17S 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF AIAN. 



This penance, and that, of running through the bed of coals, Jiad 

 been sometimes practised by the Hindoo emigrants at Singapore. • 



The temple, was found to be a substantial stone building, much in 

 the style of the two mosques; but the Bramin would not admit the 

 resemblance, alleging that there was a difference in the shape of the 

 dome. In the details of these three buildings, I thought I could dis- 

 cover traces of the ancient Egyptian style of architecture; something 

 corresponding to the incorporation of the Greek and Roman in our 

 modern dwelling-houses ; but I found no confirmation subsequently 

 in Western Hindoostan. I was rmt admitted into the main building, 

 and it was the same with the more select temples of Western Hin- 

 doostan ; the idea of a sanctuary, being common to the Braminical, 

 Parsee, and Muslim, as well as to various ancient forms of worship. 



The Hindoos at Singapore, according to the Bramin, were " nearly 

 all Sudras, or fourth-cast men ; and there were no Pariahs in the 

 place." He denied, that there were " Bramins on Bali," and spoke 

 of the system prevailing on that island, as "the Hindoo religion;" 

 which term, he likewise applied to the Buddhism of China and the 

 Indo-Chinese countries. 



The rules of cast would restrict the Hindoos from intermarrying 

 with the Malays; even if there were no objections on the other side. 

 The descriptions, however, of the Amhoynese, seem to correspond 

 with the Telingan race. Stavorinus states, " that the Chinese inter- 

 marry with the Bouginese and women of Macassar, but not with the 

 Amboynese;" a circumstance which seems to indicate the presence 

 of a third physical race. 



We have abundant evidence that a commercial intercourse has ex- 

 isted with this quarter from a very early period. The Papuan race, 

 as already mentioned, is noticed in the Hindoo sacred books. In the 

 fourth century, the Chinese traveller Fa-hian, sailed from Southern 

 Hindoostan to the East Indies in a vessel manned by Braminical Hin- 

 doos. The cloves and nutmegs of Amboyna and the Moluccas, appear 

 to have been known in the Mediterranean as early perhaps as the 

 time of Fa-hian. According, however, to the following deductions, we 

 have a much more ancient notice of the countries beyond Hindoostan. 



Cinnamon is mentioned by Herodotus, and likewise in the books 

 of Moses; and the article, could not have been obtained from any place 

 nearer than Ceylon. During my recent visit to Bombay, I learned 

 that the word 'cinnamon,' is only in part Sanscrit; the Mahratta, 

 or modern Sanscrit name for the article, being ' dhal-Kinna,' which 



