54 HINDOOSTAN. 



jjarroquets. Poultry in a wild state are found in great numbers in 

 most of the jungles or thickets of Hindoostan. The natives of this 

 country, and indeed of almost every part of India, are extravagantly- 

 fond of cock-fighting, and pay greater attention to the training and feed- 

 ing these birds than we ever did, even when that diversion was at 

 its height. 



The serpents of Hindoostan are very numerous, and some species 

 of them are venomous in an extraordinary degree. At Bombay, and 

 near Madras, a small snake is found which the Portuguese call cobra 

 de morte ; it is only from six to nine inches long, but from its bite 

 death almost instantaneously ensues. 



Natural curiosities... .Among these may be enumerated the 

 mountains which form the northern boundary between this country 

 and Tibet, sometimes called the Glacieres of India, and which make 

 the most majestic and awful appearance, even at the distance of 150 

 miles ; the ice rises often into lofty spires on the grandest of scales, 

 and the light sides appear stained in the most elegant manner with a 

 roseate colour. At the Gangontra, or Fall of the Ganges, sometimes 

 called the Cow's Mouth, that river, after having flowed through a sub- 

 terraneous passage, again emerges. Two miles to the west of Go- 

 cauk, the Gutpurba river, where it is 169 yards broad, falls perpen- 

 dicularly down 174 feet; a fall exceeding that of the famous cataract 

 of Niagara, in North America, which is not more than 162, or, ac- 

 cording to some accounts, only 150 feet. 



Population. ...The Mahometans, or, as they are called, Moors of 

 Hindoostan, are computed by Mr. Orme, a judicious and authentic 

 writer on the history of this country, to be about ten millions, and the 

 Indians, or Hindoos, about a hundred millions. According to other 

 estimates the whole population of Hindoostan is supposed only to 

 amount to about 60 millions. 



Inhabitants, manners, customs. ...The Hindoos, or, as they are 

 likewise called, Gentoos, have,' from time immemorial, been divided 

 into four great tribes. The first and most noble tribe are the Brah- 

 mins, who alone can officiate in the priesthood, like the Levites among 

 the Jews. They are not, however, excluded from government, trade, 

 or agriculture, though they are strictly prohibited from all menial 

 offices by their laws. The second in order is the Sittri tribe, who, 

 according to their original institution, ought to be all military men ; 

 but they frequently follow other professions. The third is the tribe 

 of Beise, who are chiefly merchants, bankers, and banias, or shop- 

 keepers. The fourth tribe is that of Sudder, who ought to be meni- 

 al servants ; and they are incapable of raising themselves to any su- 

 perior rank. If any of them should be excommunicated from any of 

 the four tribes, he and his posterity are for ever shut out from the 

 society of every person in the nation, except that of the Harricast, 

 who are held in utter detestation by all the other tribes, and are em- 

 ployed only in the meanest and vilest offices. This circumstance 

 renders excommunication so dreadful, that any Hindoo will suffer the 

 torture, and even death itself, rather than deviate from one article of 

 his faith. 



Besides this division into tribes, the Gentoos are also subdivided 

 into casts and small classes or tribes ; and it has been computed that 

 there are eighty-four of these casts, though some have supposed 

 there are a greater number. The order of pre-eminence of all the 

 casts, in a particular city or proyince ? is generally indisputably deci- 



