382 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. —CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



of opportunities for their development. In earlier times, before tliey were 

 oppressed by a foreign yoke, they had readied a higher degree of civiliza- 

 tion, and their country lias been considered as the cradle of all the arts and 

 sciences. They practise agriculture, breeding of cattle, fishing, hunting, 

 and mining. They cultivate forests, commerce, and navigation. They 

 manufacture cloths, of a great variety and value, particularly of cotton and 

 silk ; among which arc the finest muslins, tine shawls, mats, cordovan 

 leather, &c, and arc inimitable in dyeing. In the arts of music and paint- 

 ing they are backward; but in dancing, statuary, and architecture, they are 

 more advanced. They :ue acquainted with arithmetic, astronomy, and 

 chronology, and are very fond of poetry and singing. 



The most extraordinary custom of the Hindoos is the burning of widows 

 at the funeral of their husbands — a practice which lias prevailed from time 

 immemorial. This burning of the widows exists chiefly in the countries 

 governed by the native princes. The division of the people into several 

 entirely distinct orders, or classes, which has existed from the remotest 

 times, forms the castes. There are four castes, which, to the great disadvan- 

 tage of cultivation, arc essentially and perpetually separate from each other, 

 so that no transition from one to another is possible ; no connection between 

 tluiii by marriage, or in any other way, is permitted, and no individual of one 

 class can assume the habits, or engage in the occupations, of another. The 

 distinction is complete, in every sense, hereditary and personal ; till the 

 privileges or disabilities are inherited ; nor is any one permitted to become 

 what he is destined to he by nature, but he is obliged to become what his 

 birth permits, or to remain what it condemns him to be. The slightest 

 transgression of these laws is punished with loss of castes, and sometimes, in 

 particular cases, with death. Even the difference of food is precisely 

 .marked out. The three higher castes arc prohibited entirely the use of flesh ; 

 the fourth is allowed to eat all kinds, except beef; but only the lowest 

 classes of the fifth caste are allowed every kind of food, without restriction. 

 Thus the lower the rank of a Hindoo, the less he is restricted in his food 

 and drink; but, on the other hand, the other burdensome restrictions in- 

 crease with the inferiority of rank. The first and noblest caste is called 

 Brahmanes, and is the class of the Brahmines, or Brahmanes, who are 

 priests, scholars, teachers in schools and academies, lawyers, and state 

 officers. The second noble order is called Cshatriyas, or Chehteree, and 

 i< composed of the Cshatriyas, or Ivajah-putras, the kings and warriors. 

 They preserve the name Rajah-puts, Rajah-putras, by way of distinction, in 

 their old hereditary dominions in Hindostan. The third noble caste is called 

 Bise, or Vaisyas : it is composed of husbandmen and merchants. The 

 merchants are called Banians, or Wannians. The fourth noble caste is that 



