285 
greater multiplicity of castes, or sects, who neither intermarry nor 
eat with each other; neither do they perform the same religious 
rites to their respective deities. 
We learn from Diodorus Siculus, that the ancient Egyptians 
were divided into three distinct classes: the first were those of rank, 
who, with the priests, fdled the most honourable situations in the 
state; then the military, who were also husbandmen; lastly the 
artizans, who occupied the meanest employments. Herodotus 
says the Calasirians must not follow mechanic employments, but 
the son regularly succeeds the father in a military life: and also 
among the Lacedaemonians, some classes of the people were ob- 
liged to follow the profession of their fathers; particularly the 
heralds, musicians, and cooks: he further remarks, that if a man, 
in any manner belonging to another tribe, had a louder voice than 
one of these heralds by descent, he could not be taken from one 
tribe into another. This is exactly conformable to the unchange- 
able custom of the Hindoos. 
Although mingled with other sensations, it is pleasing to see 
the inhabitants of Pulparra, and most other towns and villages on 
the banks of the Tappee, Narbudda, and principal rivers of Hin- 
dostan, repair to the water to perform their devotions; no morn- 
ing dawns, no evening closes without this pious ceremony. That 
the Hindoos worship the Ganges there is I believe no doubt, be- 
cause a peculiar sanctity is annexed to its stream: in an inferior 
degree they seem to venerate other rivers; and generally enter 
them twice a day, not only to perform their devotions, but to 
purify their bodies, and wash their garments: both sexes assemble 
