oct — mak. 1858-59.] for the Indian characters. 251 



christians, who are not accustomed to wear pockets. It weighs one 

 pound, a fifth of the weight of its Tamil translation, and its title, 

 " the ten-penny Bible," tells its own tale respecting the difference 

 in price. 



The size and costliness of all vernacular books form an incalcu- 

 lable hindrance to their circulation and general use, and place the 

 purchase of them beyond the reach of the majority of Hindu read- 

 ers . The necessaries of life being six times as cheap in India as 

 in England, and skilled labour (such as is procurable) being cheap 

 in proportion, books also ought to be six times as cheap ; whereas, 

 instead of being six times cheaper, they are at least ten times as 

 dear. The necessity of using certain English materials may partly 

 account for this, but the greater part of the extra expense must be 

 placed to the account of the Indian characters. If this expensive 

 character could be got rid of, the greater cheapness and portable- 

 ness of printed books would stimulate the literary appetite of the 

 people, facilitate all efforts to enlighten and elevate them, and 

 probably lead to results of immense importance in the hidden 

 future. 



I do not contend that the substitution of the Roman characters 

 for the Indian would, all at once, and in all cases, make vernacu- 

 lar works as cheap as English ones. In printing works in the Dra- 

 vidian languages, in which many of the words consist of long strings 

 of particles agglutinated together, more types would have to be set 

 up, more space would be occupied^ and more paper would be re- 

 quired, than if the same quantity of thought had to be printed in 

 English. The difference, as respects books translated from Eng- 

 lish, would amount to an addition of nearly three-fourths more 

 matter ; that is, a page of English turned into Tamil, even if the 

 Roman characters were used, would occupy about a page and three- 

 quarters. Original Tamil compositions, however, would not, or at 

 least need not, occupy more space than English, for the lengthiness 

 of the Tamil words has taught all writers who wish to be regarded 

 as classical to cultivate a highly condensed style. Even supposing, 

 however, that Tamil works printed in the Roman character were 

 to cost twice as much as English and to reach twice the size, which 

 is considerably beyond a fair estimate, the gain to Indian purses 

 and the stimulus to Indian minds, would still be very great. 



