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the peasantry, whose wants are few, to encourage them to remain 

 at home, and renew the annual cultivation. 



Thus peaceably they pass their lives with the monkeys, squirrels, 

 and peacocks attached to every village, which, although in a man- 

 ner wild, and perfectly independent, seem fondly to associate with 

 man, and are universally fostered and protected. The peacocks 

 find sustenance in the cullies, or threshing floors, where the corn 

 is trod out by oxen, and divided among the villagers; there the 

 playful squirrels claim a little share, while the cunning monkeys, 

 concealed in the overhanging brandies, watch a favourable oppor- 

 tunity to jump down, and carry off a considerable portion. The 

 trees are also enlivened by a variety of small birds, never molested, 

 who repay their benefactors in a wild melody. I made many addi- 

 tions to my oriental ornithology in Guzerat, especially among the 

 museicapee, or fly-catchers. 



The villagers, Avho seldom visit cities, preserve an innocent 

 simplicity of manners; the women are modest and delicate; their 

 drapery, however coarse, is rendered becoming by an elegant care- 

 lessness of the folds, and their altitudes are peculiarly graceful. 

 Greatly resembling the pastoral manners of the Mesopotamian 

 damsels in the patriarchal days, the young women of Guzerat 

 daily draw water from the public wells, and sometimes carry two 

 or three earthen jars, placed over each other, upon the head; 

 which requiring perfect steadiness, gives them an erect and stately 

 air. An English lady in India, whose great delight was lo illustrate 

 ihe sacred volume by a comparison with the modern manners and 

 customs of the Hindoos, reading the interesting interview between 



