116 



and inseparably bound up -with the social condition, 

 and progress of tbe human race. 



In India, we have very many stages of civiliza- 

 tion. By no means an iufinitessimal part of the 

 country, is still, in the undisputed possession of 

 wild beasts.* Others are occupied by demi-savage 

 races. Large tracts of country are inhabited by 

 semi-barbarous tribes. In a few districts the state 

 of society is nomadic. But, taking a general view of 

 the whole, the great bulk of the middle and lower 

 classes of the people of the mofassil-\~ of India, may 

 be said to be in the Agricultural stage of civiliza- 

 tion. Of course there are and were, when England 

 was peopled by Ancient Britons many populous 

 towns and flourishing cities ; but by reason of the 

 enormous distances and great difficulty of inter- 

 communication, these do not exercise any material 

 influence on the state of society in the interior. The 

 masses the hewers of wood, and drawers of water, 

 the tillers of the soil, have little, I may say no educa- 

 tion whatever ; their food is a few handful s of rice, 

 it may be wheat or pulse ; their clothing covers their 

 nakedness no more. In many parts of the country 



* See Official Returns showing- the number of natives destroyed 

 annually by alligators, tigers, wolves, and other wild animals, and those 

 who die from the effects of snake-bites. They average some thousands; 

 yet the fifth portion of such cases, are never reported. In Siudh, 

 alone, the number of deaths from snake- bites, is enormous. 



f The country, as opposed to cities or towns. 



