178 H I N D O 
into feparate and diftinft channels, as well as from the 
fupply of water that they receive from a double monfoon, 
contribute in a lingular degree to the fertility of the foil; 
and, though the religious tenets of the Brahmins have a 
ftrong tendency to forward cultivation, the moral and po¬ 
litical doctrines of that feft are not lefs calculated to pro¬ 
mote and encourage agriculture. 
The cultivation of the foil appertains to the tribe called 
Fyuts, who are allowed a certain portion of the harveft, 
by the lord or proprietor of the land 5 out of which they 
maintain their families, provide for their cattle, and fup¬ 
ply feed for the fucceeding feafon. The portion thus 
allowed to the Ryut mull neceflarily vary, and is chiefly 
determined by the fertility or barrennefs of the foil, the 
eafe or difficulty of cultivation, or the abundance or fai¬ 
lure of the harveft. 
Of tliefe moft ufeful people captain Mackenzie gives 
the following meritorious character: “ Quiet, fober, dili ¬ 
gent, and abftenrious, the Hindoo cultivator more than 
compenfates for the want of that active induftry which 
characterizes the Chriftian hufbandman, by a degree of pa¬ 
tient perfeverance unknown ainongtt the inhabitants of 
other countries; accuftomed through every ftage of life 
to bend liis body, or to fquat on the ground, he readily 
becomes an excellent cultivator of the earth; and, from 
the minute attention with which he regards whatfoever is 
the object of his purfuit, no weed is fo trifling as to efcape 
his obfervation, no tendril fo concealed as to avoid his re- 
fearch. The land too, as if grateful for fuch extraordi¬ 
nary attention, yields a return beyond any equal fpace 
on the furface of this globe. Without any manure what¬ 
foever, and folely dependant on water to fertilize the foil, 
Hindooftan, in general, produces two, three, and lome- 
times four, harvelts. Tanjore annually produces five, nay 
fix fucceffive crops have been reaped in that country.” 
With refpeft to the Manufactures of Hindooftan, 
they have been celebrated from the earlieft antiquity ; par¬ 
ticularly their muflins, and other choice fabrics from cot¬ 
ton. Piece-goods, as we call them, are mentioned by many 
ancient writers, who praife the manufacture, and the beau¬ 
tiful colours with which it was dyed. In the painted 
muflins and calicoes, the brightnefs of the tints is owing 
to the fuperior excellence of their colouring drugs. 
The weaver, early in the morning, fets up his loom 
under the lhade of a tree, and takes it down in the even¬ 
ing. The fine muflins are indeed woven within doors, the 
thread being too delicate to be expofed to the agitation of 
the air ; but it is not uncommon, near manufacturing vil¬ 
lages, to fee groves full of looms employed in weaving the 
inferior cloths. 
The filverfmith often works for daily hire, and brings 
his whole apparatus to the houfe of the perfon who em¬ 
ploys him. Here he fets diamonds and jewels of the moft 
coftly kind, and the fineft in tire world; which have in 
all ages conltituted the moft valuable commerce of India. 
His furnace is a common earthen pot; his crucibles are 
made of clay mixed with the allies of cow-dung; and there, 
with a fmall anvil, a file, a hammer, and a pair of pincers, 
form the furniture of liis lhop. With clay, modelled 
with the fingers, he will imitate any thing that may be 
given to him ; and fome of their works in fillagree are ex¬ 
tremely delicate and curious. The utenfils of all the ar- 
tifans and manufacturers partake of the fame kind of fim- 
plicity. 
Lacquering and gilding muft have been long known to 
the Hindoos, and employed by them in various works of 
luxury and magnificence. We find them in ufe all over 
Hindooftan, though, in fome parts, the lacquering is in 
a greater degree of perfection than in others. In the towns 
and villages, not only every call, but each clafs of artifans 
and manufacturers, has its own particular quarter. 
Throughout every part of the interior empire, immenfe 
quantities of linen are manufactured, and conveyed to the 
frontier towns, and other emporiums, for the purpofes of 
dale or exportation. The fine cottons of Cambay, Baro- 
2 
OSTA N. 
chia, Brodera, &c. centre chiefly in Surat. The rich and 
coftly manufacture of fhawls is principally carried on in Ca- 
chemire ; where likewife the fineft cambrics are produced. 
“ It is to the lupplenefs, (fays Mr. Orme,) with which the 
whole frame of an Indian is endowed, and which is Hill 
more remarkable in the configuration of his hand, that we 
are indebted for the exquifite perfection of their manufac¬ 
tures of linen. The lame inftrument which a Hindoo em¬ 
ploys to make a piece of cambric, would, under the rigid 
fingers of an European, fcarcely produce a piece of can- 
val's. Thus have this people cultivated the various and 
valuable productions of their foil, and manufactured them 
into goods, to a perfection which furpalfes the moft ex¬ 
quifite productions of the world ; and they have not been 
impelled to thefe improvements for the purpofe of fupply- 
ing their own neceffities, but to gratify the pride and of- 
tentation of foreign nations. Hence they have from time 
immemorial been as much addicted to commerce, as they 
are averfe to war ; and hence too they have always been 
immenlely rich, and have always remained incapable of 
defending their wealth.” 
In India, as in Egypt, there are ltrollers, whofe occupa¬ 
tion is to intrap fnakes ; and who ufe an inftrument cal¬ 
led magouty, rel'embiing a fmall bagpipe, in order, as they 
pretend, to bring them from their lurking-places by the 
charm of their mufic. They carry a number of thofe rep¬ 
tiles with them in bags ; which, though of the moft ve¬ 
nomous kind, they take out with the naked hand ; and, 
throwing them on the ground, they are taught to rear and 
move about to the found of the magouty. They very 
gravely fay, that by certain incantations, which they only 
are acquainted with, they cannot do them any harm. For 
the curious particulars relative to this lingular practice, 
fee the article Egypt, vol. vi. p. 378. 
The l’nake-catchers in India have a feftival named Jaup - 
paun ; in which they exhibit a great variety of the moft 
deadly vipers, and place a child in the midft of them, 
round whom the fnakes are made to writhe and twift, and 
as it were to dance, while the tribe of Sampoorees, as the 
fnake-catchers are called, play the magouty, and perform 
various mantras and incantations, for which the fuperfti- 
tious fpeftators load them with prefents, thinking by this 
means they lhal! for ever be preferved from the bite of 
thole fatal reptiles. For correft Engravings of thofe rep¬ 
tiles, with well-attefted accounts of the deleterious effects- 
of their poifon, fee the article Coluber, vol. iv. p, 
794.-815. 
In no cafe, however, is-the wretched fuperftition of the 
Hindoos more forcibly manifelted than in the following 
extraft from the Aliatic Refearches, vol. iv. p. 357.— “ As 
it is ul’ual with the hufbandmen to referve a certain por¬ 
tion of the fugar-canes of the preceding year to ferve as 
plants for their new cultivation, it very frequently hap¬ 
pens that inconiiderable portions of the old cane remain 
unappropriated. Whenever this happens, the proprietor 
repairs to the fpot on the 25th of Jeyte, or about the nth 
of June, and having facrificed to Nagbele, or the tutelary 
deity of the fugar-cane, he immediately fets fire to the 
whole, and is exceedingly careful to have this operation 
executed in as complete and efficacious a manner as pof- 
fible. This aft is performed from an apprehenfion, that, 
if the old canes were allowed to remain in the ground be¬ 
yond the z jth of Jeyte, they would in all probability pro¬ 
duce flowers and feeds ; and the appearance of thefe flow¬ 
ers they confider as one of the greateft misfortunes that 
can befal them. 
“ They unanimoufly affert, that, if the proprietor of a 
plantation ever happens to view even a Angle cane therein 
in flower after the 25th of Jeyte, the greateft calamities 
will befal himfelf, his parents, his children, and his pro¬ 
perty ; in fhort, that death will fweep away moft of the 
members, or indeed the whole, of his family, within a fhort 
period after this unfortunate fpeftacle ! If the proprie¬ 
tor’s fervant happens to fee the flower, and immediately 
pulls it from the ftalk, buries it in the earth, and never 
reveals 
