162 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA. 



steady and sober, if illiterate and superstitious, Hindu cultivator 

 of the soil is a type towards which we should by no means 

 regret to see the aboriginal races advancing. It is true that 

 in thus joining the great mass of Hinduism they will exchange 

 their rude forms of religious belief for a submission to the 

 powerful priestly influence which still prohibits the advance 

 of the people of India beyond a certain point, and for a 

 superstition which is morally no better than their own. The 

 missionary may lose his chance in the meantime of getting 

 them to accept some of his fetiches"''" in the place of their 

 own. But probably they will then be no further, if so far, 

 from the acceptance of a pure religion of morality than they 

 are at present ; and when the distant day dawns for the dusky 

 peoples of India, when the light of education shall dissipate 

 their hideous superstitions, and lead them to inquire after a 

 pure belief, they will be there, elevated and improved by con- 

 tact and assimilation with a race superior to themselves. 



Such seems to be the probable future of those sections of 

 the aborigines who lie on the confines of Hinduism in the 

 plains. But so long as the vast wildernesses of these central 

 highlands remain uncleared, which physical causes will in 

 great measure render a permanent necessity, so long must 

 h u man inhabitants of a type fitted to occupy them continue 

 to exist. For such, civilization as we call it is impossible, 

 and undesirable if it were possible. All that can be done for 

 them is to eliminate by thoughtful administration causes 

 which lead to their depression or demoralization, and to avoid 

 any treatment irksome to their wild and timid nature which is 

 not necessitated by the general requirements of the country. 



There is probably not room in their jungles for a much 



* Of course I mean what would prove fetiches to them in their present intel- 

 lectual stage not that they are so to the missionary ! 



