Chap. II. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. -89 



THE fimllarity of Polity, Cuftoms, Manners, and Opinions, in 

 two countries fo remote from one another as Egypt and India, 

 is fo great, as not to be parralleled on this earth; and not only in na- 

 tions fo diftant from one another, but not even, I believe, in nations 

 the neareft to one another. The firft fimilarity, I fhall obferve, is a 

 Angularity in the conftitution of the two nations, fuch as is not, nor 

 ever was, in any other nation ; I mean the divifion of the people 

 into different claffes, or Cajis as the Indians c::ll them, conulling of 

 men of different occupation?, who live entirely leparated from one 

 another, and do not mix by intermarriages. Of thefe claffes, in E- 

 gypt, I have already treated in page 209, and following, of this vo- 

 lume; where I have followed the divifion, which Diodorus Siculus 

 has given of them, into^-y^, the Priefts, Soldiers, Hufbandmen, Shep- 

 herds, and Handicraftfmen. Braffey Halhed in his Tranflation of 

 the Code of Gentoo Laws, which, by the orders of the Eaft India 

 Company, was compiled by eleven Bramins, and written originally 

 in the Shanfcrit language, makes the number of Cafts in India to be no 

 more than four : The firft is the Bramins, anfwering exadly to the 

 Priefts of Egypt; and, therefore, they are faid to be the wafdom of the 

 nation. The military men, or Rajaput race, as they are called, com- 

 pofe the fecond clafs ; and fo far the divifion of men in India cor- 

 refponds exadly with the divifion in Eg^-^pt: The third clafs in In- 

 dia is more comprehenfive than the fame clafs in Egypt ; for it 

 comprehends not only the huftjandmen, but the fhepherds, and al- 

 fo thofe who deal in trade. The fourth clafs is compofed of the 

 meaneft of the people, or Souders, as they call them, who pradice 

 mechanic arts, and are by Nature deftined to ferve and to labour*. 

 But thefe four claffes are fubdivided into different cafts, of which 

 I have been told, there are above 80 f ; So that the divifion of the 

 Vol. IV. O o • people 



* See Mr Halhed's Preface to his Tranflation, p. 49. 



f This information I had from the late IMr Frafer, who wrote the life of Kouli Chan. 



