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" vie libertine, el abus de leur authorite et caractere, se font les 

 " pierres de scandale de la loi de Jesus-Christ : mais cela n'empeche 

 " pas que je n'approuve extremement les missions, el les bons 

 " et savans missionaires; ils sont absolumenl necessaires." 



There was not a Christian inhabitant either in Dhuboy or the 

 districts under my care; the Mahomedans were in all respects 

 similar to those 1 have described in other places, and the Hin- 

 doos brought to my recollection the simplicity of the patriarchal 

 age; they had not been accustomed to any intercourse with 

 Europeans, and while under the Mahomedan dominion their reli- 

 gious and national customs were generally tolerated. Soon after 

 my arrival some venerable brahmins and principal Hindoos en- 

 treated of me that the Europeans belonging to the garrison might 

 not be permitted to molest the monkeys, nor to fire at the pelicans, 

 cranes, and water-fowl, which resorted to the lake. They not 

 only dwelt upon the metempsychosis, but alleged that they were 

 extremely useful in keeping the city and tank free from dirt and 

 nuisances, and that for ages, even during the Mahomedan govern- 

 ment, they had never been molested. It was a capital offence in 

 ancient Egypt to kill an ibis or an hawk; the former was vene- 

 rated because it devoured the serpents and reptiles which bred in 

 ihe country after the inundation of the Nile: the inhabitants of 

 Holland are as strongly attached to the stork, because it destroys 

 the rats, mice, and other vermin which undermine the dykes. 

 Supposing therefore that the Hindoos had similar reasons for their 

 prejudice in favour of monkeys and pelicans, I readily granted 

 their request; and this compliance led to another of far more im- 

 portance, and indeed to the greatest favour I could confer upon 



