558 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 



In Sind little detail was observed in abstract- 

 ing information respecting caste. In the Bom- 

 bay presidenc3 r 84% of the people are Hindus. 

 Caste is not discussed elaborately in the Di- 

 gest of the census, but incidentally the views 

 of Mr. Ibbetson as to the close relation of 

 occupation, tribe, religion, and caste, are sus- 

 tained by the unnamed official who prepared 

 the Digest. Among the 200 pages of tables, 

 one table shows ' Class and name of caste,' 

 ' Hereditary occupation,' ratios occupied in 

 certain general pursuits, and, under ' Remarks,' 

 more definitely the numbers actually occupied 

 in pursuits not hereditary. The largest caste 

 is the Kunbi, or cultivators, of the Maratha dis- 

 tricts, and next the Mahar and Dhed, unclean 

 castes, village servants. Brahmans and Raj- 

 puts lead socially. Over 830 castes are rec- 

 ognized, the forty-page index for which, unfor- 

 tunately, was not bound in the copy of the 

 Digest at hand. Mr. Bourdillon (Bengal) 

 avoids discussion of caste farther than it was 

 necessary for general tabulation of caste enu- 

 meration. He quotes the instructions of the 

 census committee of India in this : — 



We have no hesitation in saying that there is no 

 part of the work of compilation which presents so 

 many difficulties, involves so much labor, and at the 

 same time is so unsatisfactory when completed, as 

 the working-up of the caste tables." 



The committee did not encourage minute 

 research as to caste, and it is only by a sort of 

 cross-examination that we can trace Mr. Bour- 

 dillon's views as compared with Mr. Ibbet- 

 son's. Under caste, however, he speaks of 

 "the interest of the caste question being much 

 more ethnological than statistical," — the race 

 idea. The Bengal tables deal only with ' Hin- 

 du castes ; ' but Mr. Bourdillon tells us, under 

 ' Religions,' that 



The term ' Hindu' now denotes neither a creed nor 

 a race, neither a church nor a people, but is a general 

 expression devoid of precision, and embracing alike 

 the most punctilious disciple of pure Vedantism, the 

 agnostic youth who is the product of western educa- 

 tion, and the semi-barbarous hillman who eats with- 

 out scruple any thing . . . and is as ignorant of the 

 Hindu theology as the stone which he worships in 

 times of danger. 



And he quotes approvingly from Mr. Bev- 

 erley : — 



So does the Hindu religion in Bengal assume a 

 Protean form, from the austere rites practised by the 

 shaven pundits of Nuddea to the idol-worship of the 

 semi-barbarous Boona. The Bauris . . . are prob- 

 ably all of aboriginal extraction, but have adopted as 

 their religion a form of Hinduism, and can scarcely 

 be classed as other than Hindus. 



In chapter ix., after stating that the Gwalla 

 or the cowherd caste is largest, Brahmin sec- 

 ond in numbers, Kaibartha (husbandmen of 

 lower Bengal) third, Mr. Beverley says, "The 

 Koch, who occupy the fourth place, afford a 

 striking example of the way in which Hindu- 

 ism is replenished," and goes on to explain 

 how a people, once with a language and a re- 

 ligion, as well as a government, of its own, has 

 been absorbed by Islamism and Hinduism, in 

 which latter the converts are, to all intents and 

 purposes, low-caste Hindus. Many names are 

 given that are to be interpreted as occupation 

 or as castes interchangeably, and heredity of 

 caste and of occupation is distinctly named. 

 Under ' Religion ' Mr. Beverley gives a general 

 statement of absorption of aboriginal tribes 

 into Hinduism, their ruling classes being ab- 

 sorbed into the warrior caste, while the com- 

 mon people became low-caste Hindus. 



The principal point on which there ma}' be 

 a diversity of view as to caste between the 

 census officers is as to its existence among 

 non-Hindu peoples. There is no evidence of 

 antagonism in their general views, and it is 

 not clear that there would not be essential 

 harmony if each wrote fully on the subject. 



Other provincial census reports should short- 

 ly be received from India, to aid our investi- 

 gations. Meantime we may recognize some 

 suggestions of caste in the relations of race, 

 occupation, and social position, among western 

 nations. In more than one locality in the 

 United States a lady finds that her cook will 

 not make a bed, the chambermaid will not 

 dress the infant, the nurse will not broil a 

 steak, and, with a houseful of servants, no 

 one will clean the clothes, which are sent to a 

 washerwoman. Actual scavengers have hardly 

 higher social rank in America than in India, 

 where distinction, varying here with daily 

 changes of wealth and of occupation, become 

 moulded into family and religious permanence. 



Mr. Ibbetson reminds us that u William 

 Priest, John King, Edward Farmer, and James 

 Smith are but the survivals in England of the 

 four Varnas of Menu." 



PALMISTRY. 



Handbook of modern palmistry. By Prof. V. de 

 Metz. 2d ed., with 8 illustrations. New York, 

 Thompson and Moreau, pr. [1883.] 8+130 p. 

 16°. 



Although written apparently with something 

 curiously like an honest intent, this book is a 

 piece of absurd claptrap, — utterly irrelevant 



