640 Abbe Dubois' State of 



lliis and nimilur matters, and to be 

 guided In the most common occur- 

 iciices of life hy liis religions teacliers. 

 He is forbidden by his institutions to 

 lay any claim whatovi r to either sacred 

 or profane science, or to intermeddle 

 in any way with the one or the other. 

 His religious leaders have engrossed, 

 as their absolute and exclusive inhe- 

 ritance, all that is included within the 

 term science. 



Among the arts, iiie Brahmins have 

 left to the otiier castes only those whose 

 exercise depetids more u|)on bodily 

 than on mental exertion ; such as, 

 music on windy instruments, painting, 

 sculpture, and mrciianics; and even 

 these they have beset with so many 

 sources of discouragement, that they 

 have remained in tlieir infancy, and none 

 of them has even approached perlection, 

 they all being at the present time the 

 same as they were two or three thousand 

 years ago. 



There is no possibility to have access, 

 either by word or writing, to the refined 

 part of the nation; tlie line of sepa- 

 ration between ns and the Braiiniins is 

 (as I have just observed) drawn, and 

 the barrier impassable; there is no 

 opening to argument or persuasion: 

 our opponents are strictly bound by 

 their religious and civil statutes to shun, 

 to scorn, and bate us. They are 

 obliged to do so from a sense of duty. 

 To listen to us would be in them a 

 crime, and the greatest of all disgraces. 



THE BIDLE SOCIETY. 



Among many instances which are 

 come within my personal notiee of the 

 cflecls jirodueed on the minds of the 

 natives by the versions of the Holy 

 Scriptures into the idioms of India, 

 I will content myself vvitli relating the 

 following only : — 



Being in a mighbouring village, three 

 or four months ago, I received there 

 the visit of some Christians living in 

 the Bellary district, in a place called 

 Tdlairu, where between 30 and 40 

 Tilinga Christian famiies reside. After 

 the ordinary marks of respect, and the 

 usual compliments, one of my visitors 

 took a book out of a small bag, and 

 without uttering a single word, laid it 

 at my feet. On opening it, I found it 

 was a translation into Tilinga of the 

 Gospel of St. Matthew ; and, before 

 saying any thing about it, I wished to 

 be acquainted with the opinion of my 

 visitors on the work. Having interro- 

 gated them for the purpose, the person 

 who had delivered it to nic began the 



Christianity in India. 



following curious account, saying thai 

 some months back. two Christians of 

 their village went to Bellary on some 

 business, and, bearing that a European 

 gooroo, or priest, (whom from their 

 account I understood to have been a 

 protestant missi(mary,) was living in 

 that place, they went to pay him a 

 visit ; that they had been very kindly 

 received by him, and that after a good 

 deal of conversation, chiefly on reIij;ious 

 subjects, the gooroo, on dismissing them, 

 had made them a present of the book, 

 strongly recommending them to have a 

 chapter of its contents read every Sun- 

 day in their chapel to the assembled 

 congregation; that there being only five 

 or six individuals among the congrega- 

 tion who could write and read, on their 

 return they had culled on them, and de- 

 livered the book to them ; that these 

 persons hud assembled together for the 

 purpose of reiiding it, and becoming 

 acquair.ted with its contents; but that 

 they were nnnble to understand the 

 meaning of a single chapter ; that in 

 their |)erplexity they had applied to some 

 Pagans living in the same village, to 

 assist them in expoimding the book ; but 

 no one among them had been able to 

 understand any thing about it ; that they 

 were then disposed to believe that t!ie 

 foreign gooroo, who was ni)t (lieirown, 

 had given them such a work to make a 

 jest of them, and that in this pcrsi'lasion, 

 some were of opinion, tliat it should be 

 thrown into the fire; but the majority 

 wishing to become acquainted at least 

 with the outlines of the work, called for 

 the purpose on a Brahmin poorofiita, or 

 astrologer, living in their neighbourhood; 

 that the pooroliita having perused one or 

 two pages in their presence, told them 

 that it appeared to him to be a curious 

 book, but that it was written in so loose 

 and incoherent a style, and in so obscure 

 a manner, that it would require some days 

 to become acquainted with the whole. 

 When the Christians returned, the 

 poorohita gave them the following curi- 

 ous answer, assuring them, in a low tone 

 of voice, that he had thoroughly perused 

 the work with attention, and that it was 

 nothingimore or less than a treatise upon 

 magic; adding, that it was worked up in 

 obscure and incoherent sentences, quite 

 unintelligible'! to «7<rfj-c(«; " as is alwajs 

 the case," said he, " with works treating 

 upon occult and pernicious sciences ;" 

 and strongly recommending them to de- 

 stroy, or otherwise get rid of it, as it was 

 a great sin to keep so pernicious a book 

 in their possession. 



