198 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



the proceedings is kept up by frequent and deep potations on tlie part of the male dancers 

 and musicians. The whole is of au orderly character, and never degenerates into an orgie. 

 The demure looks of the girls, some pretty enough, and the ardent glances of the youths as 

 they pass round and peep slyly at their lovers, make a pretty picture. The dress of the 

 girls is silk throughout, and the ornaments are of gold and coral, all but the crown, the feather, 

 and the bracelets, which are of silver. The Khasis are evidently a very primitive people who 

 have lingered on in their native hills from a remote antiquity. 



RELIGION IN INDIA. 



THE Hindus, being an essentially religious people, cling very persistently to their old beliefs, 

 and consequently Christian missionaries have great difficulties to contend with. The women 

 exert a powerful influence, and until they are converted India can never become Christian. 

 Another difficulty, and a very serious one, is the fact that a Hindu who gives up his old 

 faith becomes an outcast, and those who espouse Christianity are not always of the best. But 

 in spite of these obstacles it cannot be said that missions have failed. The number of native 

 Christians is considerably over 2,000,000, and the Protestant communities have been increasing 

 at the rate of 50 per cent, in each decade. Three hundred ordained native clergymen are 

 helping the work of evangelisation, and there are 450 mission stations, with 500 European 



missionaries. The Roman 

 Catholic Church counts over 

 1,250,000 of adherents, and 

 is carrying on its work with 

 great zeal. As the reader is 

 well aware, caste is one of 

 the chief obstacles to the 

 spread of Christianity. " Will 

 it ever be done away with?" 

 is a very natural question, 

 in answer to which we give 

 the following quotation from 

 Keane: "Redemption from 

 this social yoke will ultimately 

 be found in the spread of 

 education, in such internal 

 upheavals as are foreshadowed 

 by the Brahmo-Somaj and 

 other monotheistic movements, 

 in the silent influences of 

 the higher European culture, 

 quickened by the development 

 of the railway system and 

 other levelling institutions." 

 The Abbe Dubois, a well- 

 known and zealous missionary, 

 completely despaired of the 

 higher castes ever becoming 

 Christians, though he was 

 ready to acknowledge that 

 there was a harvest-field 

 among the lower castes mid 

 outcasts. Of his own attempts 

 NAGAS IN FULL DRESS. to convert the Hind us, he 



\BO,,, IM , 



