﻿A SECT COMMONLY DENOMfNATED NUTS. 455 



person wliolias accumulated property, issoon consider- 

 ed as a culprit, uui a cliar<;e l)C!ng- brought against 

 him, the complaint U carried before a Puncha^et*, 

 when the business commonly concludes by his being 

 obliged topro\ide a letliean draught lor the fraternity 

 to which he betongs. This is an exact recital of what 

 hapj)ened to two men who waited upon me, and to 

 whom 1 gave a tritling present It was found that they 

 had communicated to me some int'ormation which 

 ought to iia\ e been concealed, and they therefore, in 

 addition to the ordinary fine, underweat the peculiar 

 punishment ot having their noses rubbed upon the 

 ground. 



Though professing Islamlsm, they employ a 

 BruhmuH, who is su[)p <sed to be an adept in astro- 

 logy, to fix upon a name for their, cliilchen, whom 

 they permit to remain at the breast till five or six 

 years of age It is no uncommon thing to see four 

 or five miserable infants clinging round their mother 

 and struggling for their scanty portion of nourish- 

 ment, the whole of which, if we might judge from 

 the appearance of the v.oman, would hardly suffice 

 for one. This practice, with the violent exercises 

 which they are taught in their youth, and the ex- 

 cessive and habitual indulgence in drinking intoxi- 

 cating liquors, must greatly curtail the lives of these 

 wretched females. Their marriages are generally 

 deferred to a later period than is usual in this climate, 

 in consequence of a daughter being considered as 

 productive property to the parents, by her profes- 



G G 4 sional 



* The derivation of this word from fnnch, ji've^ admirably illus- 

 trates the ancient practice, as well as the necessity, of a casung voice 

 or majority, in all judicial assemblies of a limited number, and proves 

 alone, with numerous other instances of the same kind, how indispen- 

 sable a knowledge of languaj^es is, to the observing traveller and in- 

 telligent historian. H^d all those who have written on Indian affairs 

 hitherto, viev.'ed this subject wiih the eyes of an £/o», we should not 

 have so much to unlearn as we now must, in every matter of impor- 

 tance here. Whoever peruses his exceilert account of '^,urkejy will 

 see the force of the present remark, and apply it accordingly. 



