Institutions of the Inhabitants of Eoutan. 495 



kept continually in motion by the spindles passed through the floor and 

 fixed eacli of them to a water-wheel below. The meaning of the word is 

 said to implore a blessing, and they mutter it over as the Catholics do their 

 ' Ave Marias,' dropping a bead at each repetition I The common people 

 make themselves a little domestic altar near the house, consisting of a pile 

 of stones about three feet high, before which they lay leaves, fruits, or 

 blades of corn, in the manner of the ryots in Bengal. 



As the priests are incapable by their own means of keeping up the num- 

 ber of their establishment, they receive from time to time boys taken from 

 the most respectable families in the country, and from others who have 

 interest to procure tlieir children to be admitted of the order. It seems 

 necessary they should be admitted at such an age, that by early habit they 

 may be taught to endure the dull tasteless life they have to undergo. In 

 the castle of Tacissudon are a number of these people, some of them 

 employed as tailors, embroiderers, and painters, in preparing the sacerdotal 

 habits, and the variety of religious furniture. Some few attend on the per- 

 son of the Rajah, acting as secretaries, and in such like confidential capa- 

 cities, but the far greater part of them pass their time with perfect insipidity. 

 Between the intervals of devotion they are generally seen lolling over the 

 balconies of their apartments, not being allowed to stir out of the castle 

 except on every eighth day, when they walk out one by one in a line ac- 

 cording to seniority, the youngest bringing up the rear, and proceed in 

 regular order to an island in the river to bathe. Their tedious moments are 

 not much relieved by sleep, if they pass the night fixed in the posture which 

 the Rajah informed us it was necessary for every Gylong to use. It is 

 sitting cross-legged, with the feet brought to rest in the upper part of the 

 opposite thigh. The body is stretched stiffly upwards, that the arms, with- 

 out being at all bent, may be close to the sides, and the hands with the 

 palms upwards rest also upon the thighs. The eyes are pointed towards the 

 nostrils, to keep watch lest the breath should find an occasion to escape 

 wholly from the body. They are allowed to place the back against the 

 wall, but tlie body and limbs are in so distorted a position, that without 

 much practice it is impossible even to stretch them to it. A watch goes 

 regularly round with a light and a scourge to see that they are all in their 

 places, and to discipline such as are out of the proper posture. When any 

 one proves of a licentious disposition, he is expelled the class, and should 

 he be convicted of a commerce with women, they say the punishment is death. 



3 S 2 



