58 the Indran cottage, a tale. Sept. i, 
replied the paria, who himself persecutes men in ‘order to instruct 
thems misfortune.” ‘ Ha! for once, pupil of nature, replied the 
Englifhman, Ifancy you are mistaken. Misfortune throws men inte 
superstition. It casts down the heart and spirit of a man. It renders 
@ man unfeeling and mean spirited.- Men are unhappy in proportien as 
they are low, credulous, and mean,’ “ Because they are not unhappy 
enough, replied the paria; misfortune resembles the black mountain 
of Bember in the confines of the burning kingdom of Lahore, while you 
ascend, you see before you barren rocks only ; but when you are got to 
the summit you see the fky ever your head, and at your feet the king- 
dom of Cachemire.”” 
‘ Charming. and just comparison, oie the deci: in life indeed 
each has his mountain to climb. Yours, virtuous hermit, must have 
been very rugged, for you are raised to an elevation far above all the 
amen I have everknown. You have then been very unhappy, have you ?? 
(The philosopher then enquires why his cast was so much detested in - 
India, and receives answers that fhow at once the extreme absurdity 
of the reason, and the misery to which the outcast parias are reduced 
jm consequence of these grdundlefs prejudices. He then thus pro- 
ceeds.) : 
‘ But, says the doctor, how did you find the means of subsistence, 
Deing thus rejected by alisociety?’ “ At first, said the Indian, I said 
to myself, if every body i; thine enemy, be thou thine own friend. 
Thy misfortune is not above the powers’ of man.. However heavy be 
the rain, the little bird receives only one drop at a time. I strayed in 
zhe woods, and along the banks of rivers seeking food; butI there 
most frequently found nothing but some wild fruits, and I had reason 
to be afraid of ferocious beasts. Thus I became sensible that nature had 
made almost nothing for a solitary individual, and that fhe had connect. 
ed my existence with that society which pufhed me from its bosom. 
‘“*T then frequented the desolated plains, of which there are many in 
India, and Ithere alwaysmet with some vegetable or other, fit for food, 
shat had survived the ruin of those who had cultivated it. I travelled, in 
this manner, from province to province, afsured of finding every where, 
from the wreck of agriculture, the means of subsistance. "When I 
-found the seeds of any useful plant, I sowed them again; saying, if it 
do not bencfit me, it may be of service to others. I found myself lef, 
miserable, seeing I could do some good. There was however one thing 
that I pafsionately desired: that was to enter into some cities. I ad- 
mired at a distance their ramparts and towers, the prodigious con- 
course pf yefsels in'their rivers, and of caravans upon their high ways, — 
