly. In some instances, the man, falls from the stage, and the poison, spreading through his veins, and resisting all the power of their inchantments, precipitates the wretch, writhing with agony, into eternity. The Hindoos believe, that there are incantations able to deprive serpents of all power of motion, and others to invigorate them again. At the above times, the power of incantations is said to be thus displayed, as well as in making the serpent move whichever way the enchanter pleases.