HINDO 
wear a kind of diadem, formed of pearl, on the front part 
of the head, in the centre of which is fixed a glorious 
jewel refembling in its figure the fun, a crefcent, a ftar, 
or fome beautiful floweri Their necklaces, too, are of the 
knelt oriental pearl, intermixed with diamonds, rubies, 
and fappliires. The climate.obliging them to wear only 
the flighted: covering, there is a filk made on purpofe for 
them, fo very fine that a‘whole fliit of it does not weigh 
above an ounce. Thefe dreffes are never worn a fecond 
time, but every-returning day fupplies a new fuit Of a 
different colour from the former. While, however, thefe 
delicate females flirink from this flight incumbrance of 
clothing, they wear fo many jewels thaf they are in a 
manner burdened with them. The neck and bofom are 
covered with interwoven pearl and diamonds, fufpended 
crofTwife in brilliant rows. Their pendants and bracelets 
are of a furprifing magnificence. Their fingers and their 
toes, which are always uncovered, as they only wear fan- 
dais, are alike adorned with the richelt rings. On the 
right thumb they wear a fmall looking-glafs, in the form 
of a fignet, fet round with pearl, in which they are for 
ever admiring themfelves. The ornament molt becoming 
thefe ladies is a gold girdle of about two fingers’ breadth, 
garnifhed with variegated ftones. Labels of the fame me¬ 
tal hang down from it with clulters of orient pearl at the 
extremities. What is moll aftonifhing is, that many of 
thefe ladies have, at leaft, fix or eight changes of thefe 
jewels.”—Such was the luxury of the now fallen court of 
Delhi! 
The Hindoos are naturally cheerful, and. are fond of 
converfation, of play, and of fports. They will fpend 
almoll the whole night in feeing dancing, and hearing 
mufic 5 yet none dance but the women whofe profeflion 
it is, and who devote themfelves to the pleafure and amufe- 
ment of the public. They are alfo great obfervers of de¬ 
corum ; their manners are unaffefted; they poflefs much 
natural politenefs, and have an extraordinary degree of 
caution in not faying or doing, any thing which they ima¬ 
gine may offend. Their fqbriety and l'edatenefs equally 
demand our admiration. They eat only twice a-day ; in 
the morning, and evening. Their food is prepared in 
earthen pots; inllead of plates and dilhes, they ufe broad 
leaves, generally of the palm or plantain tree, neatly fewn 
together with a blade of dry graf$, and which are thrown 
away, and renewed at every meal. Like the inhabitants 
of molt ealtern countries, they ufe neither forks nor fpoons, 
but only the fingers of the right hand, and are lcrupuloufly 
nice in waffling both before and after meals. The left 
hand is referved for fuch offices as are judged to be un¬ 
cleanly. 
Since the religion of the Hindoo forbids him to quit 
his native fhores, fo his defires , are confined within the. 
circle of his own domeftic affairs ; and he covets nothing 
from abroad, nor is folicitous to polfefs what he fees en¬ 
joyed by others. To this lingular call of mind is perhaps 
to be attributed the realbn why the inhabitants of Hin- 
dooftan have loft fo little of their original charafter by the 
eftablilhment of fuch a number of itrangers amongit them. 
In the interior country, and particularly on the heights 
and faftnefies of the mountains, the native inhabitants are 
to be found in their greatelt purity of aboriginal delcent. 
In the annexed Engraving we have given figures of a 
man, woman, and child, as found on the eaftern Ghauts; 
whence they occafionally defcead • upon the Coromandel 
coall. The rat’ they cherilh and protefl, as the emblem 
of induftry and forecaft, who provides.his.winter ftore in 
times c ' harveft and plenty; therefore to hurt or kill it 
is deemed an inexcufable .crime. The p/.on is a fafeguard, 
in which the utmolt confidence is repoled. Men of rank 
have always peons in their fervice. They wear a labre, 
and often form companies of body-guards. They attend 
their mailers when they go abroad, carry meffages, and 
are in general extremely faithful. Thofe of the proper 
Hindoo calls will not undertake any menial office ; but 
Voi. X. No.651. 
K« _ 
OSTA N. 177 
Europeans frequently take pariars, or outcalls, into their 
fervice, whom they improperly call peons. 
From the natural fertility of the foil, and the congenial 
influence of a luxuriant climate, the Agriculture of 
Hindooltan is conducted with a very fmall comparative 
degree of expence and trouble. The foil is fometimes fo 
excellent as to confill of black vegetable mould to the 
depth of fix feet. Rice is there the principal grain, fimi- 
lar to wheat with us; and on the dry fandy lands of the 
coall of Coromandel great induftry is difplayed in water¬ 
ing it. Maize, and the fugar-cane, are alfo among the 
produfls of their harveft. The fugar-cane grows no where 
with greater vigour than in the province of Bengal; but 
a heavy duty, amounting to a prohibition of its export, 
deprives this country of its benefits. The cultivation of 
cotton is alfo widely diffufea amongit them; and this 
plant particularly thrives on the dry coaft of Coromandel. 
Whenever the monfoons fail of their ulual fupply of rain, 
and drought in conlequence follows, the harveft is in 
proportion fcanty, and a famine not unfrequently follows. 
In travelling through Hindooltan, fome opinion may be 
formed of the wifdom and benignity of the government, 
by the number, and Hate of prefervation, of the tanks 
and water-courfes, conftrufted for the purpofe of aiding 
the cultivation of rice. Unhappily, in many of thofe dif- 
tricls that groan under a foreign yoke, thefe and other 
public works of fimilar utility, being negledted, are going 
rapidly to decay. Some of thefe tanks are of vail extent, 
made by inclofing deep and low fituations with a ftrong 
mound of earth. Others of fmaller dimenlions are of a 
quadrangular form, lined with Hone, delcending in regu¬ 
lar Heps from the margin to the bottom. They generally 
meafure from three to four hundred feet on the fide, and 
are regularly lined with granite. Thefe great artificial 
refervoirs, being invariably filled by the periodical rains, 
afford incalculable advantage to the cultivators of rice, as 
well as to the cattle in dry and arid feafons. 
When the rice is grown to a certain height, it is plucked 
up, and tranfplanted in linall parcels into fields of about 
a hundred yards fquare, which are feparated from each 
other b.y ridges of earth, and daily fupplied with water, 
that is let in upon them from the neighbouring tanks. 
When the water in the tanks falls below the level of the 
channels that are made to let it out, it is drawn by what 
is called on the coall of Coromandel a picoti. This ma¬ 
chine is compofed of a piece of timber, generally a palm- 
tree, fixed upright in the ground, fupported on each fide, 
and forked at the top to admit another piece, which moves 
trailfverfely on a ftrong pivot driven through the fork. 
The tranfverfe timber is flat on one fide, and has pieces 
of timber acrofs it, in the manner of Heps. At one end 
of this timber therb is'a large bucket, at the other a 
weight. A man walking down the Heps throws the bucket 
into the well or tank ; by going up, and by means of the 
weight, he raifes it; and another perfon branding below 
empties it into a channel made to convey the water into 
the fields. 
Befides rice, there is a variety of other grains, which, 
as they require lets water, may be planted on high lands; 
but for the rice they choofe the Iowell fituations that can 
be found. Wheat appears to be no where cultivated lower 
than about the aoth degree of latitude; and even there, it 
is only to be found in valleys, in the mountainous parts 
of the country. 
To account for the high ftate of -cultivation fo much 
celebrated in the diltriel of Coimbetore,. which now forms 
part of Britilh India, is no difficult talk. The mountains 
called Ghauts, whilil they deeply indent the plains at fe- 
veral diftinft points, do not terminate, but, in their range 
they frequently advance and recede without any break or 
diminution of height: cohfequently they give rife to an 
incredible number of Itreams. Thefe, from their inter- 
feftion of the country in fo many different directions, and 
from the various, branches that are forced out of them 
55 z intro 
