56 The Ethnology of India. 



The copulative ' u' l and,' most people would think palpable 

 Persian, and not go all the way to the Canarese for it. 



It comes then in my view to this that the only real appearance of 

 analogy to the Dravidian class of languages in particular (as distin- 

 guished from the body of Turanian languages in general) is reduced 

 to two numerals. In Brahui neither ' one' nor ' four' and upwards in 

 the least correspond with Dravidian numerals, but the two numbers 

 1 two' and ' three' as given by Dr. Caldwell do seem similar. He gives 

 the Brahui two, ' irat y and three, { musit J or ' muoiV which bear com- 

 parison with the Dravidian two, ' eraduf l iranduf c randu,' l ranu* 

 and three, l muru y l muduf ' mundu,' ' munnarj l munu? 



The Brahui one ' asit' seems very like the Pehlevi ' achat,' and 

 the Brahui irat may come from the Pehlevi ' tarein' two, the Cauca- 

 sian ' ieru' and the Georgian ' ori.' If so the ' three' would be the 

 only tie to the Dravidians left, and that is not very close. The 

 ground of induction seems insufficient to connect such dissimilar 

 people. My impression is, that if, instead of saying that the Brahui 

 language is mainly Punjabee with a Dravidian element, Dr. Caldwell 

 had said that it is mainly Arian (Indo-Persic) with a Turanian 

 element, that would have been more correct. At any rate in so 

 important a matter fuller inquiry is necessary. 



THE MODERN INDIANS. 



I commence with the Bramins. 



It is well-known that the Bramins as Priests are a necessary part 

 of every Hindu society, and as Priests they are to be found wherever 

 there are Hindus. In that character then it would be unnecessary 

 to my purpose more particularly to trace them, for with their reli- 

 gious sects and tenets I do not deal. I shall only trace them for 

 Ethnological purposes through the countries in which they form an 

 important part of the general secular population. In fact, far from 

 being restricted to the character of Priests, they are one of the 

 most numerous castes in India, and probably that which follows the 

 greatest variety of avocations. On the whole I should say that they are 

 less prejudiced than any other of those whom I call full-blown or High 

 Hindus. At any rate, whether it be that their character as keepers and 

 expounders of the Law gives them greater licence, or that their intellect 



