INDIA. 303 



Crime is more common in England than in India. Why 

 should I change my religion? The essence of our re- 

 ligion consists in leading a useful, pure life. We believe 

 in progression in spiritual as well as in worldly affairs. 

 As the muscle is strengthened by exercise, so constant 

 efforts to reach a higher spiritual existence will improve 

 progressively the spiritual part of men until perfection 

 is reached. We do not believe in perpetual punishment 

 after death, but in a gradual elevation until nirvana, a 

 state of perfection, is attained. Missionaries can not 

 change the religious views of high caste Hindus. Then, 

 too, the manner of living and the way in which the 

 missionaries approach the low caste Hindus are not cal- 

 culated to excite their interest or to gain their con- 

 fidence." This is what the Hindu said. 



In conversation with me a Roman Catholic priest 

 who came to India 26 years ago said : "We can do 

 nothing with the adults in the way of converting them. 

 The people appreciate our works of charity and our 

 efforts to educate their children. We must plant the 

 seed of true religion in the hearts of the children, where 

 it will grow, but their parents are out of our reach. 

 The high caste, educated Hindus have their fixed re- 

 ligious ideas from which they can not be diverted, and 

 the low castes are in the firm grasp of the Brahmin and 

 the Buddhist priests." 



The natives are suspicious of the Europeans and are 

 naturally proud and not easily approached. The poor- 

 est of the poor possess an inborn pride and manifest a 

 spirit of reserve entirely unknown among the South 

 Sea Islanders. There is no "Alohanui" or "Talofu" 

 greeting xor the stranger in India. The faces are stern, 

 the look shy, the bearing defiant and smiles few unless 

 they are provoked by a liberal tip. The converted na- 

 tives may conform on the surface witli the teachings 

 of the church to which they belong, but in their inner 

 life they retain much of what they have been taught, 

 and what they practiced before they changed their re- 



