39*2 Mr. Cavendish on the Civil Tear 
day to the astronomical year ; and accordingly Mr. Wilkins 
informs me, that the Hindoos of Bengal, in all their common 
transactions, date according to solar time, and use what is 
commonly called the Bengal era, but in the correspondence of 
the Brahmins, dating books, and regulating feasts and fasts, 
they generally note the teethee ; and if the year is mentioned, 
it is often that of Veekramadeetya, sometimes that of Salava- 
hana, but more frequently the vulgar Bengal year. 
From what has been said, it appears, that the Hindoo civil 
months, both solar and lunar, consist, neither of a determi- 
nate number of days, nor are regulated by any cycle, but de- 
pend solely on the motions of the sun and moon, so that a 
Hindoo has no way of knowing what day -of the month it is, 
but by consulting his almanac ; and what is more, the month 
ought sometimes to begin on different clays, in different places, 
on account of the difference in latitude and longitude, not to 
mention the difference which may arise from errors in com- 
putation. The inconvenience with which this must be at- 
tended seemed so great to me, that two or three years ago, 
by the assistance of Sir Joseph Banks, I proposed a query on 
the subject to Mr. Davis, author of the very valuable paper, 
in the Asiatic Researches, on the Hindoo astronomy, inquir- 
ing whether any method was taken to avoid the ambiguity, 
and was favoured with the following answer. 
“ My Pundit, and others with whom I have conversed on the 
“ subject, although well aware of the circumstance (that the 
“ month may begin on different days in different places) do 
“ not think the ambiguity thence arising of much consequence, 
“ nor is there any method they know of taken to avoid it.. 
