Thursday, February 25, 2010

Who is a true Muslim in the eyes of Sikh? How is beheading of innocent Sikhs make Taliban or Jihadis true muslims?

With the recent news of Taliban beheading two Sikhs and abducting the others makes me wonder if Taliban is truly following Islam as preached by Mohammed. When and how does praying on innocent and weak who are small in numbers compared to thousands make one strong, and powerful? Is Quaran realy teaching these people to kill in the name of God? Greed is what they learn and use in the name of protection. I wonder Quaran really says that. I challenge a Muslim to show me in Quaran as to where it says taht it is okay to kill an innocent person for money? Unless, you can show me, I say you are not a true Musalmaan or a Jihadi. Here is the link to the news:
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/two-sikh-men-beheaded-north-west-pakistan

And, to fellow Sikhs, I say, only Waheguru will protect them not some foolish Taliban or Jihadi out there that wants protection money. If you pay these greedy bastards, they will come for more and it will never stop. Stop paying them and let Waheguru take care of you. Be ready to re-grease your guns, take that old rust off of your Kirpans and bring that shine and sharpness back, you never know when you may need them again. I guess a long period of peace may have made Sikhs a little lazier and complacent.

May Waheguru bless these brave souls who died but didn't let go Sikhi.


ਮਃ ੧ ॥
मः १ ॥
Mėhlā 1.
First Mehl:


ਪੰਜਿ ਨਿਵਾਜਾ ਵਖਤ ਪੰਜਿ ਪੰਜਾ ਪੰਜੇ ਨਾਉ ॥
पंजि निवाजा वखत पंजि पंजा पंजे नाउ ॥
Panj nivājā vakẖaṯ panj panjā panje nā▫o.
There are five prayers and five times of day for prayer; the five have five names.


ਪਹਿਲਾ ਸਚੁ ਹਲਾਲ ਦੁਇ ਤੀਜਾ ਖੈਰ ਖੁਦਾਇ ॥
पहिला सचु हलाल दुइ तीजा खैर खुदाइ ॥
Pahilā sacẖ halāl ḏu▫e ṯījā kẖair kẖuḏā▫e.
Let the first be truthfulness, the second honest living, and the third charity in the Name of God.


ਚਉਥੀ ਨੀਅਤਿ ਰਾਸਿ ਮਨੁ ਪੰਜਵੀ ਸਿਫਤਿ ਸਨਾਇ ॥
चउथी नीअति रासि मनु पंजवी सिफति सनाइ ॥
Cẖa▫uthī nī▫aṯ rās man panjvī sifaṯ sanā▫e.
Let the fourth be good will to all, and the fifth the praise of the Lord.


ਕਰਣੀ ਕਲਮਾ ਆਖਿ ਕੈ ਤਾ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਣੁ ਸਦਾਇ ॥
करणी कलमा आखि कै ता मुसलमाणु सदाइ ॥
Karṇī kalmā ākẖ kai ṯā musalmāṇ saḏā▫e.
Repeat the prayer of good deeds, and then, you may call yourself a Muslim.


ਨਾਨਕ ਜੇਤੇ ਕੂੜਿਆਰ ਕੂੜੈ ਕੂੜੀ ਪਾਇ ॥੩॥
नानक जेते कूड़िआर कूड़ै कूड़ी पाइ ॥३॥
Nānak jeṯe kūṛi▫ār kūrhai kūṛī pā▫e. ||3||
O Nanak, the false obtain falsehood, and only falsehood. ||3||


ਪਉੜੀ ॥
पउड़ी ॥
Pa▫oṛī.
Pauree:


ਇਕਿ ਰਤਨ ਪਦਾਰਥ ਵਣਜਦੇ ਇਕਿ ਕਚੈ ਦੇ ਵਾਪਾਰਾ ॥
इकि रतन पदारथ वणजदे इकि कचै दे वापारा ॥
Ik raṯan paḏārath vaṇjaḏe ik kacẖai ḏe vāpārā.
Some trade in priceless jewels, while others deal in mere glass.


ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਤੁਠੈ ਪਾਈਅਨਿ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਰਤਨ ਭੰਡਾਰਾ ॥
सतिगुरि तुठै पाईअनि अंदरि रतन भंडारा ॥
Saṯgur ṯuṯẖai pā▫ī▫an anḏar raṯan bẖandārā.
When the True Guru is pleased, we find the treasure of the jewel, deep within the self.


ਵਿਣੁ ਗੁਰ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਲਧਿਆ ਅੰਧੇ ਭਉਕਿ ਮੁਏ ਕੂੜਿਆਰਾ ॥
विणु गुर किनै न लधिआ अंधे भउकि मुए कूड़िआरा ॥
viṇ gur kinai na laḏẖi▫ā anḏẖe bẖa▫uk mu▫e kūṛi▫ārā.
Without the Guru, no one has found this treasure. The blind and the false have died in their endless wanderings.


ਮਨਮੁਖ ਦੂਜੈ ਪਚਿ ਮੁਏ ਨਾ ਬੂਝਹਿ ਵੀਚਾਰਾ ॥
मनमुख दूजै पचि मुए ना बूझहि वीचारा ॥
Manmukẖ ḏūjai pacẖ mu▫e nā būjẖėh vīcẖārā.
The self-willed manmukhs putrefy and die in duality. They do not understand contemplative meditation.


ਇਕਸੁ ਬਾਝਹੁ ਦੂਜਾ ਕੋ ਨਹੀ ਕਿਸੁ ਅਗੈ ਕਰਹਿ ਪੁਕਾਰਾ ॥
इकसु बाझहु दूजा को नही किसु अगै करहि पुकारा ॥
Ikas bājẖahu ḏūjā ko nahī kis agai karahi pukārā.
Without the One Lord, there is no other at all. Unto whom should they complain?


ਇਕਿ ਨਿਰਧਨ ਸਦਾ ਭਉਕਦੇ ਇਕਨਾ ਭਰੇ ਤੁਜਾਰਾ ॥
इकि निरधन सदा भउकदे इकना भरे तुजारा ॥
Ik nirḏẖan saḏā bẖa▫ukḏe iknā bẖare ṯujārā.
Some are destitute, and wander around endlessly, while others have storehouses of wealth.


ਵਿਣੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਹੋਰੁ ਧਨੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਹੋਰੁ ਬਿਖਿਆ ਸਭੁ ਛਾਰਾ ॥
विणु नावै होरु धनु नाही होरु बिखिआ सभु छारा ॥
viṇ nāvai hor ḏẖan nāhī hor bikẖi▫ā sabẖ cẖẖārā.
Without God's Name, there is no other wealth. Everything else is just poison and ashes.


ਨਾਨਕ ਆਪਿ ਕਰਾਏ ਕਰੇ ਆਪਿ ਹੁਕਮਿ ਸਵਾਰਣਹਾਰਾ ॥੭॥
नानक आपि कराए करे आपि हुकमि सवारणहारा ॥७॥
Nānak āp karā▫e kare āp hukam savāraṇhārā. ||7||
O Nanak, the Lord Himself acts, and causes others to act; by the Hukam of His Command, we are embellished and exalted. ||7||


ਸਲੋਕੁ ਮਃ ੧ ॥
सलोकु मः १ ॥
Salok mėhlā 1.
Shalok, First Mehl:


ਮੁਸਲਮਾਣੁ ਕਹਾਵਣੁ ਮੁਸਕਲੁ ਜਾ ਹੋਇ ਤਾ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਣੁ ਕਹਾਵੈ ॥
मुसलमाणु कहावणु मुसकलु जा होइ ता मुसलमाणु कहावै ॥
Musalmāṇ kahāvaṇ muskal jā ho▫e ṯā musalmāṇ kahāvai.
It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one.


ਅਵਲਿ ਅਉਲਿ ਦੀਨੁ ਕਰਿ ਮਿਠਾ ਮਸਕਲ ਮਾਨਾ ਮਾਲੁ ਮੁਸਾਵੈ ॥
अवलि अउलि दीनु करि मिठा मसकल माना मालु मुसावै ॥
Aval a▫ul ḏīn kar miṯẖā maskal mānā māl musāvai.
First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away.


ਹੋਇ ਮੁਸਲਿਮੁ ਦੀਨ ਮੁਹਾਣੈ ਮਰਣ ਜੀਵਣ ਕਾ ਭਰਮੁ ਚੁਕਾਵੈ ॥
होइ मुसलिमु दीन मुहाणै मरण जीवण का भरमु चुकावै ॥
Ho▫e muslim ḏīn muhāṇai maraṇ jīvaṇ kā bẖaram cẖukẖāvai.
Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life.


ਰਬ ਕੀ ਰਜਾਇ ਮੰਨੇ ਸਿਰ ਉਪਰਿ ਕਰਤਾ ਮੰਨੇ ਆਪੁ ਗਵਾਵੈ ॥
रब की रजाइ मंने सिर उपरि करता मंने आपु गवावै ॥
Rab kī rajā▫e manne sir upar karṯā manne āp gavāvai.
As he submits to God's Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit.


ਤਉ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਰਬ ਜੀਆ ਮਿਹਰੰਮਤਿ ਹੋਇ ਤ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਣੁ ਕਹਾਵੈ ॥੧॥
तउ नानक सरब जीआ मिहरमति होइ त मुसलमाणु कहावै ॥१॥
Ŧa▫o Nānak sarab jī▫ā mihramaṯ ho▫e ṯa musalmāṇ kahāvai. ||1||
And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim. ||1||

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Toshkhana of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

I saw this and thought it may interest many of you out there. The Toshkhana (treasury) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore Fort after British took over. It just shows nobody really owns anything in this World and it just goes from one powerful to another powerful. Empires come and go, Sikhs and Sikhi i still here. The queen or kings may go but Sikhs will still be here. They don't realize that this World is like a serai (inn) and we are just guests, it doesn't really belong to anyone. Only a few get to realize and keep the real Khazana, which is Naam! Who knows tommorrow the Worldy Khazana will be back in the hands of Sikhs. Anyways, this is just for the fun of it.

The Login inventory of the Lahore Fort
By Mahmood Zaman

LAHORE, Jan 24: Much has been written on Lahore Fort and its grandeur since the days of Emperor Akbar. But the book by Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry, the secretary-administrator of the Punjab Archives, has the distinction of throwing light on some of the missing aspects of the historic fort.

One of the chapters of the book, Lahore Fort — A Witness To History, talks about Dr John Spencer Login who was appointed the first governor of Lahore Fort when the British annexed the Punjab in 1849.

A personal friend of Sir Henry William’s, the first head of the board of administrators of the Punjab (the predecessor of the lieutenant governors), Dr Login was in the service of the East India Company at Lucknow and came to Lahore for a job. Sir Henry recommended his name and Governor-General Lord Dalhousie approved his appointment as the fort’s governor in March 1849.

Dr Login’s job was to prepare an inventory of all assets of the Sikh period like jewels including the Koh-i-Noor, look after young Maharaja Dilip Singh and his personal staff and ‘ranis’ and the widows of Sikh rulers and top officials. He was also supposed to take care of state prisoners undergoing trial at the Fort — the ‘diwan’ (prime minister) of Multan Moolraj, Raja Chattar Singh, Raja Sher Singh and Raja Lal Singh.

The Sikh regime’s state Toshakhana (treasury) was then inside the Moti Masjid. He writes how he wondered when he first saw how precious diamonds were kept in rolled up bits of rags which were placed in velvet purses. These purses were found strewn all around. When Login placed one of the diamonds on his palm, he wondered about its price. Later, he ordered wooden boxes to keep them in order.

This inventory was to be presented to the governor-general who, in consultation with the British government in London, was to dispose of all the Fort belongings “in a befitting manner.”

As the first governor of Lahore Fort, and later as Punjab’s general, Login used to correspond with his wife in London. These letters throw light on his activities.

When he finished his work, he wrote a letter to Lord Dalhousie giving a description of his inventory. Also attached to the letter was a Memorandum of Memorabilia which discussed some of the most important personnel and articles under his charge. They included “the young ruler of the Sikhs (Dilip Singh), the families of Ranjit Singh and of all the successive Maharajas of the Punjab including 33 ranis and 130 concubines. The princes of the Abdali family, rulers of Afghanistan and Kashmir. The court of establishment of all the Lahore Maharajas, including six sets of courtesans, natives of Kashmir, and five full bands of musicians. The Nawab of Multan (Diwan Moolchand) and his families.”

In addition to four main state prisoners, the Lahore Fort also imprisoned “10 other men of note, including Hakim Rai and his two sons. The female attendants of Rani Jindan from Chunar” were also added to the list.

The inventory included “keys and royal seals of Moti Mandir (Moti Masjid inside Lahore Fort was turned into Moti Mandir by Ranjeet Singh) and of (the fort of) Givindgarh” where Sikh rulers had set up royal treasuries.

Dr Login’s list of “memorabilia” reads that “the diamond (Koh-i-Noor), the state jewels and treasure in gold, silver and precious stones; dishes, plates, cups, cooking pots and gurrahs (water pitchers) of gold and silver. The vast store of Kashmir shawls, chogas (robes), satin and velvet shamianas embroidered with gold, richly colourful Iranian and Bokhara carpets, gold, silver tent poles, etc, was also a part of the huge fortune the Sikhs had left behind.

Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’s “golden chair of state; his silver summer-house, gold and silver poled tents and camp equipage of rich Cashmere; arms and armoury, very magnificent, the wedding garments of Maha Singh; besides these many valuable curiosities and relics of all kinds, too numerous to note” also formed the Sikh assets.

Login writes that “Shah Shuja’s state pavilion, gorgeously embroidered; the Kulgee (head-gear plume) of last Sikh spiritual leader Guru Gobind Singh; the sword of Holkar (Maratha ruler); the sword of Wazir Fateh Khan, the founder the Baruksye family of Kabul and Kandhar; the sword of Persian hero Rustam (which Ranjit Singh received from Shah Shuja); the armour worn by warriors and Sardars of note, many of them stained with their blood — are very very precious.”

Also listed by Login were the relics of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) like his shoes, walking stick, shirt, cap, pyjama, books of prayer (Holy Quran) in Kufic characters, several locks of his hair etc. These relics were subsequently donated by the British to the Badshahi Masjid where they are still on display at a separate gallery.

The value of the Sikh jewellery alone was estimated by Login to be around Rs1,650,000. This did not include the price of the Koh-i-Noor which was acknowledged to be “priceless.”

Saturday, February 13, 2010

India of 1880's - A Handbook of India British Burma by a Christian Missionary

Here is an interesting historical book that I found which I haven't read yet but may interest many of the Sikh scholars, Indian historians, Hindu missionaries, Buddhist Missionaries, Islamic Missionaries, Sikh Missionaries, Christian Missionaries, future explorers, future invaders, or may be just for your plain old spiritual enlightenment and all others who just want to know what India was like in 1880's from a Western Christian Missionary perspective. Watch the language of this guy, especially the last few pages. He sounds so arrogant, just like almost all of other Christian Missionaries who think their religion is better and superior than others and the mentality that Christianity has some sort of monopoly on God! Yet they all forget, "you can't see God in all, you can't see God at all". The Biggest fools of all! They are willing to kill, subdue, enslave, exploit others in the name of God, yet don't know what real peace, love, freedom, compassion, truth and contentment is and how they can free themselves from anger, lust, greed, emotional attachment, and their false egoes and prides. Without True Guru's bani, they can never find peace and mukti!

I say , "Sikh and ye shall find!"


THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES

HAND-BOOK INDIA
BRITISH BURMAH
By W. EX ROBBINS,
MISSIONARY.
OFH^
JSSS?
CINCINNATI:
WALDEN & STO\VE
NEW YORK: PHILLIPS i HUNT.
I883.
Copyright by WALDEN & STOWE,1883.
CPS
4)3
- PROPERTY OF - NORTHMINSTER
PRES. CH., WASH., D. C.

PREFACE.
IF one-half of the world know not how the
other half live, it is hoped this little manual
will serve in some slight degree to enlighten
them. However ignorant the people of India
may be concerning their Western cousins, not
less so are the people of England and America
generally concerning their Eastern cousins; for
where one of the latter is seen as a transient
visitor in the West, a hundred at least of the
former are more or less permanently located in
the East.
This is not a guide-book for travelers, but an
attempt to answer, in as few Miords as possible,
the many questions concerning India, which have
been asked the author, during his ten years of
labor in the country, and to put the result in
such a small and cheap form as to be accessible
to the multitudes whose interest in this great em-
pire is constantly increasing. If by this unpretentious
volume he shall succeed in exciting and
deepening a concern in the welfare of India's
millions, and eliciting prayer on their behalf, his
labor will not have been in vain.
As it is designed more particularly for those
who may never see the country, Indian names,
as far as possible, are omitted, and where unavoidable,
the orthography more easily pronounced
is followed, and, in some cases, meanings given
in parenthesis.
To have acknowledged and credited all the
authorities and sources of information derived,
for which thanks are due, would have almost
doubled the size of the book, and hence none
at all have been specified; much, however, has
been acquired by personal observation, and it is
believed the errors are few and immaterial.
W. E. R.
POONA, INDIA, Mayl, 1883.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL OUTLINES OF INDIA
.

I. Geography.
PAGE.
Position Divisions Mountains Rivers Valleys and
Plains, 11
2. Vegetable Productions.
Timber Trees Shade and Ornamental Hedges and
Fibers Drugs and Dyes Of Rare and Various
Uses Flowering and Evergreen Shrubs Fruits
Garden Vegetables Grains, Grasses, etc., ... 15
3. Animals.
Domestic Wild Birds Reptiles Fish Insects
Animal Products, 21
4. Mineral Productions.
Building Stone Metals Earths, Coal, etc. Precious
Stones, 28
5. Climate and Healthfulness.
Variety Seasons Monsoons and Cyclones Sanitaria
Diseases, 31
6 CONTEXTS.
6. Natural Scenery.
PAGE.
Landscapes "Waterfalls Wonderful Trees, 37
CHAPTER II.
PEOPLE OF IXD1A.
i. Races, Numbers, Etc.
Aborigines Scythians Aryans Mongols Numbers
and Density Character, 40
2. Manner of Life.
Dress Dwellings Food Markets and Fairs Festivals
and Music Travel Children, 46
3. Social Customs.
Marriage Ceremonies Treatment of Women, Suttee
Polygamy and Infanticide Maintenance of Relatives
Disposition of the Dead Superstitions and
Salutations, 03
4. Vocations.
Caste Agriculturists Workers in Wood Masons and
Sculptors Potters Smiths Workers in Leather
Weavers and Tailors Shopkeepers Professions
Miscellaneous, 74
5.- Enlightenment and Civilization.
Languages Literature Learning Calculation of
Time, 89
6. Antiquities and Architecture.
Ruins and Remains Palaces Temples Cave TemplesTombs
and Monuments, 95
CONTENTS. 7
CHAPTER III.
RELIGIONS OF INDIA.

i. Demonolatry.
PAGE.
Performances Human Sacrifices, . . . . 103
2. Hinduism.
Origin of the Gods Sacred Books Incarnations
Cosmogony Sacraments, Rites, etc. Future
State Sects, etc., 105
3. Buddhism.
Author Patron Doctrines, 116
4. Jains, 119
5. Mohammedanism.
Introduction into India The Koran Creed Duties
Present Condition, 121
6. Sikhs.
Origin Practice, 127
7. Zoroastrianism.
History Zendavesta Teaching Worship, 129
8. Jews 132
9. Brahmoism.
Founder Development Principles Other Societies, 133
CHAPTER IV.
BRITISH INDIA.
I. Historical Sketch.
Ancient Kingdoms Early Invasions First Mohammedan
Dynasties The Mogul Empire European
8 CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Settlements British Rule Established Further
Conquests Mutinies, etc., 137
2. Government.
Under the Company Under the Crown Army and
Police Revenue Native States, 160
3. Commerce.
Routes to India Steamship Lines Inland Communication
Exports Imports Currency, 168
4. Manufactures.
Cotton and Silk Goods Iron Manufactures Carriages
Miscellaneous, 175
5. Other Improvements.
Irrigation Drainage and Lights Labor-saving Machines,
etc. Mails -and Telegraphs, 179
6. Intellectual Advancement.
Schools and Colleges Libraries and Museums Books
and Newspapers Science and the Fine Arts, . . 183
CHAPTER V.
ANGLO-INDIAN LIFE.
i. Employments.
Private Occupations Government Service Railway
and Other Employes Women and Children
Provision for Families and Old Age, 188
2. Mode of Living.
Provisions Wearing Apparel Buildings, 193
CONTENTS. 9
3. Means of Conveyance.
PAG15.
Private Public Railways and Tramways Boats, . . 201
4. Amusements.
Indoor Games Outdoor Recreations Hunting and
Racing, 206
5. Morals.
Personal Character Bearing Towards Others
Churches and Chaplains Responsibilities, . . . 210
CHAPTER VI.
EVANGELIZATION OF INDIA.

i. Syrian Christians 220
2. Roman Catholics.
Francis Xavier Jesuit Artifices Recent Operations
Idolatrous Rites Moral Character, etc., 221
3. Early Protestant Missions.
Danish English American Scotch German
Irish Welsh Swedish, 227
4. Churches Engaged and their Success.
Baptist Church of England Congregational Lutheran
Methodist Presbyterian Moravians and
Friends Undenominational, 236
5. Methods of Work.
Translations and Publications Schools and Sundayschools
Orphanages Dispensaries, Song Services,
etc. Preaching Itinerating Circuit System,
245
10 CONTESTS.
PAGE.
6. Woman's Work in the Indian Mission Field, lT>7
7. Means of Support.
Home Boards Indian Churches "Faith Missions"
Pauline Self-support, 2G1
8. Conclusion.
India as a Field of Labor Qualifications for the Work
Progress and Prospect, 279
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Map of India, Frontispiece.
Group of Hindoos, 47
The Taj Mahal, 101
Shrine and Monumen over the Death Well, .... 158
Hunting the Tiger in the Jungles, 209
Medical Dispensary, Bareilly, 241
INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
I.
PHYSICAL OUTLINES OF INDIA.
1. GEOGRAPHY.
THAT we may commence at the beginning in our
account of this far-off land, it is necessary, in the first
place, to define its
POSITION.
India is the central of the three great peninsulas
stretching southward from the continent of Asia. It
is six thousand miles south-east from England, and
nine thousand from America. Including British Burmah,
with which it forms the Empire of British India,
it extends over about thirty-two degrees of longitude
and twenty-seven degrees of north latitude, reaching to
within eight degrees of the equator, making its greatest
length from north to south nearly one thousand
nine hundred miles, and its greatest breadth from east
to west about one thousand eight hundred miles, and
giving it an area, including native states, of a million
and a half of square miles ; not far from half the size
12 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII.
of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, or about
one-sixth of the British Empire.
It is bounded on the north by the Himalaya Mountains,
which separate it from Tibet, on the east by
Burmah and Siam, on the south by the Indian Ocean,
and on the west by Beluchistan and Afghanistan.
DIVISION'S.
India, from very ancient times, has been divided
by geographers into two not very unequal parts, Hindustan
(place of the Hindus), north of the Vindhya
Mountains, and the Deccan (southern), formerly including
all south of the same, but now confined usually
to the vast plateau resting on the shoulders of the Eastern
and Western Ghats, the remainder being known as
Southern India.
MOUNTAINS.
The Himalayas (abode of snow) are the highest
mountains in the world, Mt. Everest being the highest
peak known, 29,002 feet. Their tops are covered
with perpetual snow, and their sides with almost every
variety of vegetable and animal life, according to the
elevation. They are separated their whole length from
the valley of the Ganges by the great Indian Swamp,
called the Terai, attaining, in some places, the width
of twenty-five miles, and covered with dense jungle
(forest), the lair of the wild beast, and so full of
malaria as to be uninhabitable by man, at least from
April to October.
The Sulaiman Mountains, having but three practicable
passes, are the natural barrier against the Kabulis.
RIVERS. 13
The highest peak is Takht-i-Sulaiman (throne of Solomon),
11,300 feet. The Aravali Hills, attaining at
Mt. Abu the height of 5,000 feet, are the water-shed
between the Indus and the Ganges valleys. The
Vindhya Mountains, though extending nearly across
the Peninsula, never exceed 6,000 feet above the level
of the sea, or 4,000 above the plain. The Eastern
and Western Ghats are joined together in the south by
the Nilgherries (Blue Mountains), the height of which
is 7,500 feet, and the highest peak about 8,700 feet.
RIVERS.
The longest river is the Indus (Indian), one thousand
eight hundred miles, which rises on the north
side of the Himalayas, passes between them aud the
Hindu Rush, flows southward, receiving the five
streams of the Punjab (five waters) through one channel,
and empties into the Arabian Sea. The Brahmaputra
(Son of the Supreme), is about the same
length and rises very near the same place. After a
long course through Tibet it makes a detour round
the mountains and debouches into the Bay of Bengal.
The Ganges (The River), rising on the opposite side
of the mountains, not far from the sources of the other
two, flows one thousand five hundred miles, receiving
the Jumna and many other large tributaries, and empties
partly through the same mouths as the Brahmaputra.
British Burmah is well watered by the Irawiidy,
flowing southward into the Bay of Bengal. The Deccan
is watered on the east principally by the Mahanadi
14 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
(Great River), the Godavery, and the Krishna, and
on the west by the Nerbudda and Taptee.
VALLEYS AND PLAINS.
The largest and most level of these is the Ganges
Valley, with scarcely a hill except along the banks of
the river, and being a vast alluvial deposit, is very
fertile, feeding two-fifths of the people of India. The
valleys of the Brahmaputra and Irawady are much
smaller, but near the mouths of the rivers not very
different from that of the Ganges. The valley of the
Indus is long, narrow, and fertile. The Plains of
Cutch and Guzerat, sometimes considered as belonging
to the Indus, are generally fine level uplands, with a
black soil, resembling some of the North American
prairies. Between the Indus and the Aravali Hills is
the Great Indian Desert, four hundred miles long by
one hundred wide. It is covered with sand hills without
vegetation or animal life, excepting in a few small
valleys after the rains, and can be traversed only by
the horse and camel.
The Plain of Hindustan has an elevation of two
thousand feet, and includes the table-lands of Mahva
and Rajpiitana. The Deccan has a similar or greater
elevation, but is much more uneven and rocky, and
Avith the exception of the portions along the rivercourses,
is very much inferior in fertility. Around it
on three sides is a narrow strip of low coast-land, the
ghats which separate being in many places so precipitous
as to defy the eiforts of man to pass over.
TIMBER TREES. 15
2. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.
As might be supposed in a country extending over
so many degrees of latitude, and containing so great
variety of elevation, India has an epitome of the plants
of the globe, or at least of the Torrid and Temperate
Zones, of which only a few of the most common need
be named. Forests, however, are confined mostly to
the hills, marshes, and water-courses, the rest being barren
plains, except here and there a tree or small grove
of trees, but during and after the rains covered with a
carpet of green. The slopes of the Himalayas, especially,
produce many of the same varieties, but differing
more or less from their European and American congeners.
This is particularly true of many of the
TIMBER TREES,
as ash, oak, walnut, bird's eye maple, pine, cedar,
sycamore, yew, mahogany, bird cherry, alder, spruce
fir, horse chestnut, elm, mulberry, holly, birch (just
like English birch), willow, and poplar.
Of other kinds the more useful are the sal, bijai sal,
sissoo, kail, mowah, toon, arjoon, peepul, gall-nut,
white and black ebony, zebra wood (so heavy that it
nearly sinks in water), satin wood, sappan wood,
sandal wood, sauce wood, red wood, black wood (used
very largely for furniture) ; but most useful is the
teak, not only as being adapted to nearly every purpose,
but as being impervious to white ants, owing, as
is supposed, to the presence of tannin in it.
16 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
Means are now taken to preserve the forests from
destruction, it having been found that they largely
affect the supply of rain.
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL.
The matter of shade in this tropical country is one
of very great importance, the location of villages and
hamlets being often determined by the small clumps of
trees found here and there. For this purpose, in addition
to those named above, nature has provided a great
variety, many being evergreen. Those used for shading
the public highways are chiefly the peepul (sacred figtree),
babul, tamarind, neem, and gold mohur (which
in addition to its long pinnate leaves, exhibits a beautiful
canopy of pink flowers). In the lawns may be seen
the cypress, silver fir, toolsee, casuarina, magnolia,
rhododendron, and a species of cork-tree, which, however,
does not yield cork.
HEDGES AND FIBERS.
Of the great variety of these may be mentioned the
thorn, box, jait, India coral-flower, sham lota, mandy,
milk-hedge, aloe (American agave), prickly pear and
other varieties of cactus, hemp, jute, flax, madar,
bodala, kurdala, cheela, guthoree, goor, chunnar, amaree,
doodea, and rope-grass, some of which are used
for both purposes.
DRUGS AND DYES.
The cinchona has been introduced from Peru by the
Indian Government, and is successfully cultivated in
OF RARE AND VARIOUS USES. 17
the NilgherrieSj yielding a vast quantity of quinine,
for use in the country. Besides the leaves, bark, or
roots of many of the trees already named, there are
acacias of different species, India-rubber, Indian worm-
Avood, Indian capsicum, various species of mint, spikenard
(supposed to be that of the Bible), sorrel, Bengal
colocynth, aconitum, balsam, drastic croton, castor-oil
plant, rhubarb, turmeric, ginger, nux vomica, calamus,
coriander, malabar, nightshade, gentian, myrrh, myrobalan,
ajwain, safflower, chiretta, dhak, gutta-percha,
Indian squills, Indian sarsaparilla, indigo, opium, logwood,
mustard, spices, etc.
OF RARE AND VARIOUS USES.
The soap-nut affords a wonderful substitute for
soap, especially in washing certain fabrics. The marking-
nut yields an indelible ink, much used by washermen
in marking clothes. By the addition of a little
lime and water the mark is dark and distinct. The
bark of the bhojaputra is used in some places for
paper.
The root of the horse-radish-tree is not a bad substitute
for horse-radish. The tallow and varnish trees,
which are both natives of China, yield the articles which
give them their names, but of an inferior quality.
Of the many varieties of palm, all of which grow
tall, slender, and straight, the most common are the
date, the fruit of which is vastly inferior to that of
Arabia and Persia; the targola, the pulp of whose
fruit is pleasant and cooling ; the sago, yielding a val-
2
18 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
liable article of food ; the areca, on which grows the
betel-nut ; but most valuable of all, the cocoa-nut, for
nearly all the wants of a native can be supplied from
it the walls, doors, and roof of his house of the leaves
plaited, and the posts, beams, and rafters of the trunk,
all which are securely fastened by the coir rope made
from the outside husk, which also furnishes mats for
the floor, beds, etc. From the hard shell he makes
spoons, ladles, cups, lamps, drinking vessels, pipebowls,
etc. The milk of the nut affords a pleasant,
nutritious drink, while the kernel is good for food,
and, after the oil is pressed out, is fed to pigs and
cows. The fresh toddy (sap) is used as a beverage
and as a yeast for baking purposes, but when fermented
it makes a very intoxicating liquor, which is
called arrack.
FLOWERING AND EVERGREEN SHRUBS.
With those that are indigenous, nearly all varieties
of exotics are to be found in the gardens ; as, roses,
geraniums, calladiums, crotons, ferns, laurels, bigonias,
and dahlias of every description, oleander (supposed to
be the rose of Sharon), wax-flower, balsam, mimosa,
fuchsia, heart's-ease, amaranth, marigold, violets, pinks,
cock's-comb, lotus, heliotrope, chrysanthemum, mogara
(a species of jasmine), marantas, sunflower, crown
imperial, myrtle, ivy, convolvulus, antigonon, snailcreeper,
sweet-brier, honeysuckle, passion-flower, and
many other creepers ; mosses, mistletoe, orchids, and
other parasites.
FRUITS. 19
FRUITS.
Although many English fruits as apples, pears,
peaches, plums, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries
are cultivated on the highlands, they are much
wanting in flavor, but serve to remind the wayfarer of
home. The grapes, though better than other fruits,
are yet inferior to those of California. The papai has
been introduced from the West Indies. Figs, pomegranates,
custard-apples, oxheart, guava (red and
white), sweet and sour limes, tac, loquat, and pineapple
are superior, as also the oranges, especially those
grown at Nagpore. The citron, supposed to be the
apple of the Bible, is a large, bitter fruit, used only
for preserves. The pumalo is a very large, luscious
fruit, resembling the shaddock of the West Indies, or
the "forbidden fruit" of Key West. The jack, corresponding
to the bread-fruit, is said to be tasty when
once beyond the nose. The sour-sop and wood-apple
are very acid, but wholesome. The bhore (jujube),
the jambiil, and the karunda are small jungle-fruits in
much demand. But the fruit of India is the mango,
which has a yellow skin and pulp, and a flavor like
the most luscious peach. The best variety is the Alphonso
of Goa and Mazagon, to which Moore makes
allusion in his "Lalla Rookh." Corresponding to this,
but smaller, is the mangosteen of Burmah. Of edible
nuts there are the pistachio, the cashew, and the
hazel.
20 INDIA A XD BRITISH BURMAH.
GARDEN VEGETABLES.
The same may be said of the vegetables as of the
fruits introduced from Europe. Sweet potatoes, cabbages,
cauliflowers, noil-colls, artichokes, celery, pumpkins,
squashes, watermelons, rnuskmelons, tomatoes,
radishes, beans, pease, turnips, carrots, beets, cucumbers,
and spinach, all remind the Englishman of home,
but disappoint him in the eating. A good quality of
potatoes is grown on the uplands. Onions, garlic,
water-cresses, black and cayenne pepper, ground-nuts,
arrow-root, tapioca, sage, lady-fingers, and egg-plant
are of a good quality, while gowra, ghosali, karella,
turay, doodya, cuminv and cardamoms are indigenous.
GRAINS, GRASSES, ETC.
Wheat, oats, barley, millet, all grow short in India,
and the yield is much less than in most countries where
they are grown. Maize is eaten almost exclusively
green in the ear, but bread can be made from it of an
inferior quality. Jowari, bajri, ragi, matki, bartani,
powta, kolti, nachni, gram (chick-pea), and dal (splitpulse)
are used for bread for a large portion of the
people; but the grain of India, as of all the East, is
rice, which grows on land covered with water, or on
the ghats, where the rain is almost incessant during
the season.
The til (Indian sesamum) is noted for its oil. The
sugar-cane grows in many parts, and affords a coarse
kind of sugar as manufactured in the country. Tobacco
thrives well, and is grown extensively for home
ANIMALS. 21
consumption. Tea and coffee, in large quantities and
of excellent quality, are now produced in the Himalayas,
Nilgherries, and Travancore. The great agricultural
product of the country is cotton, which finds
a congenial soil in Guzerat, Central India, and Dhorwar,
though it does not command as high a price in
Manchester as the American cotton.
This list includes the principal of the eighteen superior
and eighteen inferior grains, as the people here
classify them. Different kinds of grass grow in great
profusion in every vacant spot, high or law, during the
rains, affording ample pasturage for flocks and herds,
and abundance of hay, which may be cut at leisure
after the monsoon ; so that there is no occasion for the
growing of tame grass. In many of the jungles and
swamps reeds and rushes grow high and rank, affording
lurking-places for wild beasts and reptiles. The
finest and most useful of the family of grasses is the
bamboo, which grows in clumps from twenty to one
hundred feet high, presenting, with their spines, in
some cases, a formidable barrier to foot soldiers, and
even to cavalry. The trunk is hollow, light, strong,
and elastic, and is used for building purposes, pipes,
and all kinds of baskets. The shoots, when young
and tender, are sometimes eaten like asparagus, or
pickled in vinegar.
3. ANIMALS.
What has been said of the variety of the flora of
India may with equal propriety be said of the fauna,
22 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII.
with this exception, that, unlike the former, the latter
recede from the advance of man. It is truly wonderful,
however, that a country so long and so densely
populated as India is should still contain so many and
so fierce wild animals, and can be accounted for only
by the fact of the unwillingness of the people to take
animal life.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Of horses, which the climate requires to be used
only moderately, the first is the fleet-footed Arabian.
The Australian is used for draft purposes and artillery,
and the Ktibfil for light work and cavalry. The government,
however, employs mules largely for transportation,
and sometimes elephants ; but for long distances
camels, which kneel to receive their burdens. The natives,
for the most part, employ the tatoo (pony).
Of horned cattle, there are the common ox, zebu
(sacred ox, with hump on its shoulder), arnee, gour,
yak, and buffalo (not to be confounded with the American
bison) ; all which are employed for draft purposes,
as well as for dairy produce. The donkey is used as
a pack animal for short distances, but not for riding.
Sheep, goats, swine, dogs, and cats are of the most
ordinary kind, except some imported and the Cashmere
goat.
WILD ANIMALS.
The hanuman, rhesus, baboon, and other varieties
of monkeys scamper over the trees and temples, where
they are unmolested. The maneless lion is found in
Gii/erat, the royal tiger in Bengal and many other
BIRDS. 23
parts, where he is destructive to cattle ; but only occasionally
is a " man-eater" found. Still that one sometimes
makes sad havoc in a village before he is finally
conquered.
The cheetah, or hunting-cat, is kept for sport, being
carried out in his cage until antelope or other game is
sighted, when he is turned loose, and catches them in
a trice, receiving a part as his reward. The leopard,
wild-cat, booted lynx, wolf, and hyena are rather formidable
enemies when urged on by anger or hunger ;
but more so the wild boar, bison, rhinoceros, and elephant.
The nilgai (blue cow), various kinds of deer,
sambur (elk), sand-bear, sloth-bear, rouse, hare, and
rabbit afford sport for the huntsman, as also the civetcat,
wild dog, jackal, and fox. The wild ass of Sindh
is a beautiful creature. Squirrels, unfit for food, are
so small and so tame as to visit the house, while rats,
muskrats, mice, and bandicots arc altogether too
familiar. The porcupine, ant-eater (with scales like
the armadillo), and hedgehog make their home in the
ground. The flying fox is nocturnal in its habits,
feeding on fruits, insects, and the eggs of small birds.
The mongoose (Indian ichneumon), like its Egyptian
congener, is a protection from snakes, which it seldom
fails to kill, and scorpions, first dexterously biting
off their sting.
BIRDS.
Domestic fowls, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, and
guinea-fowls are often seen in the yard, especially in
country places, while numbers make a business of rais24
INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIT.
ing them for market. Sparrows are as familiar, if not
as pious, as in the Psalmist's time. The common crow
is much smaller than in America, and so tame as to
pick up the garbage around the house. The kites are
larger, and also scavengers, often imitating the birds
in the chief baker's dream, by snatching meat from the
basket on the coolie's head. Parrots and paroquets of
various species are often seen wild, but oftener in cages.
Of forest birds, there are the ash-colored falcon,
scops-eared owl, white-tailed swallow, Oriental roller,
Malabar trogon, spotted kingfisher, azure-throated beeeater,
red-faced night-feeder, goalpora and fiery-tailed
sun-birds (corresponding to American humming-birds),
fire-breasted myzanthe (only two and a half inches in
length), hunting-crow, dove, great pericrocotus, kingcrow
(terror to crows), wandering-pie, fantail, hoopoe
(called here carpenter-bird), shrike, minah, horned
tragopan or pheasant, Baya bird (with hanging nest
like inverted bottle).
Of warblers (which, however, do not excel in song
as much as in dress), there are the dayal or magpie
robin, yellow-cheeked titmouse, rufous-bellied titmouse,
black-faced thrush, laughing crow, mango-bird, blackheaded
oriole, bulbul (Indian nightingale), lark, Paradise
fly-catcher (with crest, and two very long feathers
in its tail), and tailor-bird (so called from its nest,
which it literally sews with its beak as a needle, and
stray pieces of twine or fiber for a thread).
Of large birds, there are the bittern, swan, bustard,
vulture, eagle, sarus, and adjutant crane. The sportsREPTILES.
25
man finds duck, teal, snipe, partridges, quails, peacocks,
pigeons, jungle-fowl, and wild-geese.
Of these the most formidable is the crocodile, found
in the large streams, and manifesting quite a partiality
for devotees who come thither to bathe. The tortoise
and hawk's-bill turtle abound in some parts. Lizards
climb the walls for flies arid other insects, which they
catch with great adroitness, while larger ones, commonly
called blood-suckers, live on the ground and
trees ; but the largest of all is the iguana, which, like
the rest, is harmless.
Of serpents, the largest is the python, attaining the
length of twenty or thirty feet ; but of this species the
most common is the variety called rock-snake, only
eight or ten feet long, but strong enough to kill a goat
or calf by squeezing it to death in its folds, like the
boa-constrictor, with which it is allied. Species of
coluber and cerberus are sometimes found. But of the
many kinds of snakes, only a few are venomous, notably
the cobra di capello (hooded snake), cobra manilla,
sand-snake, and viper. And yet it is report*} that
nearly twenty thousand persons die annually from
snakes and other beasts ; but this is due to the exposed
situation of their habitations and their employments.
Sea-serpents have been seen in the Indian seas more
than one hundred feet long. Frogs and toads are not
so plentiful as in some other countries ; but centipedes
2G INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
and scorpions are abundant, their sting, however, not
being fatal, except to small children.
Indian waters produce sharks, saw-fish, whales,
three-banded mullet, red fire-fish, Indian flying gurnard,
toad-fish, seer, and sole. The most tasty saltwater
fish are the pomfret and bumalo (almost devoid
of bone). The rivers produce many kinds of fish ; as,
the Indian salmon, bekhtee, whiting, and mango-fish ;
but there is not much encouragement to the angler.
Shrimps, prawns, crabs, oysters, and a great variety
of shell-fish are found.
INSECTS.
Atlas, stag, and golden beetles, as well as many
others, large and small, are to be met with everywhere.
One small variety has a coat just like red velvet.
The rarest kinds of butterflies, as the peacock, thoas,
mango, etc., enliven the flower-gardens at the close of
the rains ; and the same may be said of the moths,
one of the largest and finest of which is the silk-worm.
Locusts sometimes go in great swarms. Grasshoppers,
dragon-flies, crickets, cockroaches, bees, humblebees,
wasps, spiders, leeches, and snails are plentiful ;
while India has its full share of flies, mosquitoes,
gnats, ants, bugs, and fleas. Fire-flies sometimes are
so abundant as to make the forest sparkle on a dark
night.
ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 27
ANIMAL PRODUCTS.
The buffalo is used largely for its milk and butter,
the latter being very white; neither has cow's
butter that rich yellow color produced by feeding on
blue-grass. For cooking purposes butter is melted, or
more usually manufactured for that object especially,
by boiling the milk a couple of hours, curdling, and
churning. Curds are used largely by the natives, and
cream-cheese of a good quality is manufactured in
some localities.
Elephants' tusks, horns, and tallow are important
articles of produce. Skins of sheep, white and black,
as also of deer, antelope, and tiger, are used for doormats
and ornaments. The wool is generally coarse
and short ; but the hair of the Cashmere goat, from
which the finest shawls are made, is about eighteen
inches long, yet one fleece weighs only three ounces,
and eight fleeces are required for a shawl a yard and
a half square.
A good quality of honey is found in the hills,
usually deposited in the crevices of the rocks. Beeswax
is made, sufficient for home use. Lac is a dye
distilled by a small insect, usually on the banyan-tree.
The cochineal insect has been imported from America ;
but no great success has attended its introduction. As
in China, so in India, the eggs of the silk-worm hatch
by the natural heat ; but the raising of them here has
not assumed the same proportions as there, though silk
is an important product.
The quills of the porcupine, which are hard and
28 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
strong, are used for various purposes. Beautiful specimens
of coral and various kinds of sea-shells are found.
In some places along the coast sardines are caught in
such abundance that they are used for manure. The
pearl-fishery is largely engaged in, in some of the adjacent
islands, as also on the coast at Kurachee.
4. MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.
If India does not hold its own in the mineral as in
the animal and vegetable kingdoms, it is not because of
want of variety in the geological conformation of the
country. Geologists tell us that the Himalayas consist
of granite rocks, which have penetrated the stratified,
metamorphosing them in many places into crystalline
limestone, mica schist, clay slate, and gneiss. The last
of these is a very common stone over India. Sandstone
and conglomerate are found in layers at the base of the
mountains. Nearly the whole of the Deccau consists
of metamorphic rocks, and in some places large bowlders
are heaped one upon another in such form that,
apparently, the strength of one man would cause them
to tumble down. Between the ghats and the sea are
small, rocky ranges, and sometimes isolated peaks rising
into lofty columns, like works of art. The large
river basins are post-tertiary alluvial deposits, while
the uplands consist largely of a red soil, but in some
places black ; and on the east coast it is sandy. The
soil generally has been formed from the decay of
rocks.
METALS. 29
BUILDING STONE.
*Of this there are many kinds, and they are pretty
generally distributed over the country, though in some
places the stone must be brought from a great distance.
The most common are the various kinds of trap, which
are easily worked and answer for common buildings
and fences. For more substantial and ornamental
work sandstone, freestone, quartz rock, granite, basalt,
and various kinds of marble are used. Limestone
yielding an excellent quality of lime is found in some
places a few feet below the surface.
In some parts of the Deccan vast layers of stone
are found near the surface, of uniform thickness, about
five inches. The Porebunder flags are about three
inches thick, and are much used for floors and pavements.
METALS.
Iron is found in abundance in various districts, in
some of which the mines are successfully worked ; but
a great drawback is scarcity of fuel for smelting.
Lead and copper ore are found in Kumaon and different
parts, but as yet have not received great attention.
Gold and silver have long been mined in
various parts, but more recently new discoveries have
been made in the Wynad district in the Nilgherries,
and English companies have been formed for developing
various mines.
30 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
EARTHS, COAL, ETC.
In almost any part of India may be found clay
suited for the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and pottery;
while in some places a finer article suitable for clay
figures, brackets, and even porcelain, is met with.
'The Indian coal fields include a large part of Jsorth
and Central India, and are being gradually developed ;
but neither is the quantity nor the quality such that
it will soon supersede English coal. The mines at
Rannigunge, near Calcutta, employ five thousand men
and women, who raise six hundred thousand tons of
coal annually. Petroleum is found in Assam, but not
enough as yet to affect the supply from America.
Salt is collected from Sambur Lake and others of the
salt range, as well as from sea water. Rock salt is
formed in the Punjab. Saltpeter is produced in considerable
quantities, as also asphalt.
PRECIOUS STONES.
India has long been noted for its diamonds, especially
the mines of Golconda; and it is particularly
worthy of note that all the very large and fine ones
in the world have been found here. The most famous
of all, perhaps, though not the largest, the Koh-i-noor
(mountain of light), which once belonged to the Great
Mogul, but is now in the possession of the queen of
of England, was picked up on the banks of the Godavery.
There are fine carnelian mines along the
Gulf of Cambay, as also blood-stones, lapis-lazuli, and
crystals. The agate, emerald, and spinal ruby are
CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. 31
found in small quantities in different parts of the
country. Beautiful specimens of quartz and trilobites
are picked out of the trap in Western India.
5. CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS.
The three great causes of difference of climate,
namely, latitude, sea, and elevation, all combine to render
the climate of India most diversified. Indeed, this
might be said of very short distances ; for instance, at
the foot of the Nilgherries the mean annual temperature
is as high as 80 Fahrenheit, while on the top of the
mountains it comes down to 65, or lower. The
warmest places are the Great Desert and the southeast
coast, 80, and the coolest station occupied is
Darjeeliug, in the Himalayas, 54. This, however, is
true only of the average temperature, for it is observable
that there is a remarkable equalization of this in
the different latitudes. Arcot, in latitude 13, has the
same mean annual temperature, 82, as Nagpore and
Surat, in latitude 21 ; Allahabad, in latitude 25, has
the same, 81, as Calicut, in latitude 11, which is the
same as Singapore, almost immediately under the equator;
Bangalore, in latitude 13, is one degree cooler,
74, than Poona, in latitude 18, and Lahore, in latitude
31, being higher; and lastly Ootacumund, in
latitude 11 is one degree cooler, 56, than Srinugger,
in latitude 34, being two thousand feet higher. So
when it is remembered that the Winter in North and
Central India is much colder than in Southern India,
32 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
it will be seen that the Summer in the former must be
excessively hot. And so it is, the thermometer reaching,
and even exceeding 123 in the shade, and 167
in the sun, Avhich is occasioned by the hot winds blowing
from the heated plains as from a burning furnace.
On the other hand places along the sea-coast enjoy
a very equable climate. In Calcutta the mean temperature
in January, the coldest month, is 66, and
in April, the hottest month, 85, though hi some days
in each case it quite exceeds these limits. In Bombay
the thermometer rarely falls below 75, or exceeds
100, which, with a daily sea breeze is more tolerable
than some places in America. At Poona and Bangalore,
as over most of the Deccan, the months of July,
August, and September, are delightful, and would
afford -a fine change from the dust and heat of many
other places in the world.
In North and Central India the seasons are almost
as well marked as in England and North America,
though certainly very different. They are three of
almost equal length, the cool beginning with November,
the warm commencing the latter part of February,
and the wet beginning in June. On the highlands
there is some frost, and far up the mountains snow.
In Southern India, as has been noticed already,
there is scarcely any cold weather, except on the hills,
and not so much of the exceeding hot weather ; so
there are but two distinctly marked seasons regulated
MONSO ONS AND CYCL ONES. 33
by the monsoons, the wet and the dry. Along the
sea-coast, however, the temperature is always moist,
and no other sudorific is required, while on the plateau
of the Deccau it is much drier.
MONSOONS AND CYCLONES.
From October to April, when the sun is shining
directly on the southern hemisphere, it heats up the
continent of Africa more than the temperature of the
ocean, causing the wind to blow in that direction. That
is the north-east monsoon, and carries rain to Africa,
and, to some extent, from the Bay of Bengal to Southern
India. When the sun returns north, it heats the
plains of India and Central Asia, especially the great
desert of Gobi, so that the wind changes and brings in
the south-west monsoon, with rain from June to
October.
Though the rainy season is the same time over
India, yet the amount of rain-fall differs very much in
different places. The west coast, the slope of the Himalayas,
the valley of the Brahmaputra, and British
Burmah receive the most rain. Cherapoonji, in Assam,
has the heaviest known rain-fall 524 inches, or nearly
44 feet. Mahobleshwur, on the Western Ghats, has
about 300 inches ; Bombay, 71 ; Calcutta, 66 ; Madras,
50 ; Delhi, 24 ; and Sindh, about two inches. Hence,
when there is a light monsoon, people in some parts
must suffer, and, unless provision is made for irrigation,
famine is the inevitable consequence.
The south-west monsoon is always ushered in with
3
34 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
thunder and lightning. Occasionally a hurricane
sweeps over the country, doing some damage, and in
the same way a tidal wave may sweep over the lowlands
along the coast. Once in ten or twelve years a
cyclone of unusual severity is expected to strike the
coast, most generally from the Bay of Bengal, doing
immense damage to life and property. The one in
October, 1864, killed and Avounded sixty persons, and
destroyed and damaged nearly one hundred thousand
buildings and one hundred and ninety ships in Calcutta
alone.
SANITARIA.
To recuperate health and regain vigor lost by living
in the enervating climate of the lowlands and plains,
it has been found necessary to open up resting-places
on the hills, where generally there is shade from the
scorching sun, and a somewhat invigorating atmosphere,
even in the hot weather. The governor-general
moves his whole establishment to Simla, in the Himalayas
; the Bombay government goes to Mahobleshwur,
and the Madras to Ootacumurid. Bengal has Darjeeling,
the north-west provinces, Nynee Tal, the Punjab,
Mussoorie, the central provinces, Puchmurree, the
Berars, Chiculda, and Eajputana, Mt. Aboo. Besides
these, there are Matheran (from matha, summit, and
ran, forest), near Bombay, the Pulney Hills, of Southern
India, and many others of less note. Many private
persons, and those who can get leave, visit these
places also. The government lias provided barracks in
some places for those soldiers who may require such a
DISEASES. 35
change ; and many of the missionary societies have
followed the example in providing bungalows for their
missionaries, and also in allowing funds to meet the
increased expenses in going. Some who can not go to
the expense of a change to the hills hire tents for a few
weeks, and camp out in a grove, such as Lanowlee, on
the railway, eighty miles from Bombay, and forty from
Poona.
DISEASES.
No doubt several causes combine to render the
country unhealthy ; but the most noticeable are the
crowded population in the cities, with lack of fresh
air, pure water, and cleanliness ; the flocking together
in such numbers at melas (festivals), and intemperance
in eating, drinking, and sleeping. Though the
European who has come to stay any length of time
has to go through a little season of acclimatization,
yet there is no reason why, with proper precautions
of sanitation, diet, and exercise, he should not enjoy
as good health here as elsewhere, save only the physical
depression inevitable from a warm climate. To
prove the possibility, some have lived and worked
to a good old age, without once leaving the country ;
and some are living and working still, who long ago
were ordered by the physicians out of the country,
never to return. There is no doubt, however, that a
change to a colder climate is beneficial, and as disease,
when it does take hold, often runs its course in a few
hours, it is not safe to trust to one's self; and one great
blessing to the country is good medical attendance, to
36 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
be had in every important station, and hospitals in all
the large cities.
It has been ascertained that the percentage of mortality
among natives and Europeans is somewhat as
follows : Dysentery, 30 per cent ; fevers, 20 ; cholera,
18 ; hepatic diseases, 8 ; and all others, 24 per cent.
The prevailing varieties of fever are intermittent, remittent,
and jungle fever, with occasional cases of typhoid,
which, though they usually yield readily to treatment,
yet often not until the patient is removed from
the region of the malaria. Some cases of cholera are
always to be found in large cities; but it rarely becomes
epidemic, except when thousands of people flock
together at fairs, eat unripe fruit and other indigestible
food, with impure water, and, after contracting the
disease, scatter it everywhere on their return. Liver
diseases, though not so fatal as others, are yet quite
prevalent, induced generally either by a sedentary or
intemperate life. Small-pox is often very fatal among
the native population ; but compulsory vaccination has
greatly lessened its evil effects. Leprosy still makes
its ravages as of old on the Asiatic continent, stealing
insidiously upon the individual, until he wrakes up to
the fact that he is a leper. It is still beyond the physician's
power to cure, and nothing can be done but to
check its progress somewhat, and smooth the way to
the grave, which may thus be kept off for years.
Though not deemed contagious, yet all agree that it is
best to keep out of its way.
Exposure to the sun sometimes causes sunstroke,
NATURAL SCENERY LANDSCAPES. 37
which, however, may be avoided by proper care. Bilious
headache is often obviated by avoiding the use of
tea and coffee and all other stimulants, which are certainly
not required, as one can wear himself out fast
enough without them. Very few consumptives are
met with, and this is, perhaps, one of the best countries
for those suffering with pulmonary complaints.
Children usually lack the bloom here that they have in
colder climates, and teething is generally a very trying
time.
6. NATURAL SCENERY.
LANDSCAPES.
The vale of Cashmere has long been noted for its
picturesque scenery, almost paradisiacal. What with
its placid lakes and running streams, its beautiful
flowers and grand avenues of poplar and other trees,
the traveler is amply repaid for the toil, expense, and
danger of a visit. Officers often spend their leave
there.
The Happy Valley of Nepal is rendered the more
beautiful by the villages and hamlets clustered here
and there in quiet seclusion.
Many Alpine scenes in the Himalayas are almost
unsurpassed on the globe, one of the most noted of
Avhich is the view from Mt. Cheena, where the traveler
may look up to the snowy range twenty thousand
feet higher than himself, which seems to prop the
firmament above and around, like the supports of an
immense dome ; and then, changing his stand-point
38 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
a few paces, he may look down two thousand feet to
the lovely Nynee Tal (lake) nestled in the mountain?,
and six thousand feet lower to the vast plain spread
out hundreds of miles before his enraptured vision.
From Panorama Point, on Matheran, is a splendid
view of the city and harbor of Bombay, with shipping,
coast-line, cocoa-nut groves, hills, and buildings, making
a panorama such as is rarely equaled. Near by
is also a fine grove of magnificent trees, festooned with
large creepers, called amrai (mango tope). From Elphinstone
Point, at Mahobleshwur, is a sheer descent
of two thousand feet, and a similar one from Arthur's
Seat near by, while two thousand feet lower is the
Coukan, stretching to the sea, and disclosing most
beautiful landscapes of fields and groves, hills and
dales.
AVATERFALLS.
Not far distant from the last mentioned are the
valley and falls of the Yena, where the swollen waters
rush over a precipice, with a clear fall of five hundred
feet. During the rains a passage on the railway over
the Bhore Ghat affords a view most entrancing. The
mountains are dressed in living green, their tops
shrouded in mist, and their sides threaded by silver
streams, while in the chasm the cataract plunges and
boils and foams and roars till it joins the flood two
thousand feet below.
The Gokah Falls are formed by the Gutpurba contracting
from about two hundred and fifty to eighty
yards in width, and plunging over a sandstone ledge,
WONDERFUL TREES. 39
and dashing down a chasm one hundred and seventyeight
feet. But the most noted cataract O in India is
the Gairsoppa Falls, in Southern India, consisting of
four distinct falls "The Rajah," "The Roarer,"
" The Rocket," and " Dame Blanche ;" the first falling
eight hundred and thirty feet direct, and the others
being grand cascades all visible at one view. Not
far from Jubbulpore are the "Marble Rocks," where
the Nerbudda, already a considerable stream, forces its
way through a long, narrow gorge, as if cut through
the solid marble.
WONDERFUL TREES.
Gigantic banyan-trees are found in different parts.
One there is at the foot of Mahobleshwur Hills which
shades three-fourths of an acre perfectly at noonday,
the many stems forming aisles as of a church. Near
Broach, in Guzerat, is supposed to be the largest
banyan in the world, capable once of sheltering five
thousand horsemen ; and, though a large part was
blown away in a terrible storm, yet it still has a circumference
of eighteen hundred feet.
A tree of the Miciidui Champaca, on the southwestern
ghats, measures fifty-nine feet in girth three
feet from the ground.
In the Lanowlee woods is a creeper two feet in
diameter, twining over the tops of many lofty trees.
40 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
II.
PEOPLE OF INDIA.
1. RACES, NUMBERS, ETC.
WHEN we come to consider the inhabitants of this
very ancient country, we meet with difficulties much
greater than those experienced in examining its physical
features. There are absolutely no reliable records
till we reach the period of modern history.
ABORIGINES.
Whether entirely of a different race or not, it is on
all hands conceded that the various hill tribes are the
descendants of the aborigines of the country ; but how
or when they came is veiled in utter obscurity. It
must, however, have been very soon after the confusion
of tongues at Babel, and they must either have
entered from the north-east or have taken the path
over the passes of the Hindu Kiish in the north-west,
which was followed by their successors? who, being
more powerful, drove them into their present mountain
retreats.
One of the most important of these tribes is the
Bheels, a nomadic race, who roam the jungles of Central
India, and are of dark color and short stature,
with thick, matted hair and beards. They get their
ABORIGINES. 41
living mainly by hunting Avith bows and arrows, which
they hold Avith their feet. They Avere the most dangerous
people in the country till the government conceiAred
the idea of enlisting a corps of them for military
purposes, Avhich has Avorked admirably.
The Gouds, Avho live in the rocky /astnesses and
dense forests along the head-Avaters of the Nerbudda,
are more degraded than the Bheels, living in a
wretched state, and some going entirely naked. The
Kols and Santals of Chota Nagpore, and Khouds of
Orissa, are larger tribes and mare adA^anced toAvard
civilization, engaging to some extent in agriculture.
Along the Western Ghats are scA'eral small tribes ;
as, the WCtralls, Avho live largely on the fowls Avhich
they raise, and the proceeds of the Avood, which they cut
and sell ; the Katodis, including the Thakores, Avho move
their villages from place to place on the hills, Avhile
they manufacture the kat (a gum from the acacia
catechu), from Avhich they get their name, and chiefly
their support, though amongst other things, they cat
lizards, squirrels, serpents, swine, and the black-faced
monkey ; the Ramosis, Avho are employed as watchmen
in villages, shops, and bungalows ; and similar to them
the Kolis, Avho are porters, hunters, fishermen, and
boatmen, but many of them make a living largely by
robbing and plundering. The huts of all these tribes
as far as they have any, are rude and miserable in the
extreme.
Corresponding to the hill tribes of India are the
Karens, of Burmah, supposed to be the aborigines.
42 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
SCYTHIANS.
Less than two centuries after the dispersion of mankind,
when one great branch of the Scythian family
migrated toward the north of Europe, another wending
their way southward descended into India, soon
occupying the great valleys of the Indus and Ganges,
and the whole of Northern India. However, other
invaders more powerful than themselves descending
upon them, they advanced beyond the Nerbudda, and
found a permanent home in Southern India and Ceylon,
where their descendants are still found.
ARYANS.
Those who followed so closely upon the Scythians
belonged to the great Indo-European family, of which
the Teutons are an important branch. Being a race
of shepherds, and requiring pasturage for their flocks,
they soon became widely scattered, some going to the
far west, and in modern times peopling a good part
of North America, while others following their flocks
to the south-east, occupied the whole of Hindfistdn,
driving their predecessors, as we have seen, into the
mountains, and the very pocket of the peninsula.
They called themselves Aryans (Nobles), but became
known to Europeans as Hindus, a word signifying in
their language "black," they having by this time become
somewhat tanned by the tropical sun, though not
so much so as the Scythians, and they in turn not so
much so as the hill tribes.
MONGOLS NUMBERS AND DENSITY. 43
Besides these great familes, and differing largely
from them, another is represented in India by the
people on the slopes of the lower Himalayas, Assam,
and British Burmah. That is, the great Mongolian
race to which the people of Tibet and China belong,
and who gradually worked themselves down from Central
Asia, over the whole of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula;
but at what time they entered India is as little
known as in the case of the other races. They still
preserve their Mongolian features, are short of stature
and enterprising.
Besides all these, there are large numbers of the
Afghan, Arabian, and Persian invaders, whose descendants
have more or less, but not altogether mixed \vith
these ; and in addition to these almost every race
under the sun is represented by a small number in
India, or even in any one of its great commercial
cities.
NUMBERS AND DENSITY.
In the whole of India and British Burmah, according
to the last census there are two hundred and fifty
millions of people, or eight times as many as in the
British Isles, and five times as many as in the United
States, about four-fifths as many as the whole of Europe,
more than Africa and Oceanic combined, or one
out of every six on the globe. About one-sixth of
these are Mussulmans, or nearly one-third of all the
Mohammedans on the earth. The greater number of
these are in Bengal, where they constitute almost one
44 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
out of three of the population. Nearly all the rest,
or about two hundred millions, are Hindus in the
broadest sense of that term, that is, they profess the
Hindu religion.
India is next to China in numbers, and also in
density of population. The average for the whole
country, however, is only one hundred and sixty-six
to the square mile, but in some places it is very much
more, reaching in one district as high as one thousand
to the square mile. From this it will be seen
there is great inequality in the distribution of the
inhabitants ; and as in most other countries the population
continues increasing, and famines are recurring
more or less frequently in these over-crowded
districts, it is apparent that some equalization is necessary.
Hence, numbers are being attracted to the more
thinly settled parts, as from Bengal to the hills about
Darjeeling, and in Assam, where are large tea plantations.
Also increase of wages has attracted many
Madrassees to British Burmah.
The greatest encouragement given by the government
has been to induce Coolies to go and work in
the sugar plantations of Mauritius and the We.-t Indies.
These, however, go only for a period of years, and
expect to return, so no permanent colonies are formed.
CHARACTER.
The Hindu is excessively conservative, deeming it
the greatest of sins to adopt any thing different from
what his ancestors employed ; and hence, he has been
CHARACTER. 45
at a stand-still these thousands of years, though now
forces are at work that he can not resist. One of the
reasons of their conservatism, no doubt, is another of
their characteristics, that is, a proverbial sluggishness,
and unwillingness to do any thing that can be avoided.
His way of killing time is to sleep, which he can do
almost anywhere, and at any time of the day. Of the
value of time, either his own or that of others, he has
no idea, so he is not characterized by promptness and
punctuality. The struggle for life, however, does not
admit of a great deal of idleness. Their love of jewelry
and display make up somewhat for their improvidence,
for in times of famine thousands of rupees' worth
of ornaments are melted and coined. Their politeness
is neutralized by their insincerity, their general honesty
by their untruthfulness, their gentleness of manners
by their proneness to quarrel, and go to law with one
another. Though reticent about their own families,
they are obtrusive enough in prying into the private
affairs of others, thinking nothing of asking a gentleman
the amount of his salary and estimating him
accordingly. Their readiness to care for their own
relations is perhaps due to their caste rules, which shut
them out from the rest of the world.
As might be supposed, however, among such numbers
and so many races, there is great difference in
the people of different parts. The Bengali, whose
food is almost exclusively rice, is weak and effeminate,
but ingenious; the Rajputs and Rohillas, brave and independent;
the Sikhs and Goorkas make excellent
46 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII.
soldiers7 the Marathas are cunning and reserved, the
Madrassees faithful and more enterprising than many
of their countrymen. And although for the most part
these profess the same religion, yet they have nothing
much in common, but rather mutually despise or hate
each other.
The Mohammedans as elsewhere, are bigoted and
fanatical, but much more active than their Hindu
neighbors generally. The Parsees are enterprising and
exceedingly worldly. Morality is at a low ebb among
all classes, some estimating that for every four who are
pure and chaste, one is not, while others would reverse
these figures. Intemperance hi many places is
on the increase, country liquors giving way often to
foreign, though there is considerable improvement
under .the present liberal administration, especially in
the villages.
Notwithstanding all this, however, the> Indians are
an interesting people from whatever stand-point they
may be viewed.
2. MANNER OP LIFE.
In considering all these social matters it must be
borne in mind that there is great difference in the various
districts, and what is true in one, may not be true
in another ; but it would be very tedious to note them
all, even if one were sufficiently acquainted with them
all. That which is calculated to strike the stranger
first on his arrival in Oriental lands is the


DKESS. 47
DRESS,
of which there is great variety, each class and caste
having some article by which it may be distinguished
from others; and though at first the clothing may seem
so odd, and even fantastical, yet on a closer study and
acquaintance it will be seen generally adapted to the
people and the climate. In nothing is there more
variety than in the head-dress. Hindus, besides shaving
the face all but the mustaches, shave also the head
except a small top-knot, considered sacred, which they
allow to grow long and tie up in a knot. Numbers,
however, shave only the pate and keep the rest
cropped. Mohammedans revere the beard, sometimes
dyeing it red, but shave the head, wearing a skullcap
; as do also the Parsees, with the hair cropped.
The hat of the Parsee is not unlike a "stove-pipe,"
without brim and mashed flat at the top, which they
have adopted and modified from a merchant caste in
Guzerat. These hats are all of a dark color, except
those of the priests, which are white. The hat of the
Sindhee is the "
stove-pipe," with the brim at the top.
The puggery, worn by most of the men, consists of a
narrow piece of cloth (cotton or silk) many yards in
length folded around and over the crown of the head,
the Brahmins with a broad brim (in Western India
like a cartwheel), the Purbhoos with narrow brim, the
Bunyas with a sharp point on top, etc., of various
colors; but that of the Mussulmans usually light and
plain with narrow brim. The Bengalis go bareheaded
on all occasions.
48 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
The Mussulmans (men and women) wear muslin
trousers, especially in western India. Those of the
Parsees are often made of silk of various bright colors.
As a rule, Hindus do not wear trousers, but a piece
of muslin folded around the loins and between the
legs, where the ends are left to dangle. On the upper
parts they wear a jacket, and over that usually a long
coat with sleeves (made of shirting or colored woolen
goods, according to the weather), the fastenings usually
being strings instead of buttons; but the country
people are content with a coarse woolen blanket.
Above all, a scarf is often worn Avrapped around the
shoulders, and permitted to hang down in graceful
folds. In full dress, the Parsees and Mohammedans
wear a long dress reaching to the ground, and kept in
its place by a 'girdle, like the Jews and Persians. A
peculiarity of all is the length and tightness of the
sleeves and legs, requiring much time in drawing on.
The proper dress of ladies is a tight>fitting jacket, and
a skirt made of a long piece of muslin folded around,
and hanging down, one end being thrown over the hejad
for a covering ; in addition to which Parsee ladies wear
a band or fillet over the head.
Many men and women go barefoot, but some wear
sandals of leather or wood, held on by the toes, and
others shoes usually without stockings, sometimes with
long sharp toes turned up after the manner of the
English, centuries ago. These are made so as to be
easily thrown off, and many persons turn down the
heels wearing them slipshod.
DWELLINGS. 49
Men sometimes wear rings on their fingers, and in
their ears, which like those of the North American
Indians are sometimes sadly hacked for this purpose.
But women want jewelry on nearly every part of the
body, ears, nose, neck, bosom, arms, wrists, fingers,
ankles, and toes, some so large and heavy as not only
to render them hideous, but to interfere with their
eating, working, and locomotion. They are made of
gold, silver, brass, ivory, or glass, some being very expensive,
and in the case of children, of whom they
sometimes constitute the whole apparel, they are occasionally
a temptation to the thief even to the peril of the
child's life.
With the exception of ornaments, however, the
dress is not usually very expensive, and many of the
poor clothe so simply and scantily, as to cost almost
nothing.
DWELLINGS.
The people of India know nothing of isolated private
residences, except what they have learned from
foreigners, but whether in town or country, their
houses are crowded together in unhealthy proximity.
With few exceptions, the streets are very crooked and
narrow, and the villages are often built merely on the
two sides of the public road. In large cities the houses
may be six or seven stories high, containing half a
hundred small low rooms, and sometimes nearly as
many families, for generally they do not require more
than one or two rooms for each, for sitting, eating,
cooking, sleeping and bathing. They are built of
4
50 INDIA AND BRITISH 1', fllMA If.
brick or stone with untempered mortar, the floor of
earth and the roof of tiles, very little wood being used.
The walls are stuccoed within and without, and the
floor smeared with cow-dung, which makes a strong
crust when dry. Fires are neither so common nor
destructive as elsewhere. In the villages the houses
are huts, with walls of mud, or rough stones and mud,
or small upright sticks, daubed with mud, with a coating
of cow-dung. The roof is of tiles, straw, grass,
or palm-leaves laid over small rafters. Though the
hut is small, yet likely one-half will be set apart for
cattle and goats, while the other will be occupied by
the family father, mother, children, and relations
happy as their brute companions.
The only articles of furniture required are the indispensable
upper and nether mill-stone and a few
earthen or copper vessels for holding water and eatables,
and for cooking the food, in partaking of which
they all squat around the vessel in which it has been
cooked, and make use of those primitive instruments,
the fingers, for knives, forks, and spoons, with occasionally
a plantain-leaf for a plate. The women usually
eat after the others are done.
In the cities many have rude chairs, tables, and
cots, with perhaps a small pallet to lie on, which they
can take up and walk, as the paralytic healed was ordered
by the Savior to do. But generally the only
article of bedding is the unfolded puggery or shouldercloth,
which they wear during the day, as in Moses'
time ; and in the warm weather thousands of them
DWELLINGS. 51
may be seen at night sleeping in the less frequented
streets, covered head and ears, with no chance for pure
air, which seems with them not to be a desideratum.
In the cold weather many may be seen in clumps,
squatted around a little fire, with their scanty clothes
drawn around them. But their greatest suffering is
when the heavy and continuous rains come, and, in
addition to their leaky huts, they can not change the
garments worn during the day.
Their religion requires bathing, and so hundreds at
a time may be seen at a stream or well, pouring water
over their bodies, and, when done, dexterously changing
their clothes. The first thing in the morning is to
wash their mouths and throats thoroughly with thenfingers
and a stick, till retching is produced, for the
purpose of expelling the devils that may have taken
up their abode in them during the night.
The only approach to an inn is dhurmsalas, provided
free in all the cities and towns and villages,
where travelers may cook their food, and sleep. They
are built by private charity usually, though regarded
as a public necessity, just as is the case with public
wells and tanks. The government chawady, where the
village authorities hold forth, is also used to accommodate
travelers, and is kept in better order generally
than the dhurmsala.
Rent, of course, is very low, but house-owners are
often hard on tenants.
52 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
The great article of food is rice, which grows more
or less abundantly in nearly all parts of India. On
the uplands native grains are largely consumed, and in
nearly all parts the indigenous fruits and vegetables
form an important article of diet. Beef, mutton, and
goat-flesh are consumed by Mohammedans, Parsees,
and not a few Hindus who can afford it ; also domestic
fowls, very few caring for wild-game, either for the
food or the sport.
The manner of cooking is to boil the rice till done,
and then pour off the water, leaving it quite dry and
unpalatable but for the highly seasoned vegetables and
curry which inevitably accompany it. Curry is a dish
made of dal, or some kind of vegetable or meat cut
up in small pieces, and cooked with cayenne pepper,
garlic, turmeric, coriander-seed, black pepper, fenugreek,
ginger, cumin-seed, mustard, mace, cinnamon,
cardamoms, and other spices, part or all, in varying
proportions, ground and mixed together. Many of
the people have little else than rice and pepper-water.
Grain is ground by two women, one on each side
of two stones, turning the upper one, just as they did
in Palestine two thousand years ago. The meal is
kneaded in an earthen or copper vessel, and drawn out
by the hand into thin cakes, which are baked on sheetiron
platters, and when eaten \\arra are not unpalatable.
Sometimes a layer of dal is placed between
two layers of dough, making a sweet and wholesome
cake. Sweetmeats made of milk, sugar, wheat, planFOOD.
53
tains, pop-corn, popped rice, parched grain, pea-nuts,
barley, and other grains, and also sugar-coated nuts,
oftentimes constitute the whole meal when one is away
from home, which may also be said of the native fruits
when in season.
Water is procured from wells, tanks, or streams,
the former of which are quite abundant, but the water
is not always pure. As wood is scarce, often selling
as high as two rupees per cwt., a common article
of fuel is dried cakes made from the ordure of cows
and horses mixed with a little straw, which burn readily
with great heat.
The morning meal is light, often consisting of a
cup of coffee or tea only, with a little bread, taken
early. In that case the principal meal will be about
noon, and a light one at night. But often there are
only two meals a day, one about nine o'clock in the
morning, and the other and principal one about dark,
or later.
Parsees will not prostitute fire to the base use of
smoking tobacco ; but most others, high and low, indulge
in a cigarette (generally made of a little tobacco
tied up in a dried leaf). No one will chew tobacco ;
but the betel-nut, with leaf and a little lime, takes its
place, promoting saliva in the same way, and dyeing
the teeth a filthy red.
When it is remembered that the two hundred and
fifty millions of India produce and consume less than
the fifty millions of the United States, it will be seen
that many of them must go hungry, especially in the
54 IXDIA AND BRITISH BUEMAH.
over-populated districts or where the soil is wanting in
fertility; and yet, in addition to the betel-nut, many
of them find money to spend on opium, arrack, or
bhang (the intoxicating liquor made from the juice of
the hemp). Mothers sometimes give opium to their
infants to keep them quiet, and ayahs require guarding
on this point.
MARKETS AND FAIRS.
In all the cities and large towns there are places set
apart with stalls for markets ; one for beef, another for
mutton, and another for fresh vegetables and fruits;
while grain is kept constantly for sale in shops.
But, besides the daily bazaar, there is one day in the
week in which a large fair is held, when produce is
brought in for miles around to be sold. In some
places many acres of ground are covered with loaded
carts from the country, and shops from the city, where
all sorts of ware are. exposed. It is usually the bunyas
who are first accommodated, they buying by
wholesale and selling by retail. In smaller towns and
villages this weekly fair is all the bazaar they have,
though small shops with grain and sweetmeats appear
in every hamlet of a dozen houses.
Their manner of marketing is to wrap up each
article purchased in a fold of the garment, in one
corner of which the money is also tied, and thus carry
it home, after the manner in which Ruth took the
grain given by Boaz. When larger quantites are
bought, hampers are used.
FESTIVALS AND MUSIC. 55
FESTIVALS AND MUSIC.
As festivals, though ostensibly for religious purposes,
have become with most df the people nothing
more than occasions of amusement and display, it is
proper to notice them here. On such occasions the
whole community take holiday, and come out in their
holiday attire ; while fruits, sweetmeats, and toys are
everywhere exposed for sale, to the no small profit
of the sellers. Also whirligigs, both upright and horizontal,
dazzle the eyes and brains of the young, much
the same as is done at English and American fairs by
the same kinds of swing, of which these are the archetypes.
Though these festivals occur very often, several of
them in each month of the year, yet it will be sufficient
to notice a few of the principal.
The Dewalee (row of lights) corresponds to the
Chinese feast of lanterns. For two nights every house,
large and small, is brilliantly lighted inside and out,
from top to bottom, while the people promenade the
streets, or drive out in every variety of vehicle, to
enjoy the grand illumination. Merchants and bankers
cast up their accounts, and over their account-books
worship Lukshmi, the wife of Vishnu and goddess of
wealth, it being the financial new year, or about the
end of October.
On Cocoa-nut Day, at the close of the festivities, a
grand procession is formed to the sea or some watercourse,
where offerings of cocoa-nuts are thrown into
the water to appease the angry sea-god, after which
56 INDIA . AND BRITISH B URMAH.
they suppose vessels may proceed in safety to sea.
This supposition is not at all correct ; for often there
is plenty of rain and -stormy weather thereafter, it occurring
about the end of August. This, perhaps, may
be attributed to the fact that the god does not get the
cocoa-nuts, but coolies, who run in and gather them up.
The Dussera is the feast of harvests, occurring
about the end of September, Avhen the people worship
their agricultural implements and their horses and
cattle, which they decorate with flowers, smearing the
horns with streaks of paint. In Bengal it is called the
Durga Pfija, being in honor of Diirga, the wife of
Shiv, and is the most splendid and expensive of all
the Hindu festivals, all business being suspended for
several days, while universal festivity prevails.
The great festival of Gunputty is very popular in
Western India. His disgusting image, made of clay,
is sold in large numbers. Some of them are very expensive,
and are kept in the house several days, offerings
of sweetmeats and flowers being made to them;
and finally, on the great day, they are brought out
and carried in great state in palanquins, accompanied
with a grand procession, dancing, and singing impure
songs.
But the most disgusting of all the Hindu festivals
is the Holee, corresponding to the saturnalia of the
ancient Romans. Men throw a kind of red powder
on each other, besmearing their faces and clothes, dress
in women's apparel, while they dance nearly all night
around a fire, get beastly drunk, and vie with each
FESTIVALS AND MUSIC. 57
other in the use of obscene language, too disgusting
even for Hindu women to listen to.
In the Nagpunchmi they worship the nag (snake),
and women and girls form a circle, going round and
round, and singing for hours ; at which time thousands
flock together and make merry. But for the convenience
of those who can not get out, snake-charmers
carry the reptile around to the houses.
Some Hindu festivals are for men only, and some
for women only, while most are for both.
The great occasion of the Mussulmans is the Mohurrum,
when they commemorate the deaths of Hoosein
and Hussein, the grandsons of Mohammed by his
favorite daughter Fatima. The division of the Mohammedans
into two great sects was occasioned by the
assertion of these two princes of the right of succession
to their grandfather, the prophet, in fighting for which
they were both slain at the famous battle of Kurbela.
This gave the caliphs undisputed sway. The Turks
and Arabs claim that the caliphs were the rightful successors,
and are called Soonees because they also receive
the traditions (soonas) ; while the Persians believe
that Ali and his two sons should have succeeded, and
.that their death was a great calamity. In either case
the month Mohurrum, in which the battle took place,
is a memorable one, and the festival is kept up for a
fortnight.
Among the Soonees it is a time of great rejoicing.
Some paint themselves as tigers with long tails, while
the yells of those leading and accompanying are not
58 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
much less frightful than they would be if they were
real tigers. On the last day they form into one grand
procession, and carry their mimic tombs, some of which
are very large and imposing, but only tinsel on a large
bamboo frame, with other funeral paraphernalia, to be
thrown into the sea or other water, the whole accompanied
with dancing and leaping of certain parties all
the way.
The Shiahs, on the other hand, keep it as an occasion
of mourning, and on the last evening a drama
depicting the scene of the return of the riderless horse
to the bereaved wife and children is enacted in the
great imambarra, during which some work themselves
up to such a frenzy that they beat their breasts till the
blood gushes out, and perfectly exhaust themselves,
as the dervishes of Turkey do on other occasions.
During the whole of the festival the air is made to
resound with the repetition, alternately, of the names
"
Hoosein, Hussein," by both parties, but with different
expression, and many a conflict, bloody and fatal,
is prevented by the two parties being kept separate,
which is accomplished only by the vigilance of the
police.
The Parsees have no great festival of their own,
though they observe their new-year's day ; but they
manifest great facility in appropriating those of others,
especially the dewalee.
In all these festivals there is more or less of native
music, the only department in which they will not yield
the palm to Europeans ; and if deafening noise and
TEA VEL. 59
discordant sounds make music, then they ought to
bear the palm. Their tom-toms and tambourines certainly
excel in clatter, their cymbals in jingle, their
flutes and pipes 'and horns in shrillness, and their
stringed instruments in monotony. There is, however,
no accounting for tastes. But music amongst
them is mostly impromptu, and not studied as a science
; and hence, of course, is not appreciated by cultivated
ears. Nevertheless, many native airs, both
plaintive and gay, are pleasant to the ear, and some
of the people have good voices, which, when trained,
are quite entertaining, while some of the ladies, especially
among the Parsees, have learned to perform on
the piano.
Private nautch (dance) parties are sometimes given,
in which nautch-girls, in their gay dress of many folds,
dance and sing at the top of their voice far into the
night, no one else taking part, and native ladies declining
to attend.
Another divertisement is the theater, which is
patronized by Parsees and a few others, the main attraction
being the scenery and the cracking of low
jokes a veritable farce.
TRAVEL.
Formerly most people in India traveled on foot,
going thousands of miles with their pilgrim's staff and
wallet ; but the many means of locomotion which have
been introduced have largely done away with this ancient
mode. A few ride on elephants or camels or
60 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
horses, but more on ponies, with ropes on each side
of the blanket for stirrups. Bullock-carts covered
with bamboo-mats are a common vehicle in the country,
and the only ones suited to the country roads. In
cities bullock hackeries are common, being light and
often gayly painted and decorated, but so small that
it is unpleasantly crowded when two sit on a low seat
behind and two in front, with their legs hanging out.
The driver sits on the pole just behind the bullocks,
holding the reins (each end of which is fastened to the
nose of a bullock by a hole in the nostrils), and t\vi.sting
their tails to make them go.
In Central India is still used a very light vehicle,
made mostly of bamboo-poles and drawn by one horse
or pony, the driver sitting in front and one person on
each side, with legs hanging over the wheel. It is not
an uncommon sight to see a very small cart drawn by
one little bullock, with shafts fixed into the ends of a
piece of wood going over the neck, to which the neckband
is fastened. Though a very diminutive turn-out,
it may be laden with a family of half a dozen, or with
salt or other produce carried around for sale.
Once in a while you may see a man riding on a
bullock, or a man and his wife, after the manner of
Shiv and Durga, only he does not hold her in one
hand.
CHILDREN.
To improve the looks of their children when they
are very young, parents blacken their eyelids. Instead
of cradles with rockers, it is customary to have a little
CHILDREN. 61
cot so suspended as to swing, and those who can not
afford that make a hammock of a piece of cloth, and
hang up the child to the sport of the wind, while
they prosecute their daily duties. Sometimes, too,
the child is carried by fastening the end of the hammock
around the neck ; but the orthodox way of carrying
is astride the hip, which it seems to enjoy exquisitely
; and it is very convenient, for the child can
nurse as it goes, along. For a change, some carry it
astride the shoulder, but not in the arms, except when
very young. They learn to walk by the help of a
go-cart, and a few have adopted the perambulator.
The proper time for naming a child is on its tenth,
eleventh, or one hundred and first day, and that, like
other things, must be accompanied by certain rites
requiring the Brahmin priest, who must have his fees.
The names almost universally given to Hindoo boys
are those of the gods ; but girls, in addition to those
of the goddesses, may have those of the virtues ; as,
Grace, Mercy, Peace, etc. In addition to other names,
Mussulmans have the Arabic form of many Old Testament
names ; while the Parsees employ ancient Persian
names with some such cognomen as Toddywala,
Grasswala, Cooper, etc., borrowed from their occupation.
The father's given name becomes the surname
of the son, which is not used unless you ask for the
father's name.
Their toys consist of rattle-traps of wood or tin, whistles,
Avooden dolls painted up, wooden oxen, cloth monkeys
and elephants, toy wagons, etc. Boys play marbles ;
62 INDIA AND BRITISH BURNA II.
but instead of shooting with the thumb, they have a
novel way of pressing the taw with the finger of one
hand against the second finger of the other and drawing
it back, the rebound making it go with force and directness.
They are also very expert at, flying kites, and
some unfortunately learn to play cards. Girls play
"jackstones," and acquire great skill in snatching up
a handful of stones (seeds of the jack-fruit or other
stones) in time to catch another stone thrown up by
the same hand. ' '
Hop-scotch
"
is common ; but one
of their most popular games is atyapdtya, or what
their Saxon cousins out here call
"
salts," in which the
ground is divided into several squares, and one party
are to pass through all these while the other endeavor
to catch them, keeping on the lines of division.
The father who has education takes his boy to his
place of business, and teaches him to read, holding the
book hi the angle of two boards joined for a desk,
while he writes with his finger on a smooth board covered
with pipe-clay or other substance.
Though until recently very little was done in the
way of education, yet religious instruction has not
been neglected. All the ten sacraments are performed
before the boy's marriage, that being the tenth. Their
toys remind them of their gods, and very early they
are taken to the temple to make their offerings and
receive the "mark of the beast." A whole group of
children may sometimes be seen standing before a
priest, singing most lustily, in concert or responsively,
a song to Gunputty or some other monster, accoinSOCIAL
CUSTOMS. 63
panied with gestures and genuflections. Some are early
put to work, but many lead lives of idleness till they
are nearly grown.
3. SOCIAL CUSTOMS.
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.
As among all the great classes in India it is a disgrace
for children to grow up unmarried, it is incumbent
on the parents to look out early a suitable match
for their boys and girls, always, as in Abraham's case,
among their relations. Thus marriages often take place
in actual infancy, but oftener after the children are ten
or twelve years of age, still not old enough to have
any voice at all in the matter. When the offer is accepted
by the bride's parents mutual promises are
given, and the wedding-day appointed. The time is
in the evening, sometimes even as late as midnight, as
in the parable of the Ten Virgins. The higher classes
have carriages ; but if the parents have means at all,
or can borrow them, they at least have horses richly
caparisoned, on which the children sit, and if unable
to sit alone, are held on. Sometimes they are almost
concealed from head to foot with garlands of jasmine
flowers, and occasionally an umbrella is held over the
bridegroom, even though it is night. The bride's party
follow that of the bridegroom, and in the rear are persons
carrying the wedding presents, fruits, sweetmeats,
and paper ornaments, usually. The whole
procession is accompanied by all the lads of every
description and dress in the neighborhood, bearing
64 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
torches, and ever and anon there is quite a display
of fire-works. The musicians go in front, and continue
their trade at intervals, as long as the feast may last.
The ceremony may be performed in the house of
the bride's parents or elsewhere, sometimes on the side
of the road or in some unfrequented street, there being
no sidewalks in native towns. The priest beforehand
has been consulted as to the proper day, and now the
time-measuring cup is filled with water, indicating the
propitious moment. An unintelligible form of words
is muttered by the officiating priest or priests, accompanied
by signs and significant actions. Sometimes
the two parties are joined together by a girdle thrown
around them both and tied, and sometimes a kind of
grain is used, of which the bride takes up handfuls,
and, as fast as possible, throws them into the bridegroom's
face. An ancient custom was for the two
parties to go into the water along with a. priest, a cow,
and a calf. They joined hands, and all held the cow
by the tail with the disengaged hand, while water was
poured over it, and then the clothes of the contracting
parties were tied together. Then, giving the cow and
calf to the priest, they made their offerings to the
idols, and threw themselves flat upon the ground and
kissed it. The ceremony over, a feast is given, sometimes
by one party and sometimes by both, lasting
probably several days and nights.
The Parsees have large halls for these and other
ceremonies, where sometimes, as also with rich Hindoos
and Mohammedans, hundreds of people assemble.
TREATMENT OF WOMEN SUTTEE. 65
While the ceremony is being performed by the priests,
the parties face each other standing, but are kept apart
by a sheet till it is all over, when it is removed, to indicate,
of course, that they are no more twain, but one.
The festivities all over, the parties return to their respective
homes to await a fit age for living together,
Avhich is usually when they are still quite young.
The expenses of these weddings for dress, food,
jewelry, and priests is often enormous, amounting to
several years' income of the fathers.
TREATMENT OF WOMEN SUTTEE.
In most cases the wife is no companion of the husband,
but his slave; and hence, as with the African
slaves formerly, it is not considered necessary, or even
proper, that she have education. There is scarcely
any thing, however, for her to do but simple cooking
and waiting on her husband and sons, and yet, where
they are kept close in the zenana, as in the north and
east, this life of idleness is the most tedious and weary
of all. The mother-in-law has all authority over the
daughters-in-law in the house, and seldem fails to use
it ; so there is this encouragement to the young bride,
that some time in the future she may succeed to authority,
and take vengeance on her own daughters-in-law.
This monotonous and often hard life is one great
cause of the many suicides in India, those of females
largely preponderating ; another cause being the desire
to avenge some injury by laying the blame of the act
on the conscience of the enemy.
5
66 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
But, sad as may be the life of the married woman,
much sadder is that of the widow, who, in addition to
being forbidden to re-marry, is kept separate from the
rest of the family and allowed only one meal a day ;
in fine, treated as if guilty of her husband's death,
though, perhaps, having never lived with him at all.
As might be expected, this is a fruitful source of immorality,
and accounts largely, too, for the willingness
of some to perform suttee by either burning or burying
themselves alive with their dead husbands. Though
this was put down by Lord Bentinck about half a century
ago, yet isolated cases sometimes occur in defiance
of the law, and, a few years ago, on the death of a
native prince, all his wives performed suttee, the chief
one holding his head in her hands.
POLYGAMY AND INFANTICIDE.
The Mohammedans, though by the Koran allowed
to marry four wives, mostly content themselves with
one or two, the second being added to take the place
of the first when she is superannuated or otherwise
ineffective. But, what is still worse, many Parsees
and Hindus, who are not allowed two wives by their
religion, and hence not by British Indian law, have
one or more concubines, denominated "kept women,"
who, though usually supported by them, are not
brought to their house.
That form of polygamy which permits a woman to
have several husbands at the same time is not at present
prevalent in India to any great extent, but is
POLYGAMY AND INFANTICIDE. 67
found, to some extent, among a tribe of people in
Cashmere, and among the Koech and Telingese. It is
of the same character as that prevalent in Thibet,
whence it was introduced ; that is, brothers of the same
family have one wife between them, the eldest being
the principal husband. This seems to be a prostitution
of the levirate law of the Old Testament. Polyandria,
also, in its worst form, is found among several hilltribes
in the south-western ghats, the Tudas of the Nilgherries,
the Coorgs of Mysore, and the Nayars of
Malabar ; and has passed over to Ceylon, where it is,
perhaps, little else than licensed immorality.
It is highly probable that this immoral custom was
brought about originally by that other most unnatural
practice of infanticide, females only being put to death
to avoid the great expense of getting them married,
leaving, of course, a large preponderance of males.
This crime prevailed largely in Rajputana and other<.; parts until recently, being more difficult to find out and put down than suttee. On Sangor Island, at the mouth of the Ganges, and other places along the river, mothers, in fulfillment of vows made to the gods, used to throw their infants into the stream, and wait to see the crocodiles devour them, as a proof of their acceptance. Nothing shows the severity of some of the recent famines so much as the fact that, in some cases, parents killed and ate their children, reminding us of several events in Jewish history. 68 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIL MAINTENANCE OF RELATIVES. As in patriarchal times, so often now in India, the father may have not only his own children, but also his grandchildren, and sometimes great-grandchildren, with him, making a very large family. Sometimes it is the case that he continues to claim a good part of their earnings, and they all eat in common ; and if half of them are out of employment, or do not care to work, as is often the case, they are maintained at the common expense. Often, also, men and women in similar cases will impose themselves on their brothers, cousins, or other relatives ; and thus, notwithstanding their poverty, quite a system of sponging is carried on. It is, however, not always sponging ; for the aged, the blind, and invalids are maintained in the same way by their relatives when they have them, thus greatly reducing the number of professional beggars ; for it is to their credit that they will often, in such cases, share their last cowry. DISPOSITION OF THE DEAD. Under no circumstances do any of the people of India use a vehicle in carrying their dead ; and hence they are disposed of near the towns and cities a practice certainly not conducive to health. Parsees beg the physician to apprise them promptly when the patient is beyond the hope of recovery, that they may fill the mouth with water, and thus prevent the spirit from leaving in a natural way ; at the same time the dog is brought in, and if it lick the face of the departing it is considered a happy omen in referDISPOSITION OF THE DEAD. 69 ence to his future welfare. Large numbers, dressed in their white robes, assemble in front of the house, where they sit on benches for a few hours, . and then the corpse is borne away by persons employed especially for that purpose, on an iron bier, uncovered, save the linen shroud. That they may not pollute the earth by burying, they build a tower on an eminence, and from the top expose the body to the weather and the crows, kites, and vultures, which learn to be in waiting, and become most rapacious, speedily doing their work, while the bones drop down through a gratiug. Some classes of Hindus, and especially those who are too poor to purchase the necessary fuel in the large cities, bury their dead in the most simple manner ; but usually they are burned. In large cities the cremation Aground is inclosed ; but in towns and villages it is just outside, under a tree or by a water-course. The ceremony, though admitting of many modifications, is something like the following: A few minutes after life is extinct, the body, with the face uncovered but strewed with flowers and a red powder, is laid upon a simple bier made of bamboo-sticks, and borne at once to the burning-ground. Those accompanying indulge in occasional groans and plaintive sounds, uttered in a most mechanical way, the women going on in advance to await their arrival. A near relative walks in front, bearing burning incense in a small earthen vessel. The pyre is made of wood about four feet long, so that two lengths serve for the length of a grown person, and 70 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. one for the width, being placed in alternate layers transversely. The body is placed on the second or third layer, sprinkled with water, the cloth covering removed, and then layers placed over it until there is sufficient to consume it, the interstices being filled with kindling. The nearest male relative then applies the fire, brought in the earthen vessel, to the kindling in several places, and soon it is all in flames. He then takes a small vessel of water, and holding it so the water may escape 'through a little orifice made for the purpose, compasses the pyre three times, and dashes the vessel to pieces on the ground, at which the attendants set up a wail and go away, all but three or four to finish the ceremony. These poke up the fire with the bamboo-poles of the bier, and when the body is fully consumed, put out the fire and scrape the ashes to one side. In the place where the ashes had been, a vessel of water is set upon three small stones, and one of the men, taking a small stone in his hand, walks backward a few paces, and stooping down, throws the stone between his legs, breaking the vessel to shivers, and letting the water run out. They then set up another wail, and all go off. Along the Ganges, however, it is customary to float off the half-burned body into the water, to be devoured by the fish, etc. ; and formerly they used often to hasten death by filling the patient's mouth with mud after laying him on the bank of the stream. One advantage from burning and exposing is that there is no danger of burying alive, which might be the case often SUPERSTITIONS AND SALUTATIONS. 71 if done so soon after death is supposed to have taken place. The Mussulmans bury their dead, carrying the corpse to the grave on a light wooden bier covered with cloth. They erect a tomb over it, one, two, or three feet high, of stone and mud neatly whitewashed, sometimes with a slab containing the inscription. Some classes employ mourning women to wail for the dead, as in Bible lands in ancient times. SUPERSTITIONS AND SALUTATIONS. The people of India are very superstitious. In planting mango-trees they must be so far apart that their branches may never touch. Neither the man nor his wife must taste the fruit of the mango-tree until he has married one of the trees to some other kind of tree which grows near by. This is done with great ceremony, many Brahmin priests officiating, the more the better, though all have to oe fed. In the same way, plowing, sowing, reaping, house-building, or any other enterprise is begun with certain ceremonies and incantatations. Each day has its peculiar duties. Sunday is for building or sowing, Monday for setting out on a journey, Tuesday for making war, Wednesday for collecting debts, Thursday for opening a new shop, Friday for women to pray for lost children, and Saturday for acquiring magic and exciting quarrels. Receiving exactly three of a number, the howl of a jackal in the day-time, the cry of a lizard, the caw of a crow on the house-top, pronouncing a miser's or 72 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. a monkey's name the first thing in the morning, a sneeze and the alighting of a vulture on the top of a house, are all omens of evil. A lizard falling to the right is an omen of good. Should it fall over one's hair, it indicates his early death ; on his left foot, the death of a relative ; between the feet, the death of a wife ; but if it fall directly on the head, he will receive a kingdom, and if on the thigh, he will have a horse to ride upon. To avert the evil portended should it cry three times, all exclaim, " Krishna, krishna !" On one occasion an army stopped short, and returned from a projected expedition, because a cat ran along the left of the leader. They very generally believe the teaching of their astronomers that eclipses are caused by giant demons or Titans swallowing the sun and moon ; the reason assigned for which is, that, when the demons churned the sea for the elixir of life, Vishnu by stealth began to distribute it among the gods, at which a demon drank it up in their presence. This being told Vishnu by the sun and the moon, he cut off the demon's head. The other demons, enraged at this act, attempt now and then to swallow the sun and moon. To prevent this, the people perform ablutions and incantations, and give offerings, repeating everywhere, " Give presents, and the demon will let go." The eclipse is an omen of ill, sometimes to the king and sometimes to the people. Comets, meteors, and whirlwinds are all ill omens. In some parts they have the idea that the shade SUPERSTITIONS AND SALUTATIONS. 73 of the tamarind is unwholesome to man and beast, though there is not the least ground for it in fact. It is stoutly affirmed by some that the names of Bam and his wife are supernaturally written on the soft, silvery bark of a certain tree in the north of India. In all parts the belief exists that the sacred peepul-tree is the abode of the gods ; so they preserve it with a superstitious reverence. Indeed, so grounded are they in their superstitions that thousands of them sincerely believe that any indignity offered to their gods would be instantly resented in the most awful manner. It is possible that the Indians, after associating so long with their boorish cousins, have lost somewhat of their lengthy forms of salutation ; but still they often take up much time in it, men embracing men, and women embracing women, or at least passing their hands over each other's body from head to foot in a most studied and silent manner, but utterly wanting, apparently, in the gush of Western nations. As other nations in ancient times, they show respect by pulling off the shoes, which they always do on entering a house ; but the head they leave covered at all times. To strengthen one's request, he falls to the earth and kisses the feet of his patron. They are very reticent about mentioning the names of their wives, referring to them as their " house," or the mother of their son. To avoid the evil eye, they use such contradictory expressions as " I heard your enemy was sick," for "I heard you were sick ;" and sometimes food looked into by another Avhen one is eating is thrown away with the 74 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. vessel containing it. If a mother hears her child's beauty praised, she fears the evil eye ; not so if praised for its mental attainments. For particular respect they employ the plural in addressing a person, but carry it also so far as to use the third person plural in speaking of another. Boysare often so polite to men as to not know when to stop their salutations ; but many of them are rude to their mothers and other women. They almost universally expect something for the least favor they may do, aud are not too modest to ask for it ; and it is a very rare thing, indeed, for one to refuse a present of money offered. It is not safe to praise any thing belonging to a Mohammedan in his presence, as he will instantly offer it to you, and then expect something more valuable in return. Their common form of salutation is " ram ram," or the " salam" of the Mussulmans. 4. VOCATIONS. CASTE. It is necessary to consider this subject in this connection ; for as society is now constituted caste generally applies merely to the occupation ; and the rule is that one can never follow any other vocation than that of his father, nor perform any thing outside of his immediate caste duties. It is in the north and east that this is adhered to so strictly ; in other parts both prohibitions are often violated with impunity. The origin of caste, as the word in Sanskrit signifies, was no doubt color, the Aryans insisting that VOCA TIONS CASTE. 75 their darker neighbors were inferior to them ; and it is still true that the higher castes as a rule are fairer than the others, and sometimes they compare favorably in this respect with Europeans. The institutes of Menu divided the whole population into four castes the Brahmins or priests, who are said to have sprung from the mouth of Brahm ; the Kshutrias or soldier class, who sprang from his arms ; the Vaisyas or mercantile class, who sprang from his thighs, and the Sudras or servile class, who sprang from his feet. These distinctions are not well preserved now, except that of the Brahmins, of whom there are about twelve millions, belonging to a dozen or so subdivisions. The most painful distinction is that of outcasts, as the Pariahs in Southern India, the Dheds in Guzerat, and the Chandalas in other parts, who are supposed to be the descendants of a conquered race, and who are proscribed by all castes. But so deeply fixed is the principle in society that even these outcasts observe some such distinctions among themselves. There are now in some parts considered to be sixty castes, in others as many as one hundred and seventy ; but these arise largely, as has been said, from conventionalities, such as occupation and relation, each one, in many instances, being confined to a particular locality. However, the sad fact remains that caste is observed to such an extent that many would not touch food over which the shadow of a low-caste person has passed, even to save their lives, and separate wells and pipes are required for high and low castes. Yet, not76 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. withstanding this, many, even Brahmins, are known to eat beef in secret, and this is winked at by many of their caste fellows, who would not do it themselves. Or, if one is charged with breaking the rules, he can easily get back all right by making a feast for them or performing expiation by drinking the five products of the cow, as some have done who had crossed the "dark water" to visit foreign lands. In some parts caste is so strictly observed that a family, however small, requires a dozen or more servants, the cook refusing to go to market, the groom to mow a little grass, etc. Of important and influential castes, especially among the natives themselves, it may be said that the Brahmins still maintain their position at the head of the scale, and the government have considered it necessary, on this account, to make many concessions to them. But many of them are extremely ignorant, being too conceited to learn from others, so that the Purbhoos (lords) and some others are contesting the palm with them. Another caste of great influence is the Guzerati Bunyas (merchants), who, by their commercial enterprise, have become very wealthy. Besides much of the local trade, they haye for centuries carried on commerce with Persia, Arabia, and Africa. Allied to them are the Marwarries, who, with them, are the bankers of the country, often lending money at the rate of two or three per cent a month, or even at higher rates. Among the Mohammedans are the Borah caste, A GRICUL TURISTS. 77 supposed to be proselytes from Hinduism, who, besides keeping shops, carry with them from house to house every variety of goods and notions, after the manner of the Irish peddler. Add to these the Parsees, who carry their enterprise still further, even to China and Europe, and you have the great mercantile classes of India, especially Western India, though they are found more or less scattered over the whole country. AGRICULTURISTS. India is an agricultural country, and the cultivator caste or castes, constituting two-thirds of the entire population, are the foundation of the social fabric. Their implements are the same as were used two or three thousand years ago, the plow of a forked tree or just that appearance, and a narrow, straight yoke, with pins and neck-bands instead of bows; the cultivator not unlike a wooden hay-rake, sometimes two being drawn by one yoke of cattle, though each held by a man. Their cart is not very unlike a dray, with frame of rough wood or wicker-work, lined with gunny to carry grain, and having low solid wheels. Their fields, which in America would be called patches on account of their smallness, are either unprotected or hedged about, or, in the case of rice, surrounded with a ridge of earth to hold the water. Even more than elsewhere, he must have every thing in readiness when the rain comes. In lieu of manure, which is used for other purposes, they give their ground a dressing of ashes from leaves and sprigs or grass burned on it. 78 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. The early crops as rice, bajri, jowari, etc. must be put in as soon as the ground will admit, the rice requiring to be transplanted, which may be done in a foot of water. The late crops as wheat, pulse, barley, etc. are sown about the end of the monsoon. To protect the grain, as it ripens, from birds and beasts, a man or boy sits on a scaffold in the center of the field, armed with sling and stones, which, with his voice, are generally successful. These scaffolds after harvest are the picture of desolation ' ' a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." All the grain is cut with a short sickle, the early harvest in October or November, the latter about January or February. Wheat is trodden out by oxen, unmuzzled. It is winnowed by being thrown up with a scoop before the breeze ; the grain is garnered, but the chaff the wind driveth aAvay. Where the rain is very slight, or where vegetables and fruit are wanted in the dry season, recourse must be had to irrigation. Large wells are dug where no other Avater is procurable, and the water drawn up in a large leathern bucket by oxen down an inclined plane. To facilitate matters, they do not turn the oxen round, but lead them up backwards to receive a new draft. The water is conducted among the grain, vegetables, or trees by trenches, opened and shut as required. WORKERS IX WOOD. While the character of work done by this class of mechanics may compare not unfavorably with similar WORKERS IN WOOD, 79 work of other countries, yet the manner in which it is done and the tools employed are deserving of notice. Such a thing as a work-bench is practically unknown, every thing being done on the ground as far as possible, the workmen in a sitting posture. Lumber is sawed by being placed on a platform, one man standing above and one below, after the manner of the old whip-saw ; or the stick is placed in a leaning position, so that one man stands on the ground and the other sits on a small trestle of two legs, exchanged for a shorter one as the saw descends, the feet being supported by the stick. In this case a frame saw is used. The cross-cut saw for cutting small logs is semi-circular, the men sitting while sawing. Handsaws are made to cut in drawing toward the workman instead of from him. If an English saw is employed, a handle on the other end is added that two men may use it. In the same way two men handle the jackplane, one pushing, the other pulling. The auger is a bit, with pulley, around which a cord, fastened to the two ends of a rod about three feet long, is made to revolve back and forth, one hand holding the bit above the pulley, the other the rod. For greater speed, or where the space is too small for the rod, another pulls the string. If large holes are required, they must be made with the chisel or English auger. The turning lathe works by a string, like the auger, or a band is made to revolve by a treadle or by a crank turned by hand. The adze is used largely, but no drawing-knife. The ax is a most clumsy affair, with which a Canadian 80 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMA II. chopper would split his shins the first blow. As houses are not made of wood, there is not the same demand for carpenter-work as elsewhere, and they do not excel in that ; but some Parsee families excel in ship-building, coopers' work, picture-frames, and fancy-work in sandal-wood, ebony, etc. Many curious designs, toys, ornaments, etc., are turned in the lathe. Some parts, as Bombay, are noted for their furniture, with handsome carving and filigree-work. Wagon-makers do substantial but not elegant work. Bamboo is manufactured into a great variety of articles, as baskets, chairs, tea-poys, window-shades, lattice-work, etc. In the large cities Chinese make baskets, chairs, etc., of cane, which is also used largely in cots. For a toolchest the workman generally uses a small bag, which he slings over his shoulder as he goes. MASONS AND SCULPTORS. Of course, there is a great demand for masons to work on houses, bridges, fences, mill-stones, currystones, idols, etc., much of which work is very plain, but some requiring considerable skill. It is carried on much as in other countries, the sitting posture required for dressing stone suiting the Indian admirably. They do not show any very marked aptitude for sculpture, their statuary generally having little claim as a work of art ; but in some places beautiful specimens of inlaid Avork in marble are seen, and many curious designs are wrought in soap-stone and other soft kinds of stone. Occasionally troughs, mortars, and small vessels are POTTERS. 81 cut out of the Amydagloidal trap, which is so common. In the large cities lapidaries may be seen grinding and polishing the precious stones, but most generally confining themselves to imitations made of glass of various colors. POTTERS. The potter's wheel lies nearly horizontal on a pivot, on which it is turned by a stick, pressed upon it until it attains considerable impetus. The mud is placed on the center, and drawn out by the hands of the potter into whatever shape is desired^ The vessels are then dried in the sun, and afterward baked in a furnace so hard as to answer even for cooking purposes. Tiles are made in the same way, first molded into a cylindrical form nearly a foot long, one end smaller than the other, and then divided by a string or wire, cutting lengthwise. They are placed on the roof, one layer concave side up, and another convex over the joints of the first. Country bricks are not of good size or quality as a rule, but answer for "cutcha" work. At Cawnpore, Lucknow, and elsewhere, beautiful brackets, models, statuettes, and other ornaments are made from the clay found there. Poona has long been noted for its clay figures, illustrating the different castes, customs, etc., of India, and which by way of eminence are called "Poona figures." They are certainly very fine, and serve their purpose well, many being packed and sent to friends across the sea at moderate expense. 6 82 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIf. The implements used by this class of artisan? arc much the same as elsewhere anvils, vises, bellows, drills, pincers, etc. The anvil is placed on the ground, and, that the striker with the sledge may work to advantage, he stands in a pit one or two feet deep. A very primitive kind of bellows for light work is made of a goat-skin, the entrance for the air being opened and shut by the hand. Jewelers use a tube of metal or bamboo for blowing their fire. The coal used is charcoal manufactured in the country. Blacksmiths have little to do except iron wagons, make hinges, spikes, picks, etc. Oxen traveling on the stone roads require to be shod, two pieces of iron on each foot, nailed on after the ox is thrown down on his side and his feet tied together. Water-pails and some other vessels are manufactured from sheet-iron. Copper vessels are made by beating the metal into the required shape, and this work constitutes quite a business in the cities. Delhi, Benares, and Rangoon are noted for the elegance of their brass-work. Tinners are generally of the Borah caste, and have little to do but to tin copper cooking utensils once a month to keep them free from verdigris, and also to put glass in windows, etc., they being glaziers as wTell. So many ornaments and jewels being worn by the people give quite a work for gold and silver smiths in all parts of the country. The people of Sindh and Cutch excel in embossed work, and have introduced it into Bombay and other parts. WEAVERS AND TAILORS. 83 WORKERS IN LEATHER. Leather of a substantial quality is tanned in India wherever there is a large beef or mutton market, giving employment to a number of people. As yet they have not aspired to the finer qualities of leather, getting them from abroad when required. Shoemakers, like other workmen, worship their tools before beginning the day's labor. Twenty or thirty of them Avill work together in two or three small rooms, and thus turn out quite a quantity of plain country work, not very inferior to that of cobblers in other countries. No attempt at fine work is made unless under European or Chinese supervision. Slippers are made from cloth and sambur leather, carpet, and sometimes goat-skins tanned with the hair on. Skins are tanned and sewed up for carrying water, but not for wine, as in the Savior's time, when there were no glass bottles. There is not much demand for saddles and harness amongst natives, but something is done in that line. One of the most important leather industries is the manufacture of large vessels for holding the clarified butter used for cooking purposes, which is stored away in them, and sometimes transported quite a distance. It is truly wonderful how neat and shapely they are made, resembling immense flasks. WEAVERS AND TAILORS. Time was when India excelled in the manufacture of muslins, shawls, etc. ; but the introduction of spinning and weaving mills has greatly reduced the number 84 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. engaged in this trade. Still, articles of native wearing apparel, especially that of women, are Avoven by the hand, as well as silks and some other goods. The spinning-wheel, distaff, reel, and loom are all of the most primitive construction, yet manifesting considerable ingenuity in their makers. In this branch, especially in spinning, a great deal is done by women. Fullers and dyers constitute a separate class of people. Calico-printing is rude, but nevertheless ingeniously done. The tailor is almost the only workman besides the mason, who seems to be in his natural place on his haunches, cross-legged, and using his toes as a third hand, in which he is imitated by other classes of workmen. SHOPKEEPERS. The shops or stores, as they would be called in America are a curiosity. Some, of course, are large and fine, but even they are generally without counters. For the most part, they are very small, and situated not the most conveniently for genteel folks. If one can get a niche somewhere large enough to hold his wares, and himself squatted down in the midst, he feels justified in setting up business. Actually some of these shops are not four feet square, and not high enough sometimes for a person to stand upright in. There are shops for dry goods, shops for clothing, shops for hardware, shops for groceries, shops for sweetmeats, shops for grain, shops for notions, shops for every thing. Stands for fruits, vegetables, nuts, PROFESSIONS. 85 notions, etc. , are now and then stumbled across on the roadside ; and men and women carry these articles around to the very doors. PROFESSIONS. The learned professions have not been largely represented among the natives of India, if we except the Brahmins, who are priests by caste, though some of them even have been soldiers, teachers, clerks, and ministers of state. A clerkship in a government office is now about the highest ambition of the average educated native, even though the salary to begin on is scarcely more than that of an artisan sometimes, indeed, not so much. Questions of law in ancient times were not decided so much in court as by the priests, obviating the necessity of lawyers. Now native pleaders and barristers have quite a field for the display of their talents, and vie with their European brethren in that practice, some of them becoming judges even, and a few having competed successfully for the Indian civil service since it was opened to them. The practice of medicine in ancient times consisted largely in certain strange decoctions and applications, used with incantations and sorcery. However, some of the simple remedies of the people are found to be effective oftentimes, even when others fail. As will be seen from the imperfect enumeration of drugs in another chapter, there is no lack, either in quantity or variety, of material for an Indian pharmacopeia. 86 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. Recently, as in other things, medicine is more a study, and the native doctor often has a practice extending even beyond his countrymen, and here and there one is found in the Indian Medical Department. MISCELLANEOUS. Two hundred thousand of the men of various castes and creeds are soldiers, either in the British army or in the service of native princes, many of whom have proved themselves brave and reliable. Hardly the same can be said of the similar number in the police, who can not be trusted with arms, and just when wanted are often conspicuous by their absence. They are easily bribed, and to suit their purposes often extort a confession of guilt by torture. Butchers in most places are Mohammedans, and, if convenient, will not object to a sacred cow made fat by the offerings of the Hindus. The barber is known by his leather pouch containing razors, mug, scissors, comb, and glass, and will crop your hair or shave you so gently and smoothly as to put you to sleep in the operation, or, if already asleep, not to wake you. Coolies are day laborers, and carry burdens often of great weight, and also for long distances, on their heads. They also are the navvies, and make roads, railways, canals, tanks, wells, etc. Many women, too, find employment in this kind of work, as well as in some others mentioned, but the distinctively woman's work is that of the, ayah, attending to children. Bearers do the more refined carrying, as palanquins, pianos, and children. Cooks MISCELLANE US. 87 are largely Goannese and Madrassees, though some are Mohammedans and some other low-caste Hindus. Bakeries, too, are established in all large places, mostly by Goannese, or Portuguese, as they are styled, affording excellent bread and pastry. Sweetmeat-makers roll in butter, sugar, milk, etc., and a look at them at work is not always a recommendation to their wares. A particular caste of people carry water, either in a single skin on their shoulder or in two skins, one on each side of an ox. Milkmen and women bring the cow or buffalo to your door to assure you that the milk has escaped the morning bath. Washermen and women count every article of clothing they receive and return, to satisfy you that nothing is stolen. The clothes are beaten upon stones at the water-side, and woe to the buttons unless they are made of cloth. S weepers keep the roads clean, as also the bath-rooms. The postman will carry the mails at a trot, being relieved after about five miles. Guides are ready to tell you just where game is to be found. In view of the absence of fences, cattle of all kinds must have keepers. Sheep and goats feed together, but are separated for the market and slaughter. Gardeners are sometimes Avell skilled in their business, and there were some good examples of landscape gardening before the advent of Europeans. Coachmen are slow and sure, but hardly dare to emulate their fast Western masters. Pundits teach Sanskrit and languages derived from it, and Moonshees, Persian, and Urdu. Teachers sit with cane in hand, listening to the repetition of lessons sung 88 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. in concert, every thing learned by rote. Public readers charm their hearers by chanting their pieces, their bodies swinging regularly back and forth as they sit cross-legged on the ground. Snake-charmers, monkeymen, and fortune-tellers ply their trade diligently for their stomach's sake, as also mendicant priests of various castes and orders, in quaint, fantastic dress, and with the inevitable shell to contain the alms, if only a handful of grain. At various times they have become so numerous and daring as to form themselves into an army to fight against their conquerors. Notwithstanding the readiness generally to maintain relatives, there are still numbers of professional beggars to be found in many places. So, out of all the millions of India, not many are without some employment, generally legitimate, and, perhaps, as a rule they labor about as hard as they are able, with the amount and kind of food they get. And they can not afford better living on their present income, which may be roughly estimated, leaving out merchants and professional men, at from twenty-five to two hundred and fifty rupees per annum, according to the particular district and grade of work. This, too, while breadstuffs and other means of support are as dear as in corresponding parts of America. Yet the people are generally cheerful and sing at their work, partly on the principle of their fatalistic philosophy, but more so because they know not a better way of getting on. They do not, however, preserve a stoical indifference in the matter of support, but often LANG UA GES. 89 use the argument ad hominem by reminding their employers that they have a stomach, as also their wives and children. Their saying is, "Hit me on the path [back], and not on the pet [stomach]." 5. ENLIGHTENMENT AND CIVILIZATION. India is the most enlightened of all the countries of the East, and has the oldest civilization in the world, older even than Greece and many nations that have long since ceased to exist, however much she may have degenerated. LANGUAGES. These belong to three great classes Sanskritic, Dravidian, and Burmese. The Sanskritic includes Hindustani, with its two branches, the Hindi and Urdu spoken by about one hundred millions of people, mostly in Northern and Central India; the Bengali, spoken by about forty-two millions; Uriya, by about six millions; Assamese, by about two millions; Marathi, by about fifteen millions ; Guzerati, by about seven millions; and Punjabi, by about twelve millions. To these should be added Pushtu, Kashmiri, and Nepali, spoken by a smaller number, and making in all about one hundred and ninety millions who speak languages derived from the Sanskrit. The Urdu (camp) language is spoken by Mussulmans, who took the grammar and common words of the Hindi, and foisted upon them a large number of Persian and Arabic words. The second great class, Dravidian, is spoken by the 00 INDIA AND BRITISH BVRMAH. people of Scythian origin, including the Tamil, spoken by about sixteen millions ; the MaJayalin, spoken by about three millions ; the Canarese, by about ten millions ; the Telugu, by about eighteen millions ; and the Gondi, by about two millions, making about fortynine millions who speak Dravidian languages. The Burmese is spoken by about eleven millions in Burmah and along the border. Like the Chinese, with which it is allied, it is monosyllabic. Under these nineteen principal languages are included a large number of dialects, all which add to the difficulty of communicating with the people ; these being all so different from Western languages, it is no mean task for Europeans to acquire them so as to use them fluently. The words being so foreign from what one has been used to, he derives but little advantage from his knowledge of the classics or other European languages, save that the more one knows of languages in general the easier it is to learn them. After all, however, as education advances, English is becoming more and more a means of communication in all parts of the country. LITERATURE. The hill tribes have no written language only as they are now being reduced to writing by missionaries and others ; and, hence, they have no literature. The seven principal Sauskritic and the four principal Dravidian languages are spoken by cultivated people, and have a literature of their own, consisting of poetry and philosophical and religious works. But the classical LITERATURE. 91 languages and repository of Indian literature are the Sanskrit and Persian, especially the former. The great epic poets of India were, Valmiki, the reputed author of the Ramayan, the hero of which was Ram, the king of Ayodhya, who is represented as waging war against Hawan, king of Ceylon, to recover his wife Sita, who had been stolen by him ; and Vyasa, the compiler of the Mahabharat, in which the hero, Krishna, king of Guzerat, allies himself with the Pandfis in their contest with the Kiirus, all descendants of Bharat. Another famous poet was Kalidas, who wrote dramas of r-are excellence. Besides poetry, there are a number of books on grammar, music, astronomy, arithmetic, architecture, medicine, and law. Of the latter, the most noted work is the code of Menu, consisting of twelve books treating of Creation, Education, Marriage, Means of Subsistence, Diet, Asceticism, Government, Judicature, Commerce, Caste, Penance, and Transmigration. Of works in Persian, there are an ancient history of India up to the European conquest, a history of Akbar, and a history of the Padishahs. The sacred books of the people are all in dead and foreign languages; those of the Hindis in Sanskrit, Buddhists in Pali, Parsees ifl Zend, and Mussulmans in Arabic ; and just as those of the Jews in Hebrew and the Romanists in Latin, all the prayers and worship are required to be conducted in these languages, though understood by almost none oftentimes not even by the priests. 92 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. LEARNING. In remote times learning was confined almost exclusively to the Brahmins, even kings considering it beneath them to learn to read. However, some of the best of them encouraged learning, not only Mohammedans, but also some ancient Hindu rulers. On account of this position of the Brahmins in reference to learning, as in some other respects, they often had great influence over the rulers, being sometimes practically rulers themselves. Besides the scientific study of grammar and some other subjects in very ancient times, the Hindi's possessed a knowledge of astronomy older than that of any other nation. Even as far back as the twelfth or thirteenth century before Christ they had calculated the length of the year at three hundred and sixty-five days, and certainly as far back as the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis was affirmed, and the knowledge of the true causes of lunar and solar eclipses was possessed by Indian astronomers. It was philosophy, however, that afforded the widest field for the speculative mind of the Hindu. Of the six distinct systems or schools of philosophy (three of which were atheistic), that which has exerted the most influence is the Vedant. That it is openly pantheistic may be seen from the professed attempt to prove that the universe emanates in successive developments from the Supreme Spirit, with which the human soul is therefore identical, and its apparent separate existence CALCULATION OF TIME. 93 arises from its ignorance of its relation to the Supreme, and when this ignorance is overcome, its final liberation from transmigration will take place, and it will again be absorbed into the Supreme. The minds of the people, being so absorbed with these speculative subjects, found no time for practical philosophy, and thus they made little advance in the sciences for thousands of years. Even the practical life of the Mohammedan invaders failed to arouse them, though certainly some advance in civilization was made under the reigns of the Great Moguls, who encouraged both Persian and Sanskrit learning. CALCULATION OF TIME. As some illustration of the enlightenment and civilization of the various peoples of India, it may serve to notice the different calculations of time. In two things they all agree together, the lunar month and the week of seven days. Like the Jews, the Hindus and Parsees insert the intercalary month every three years, Avhich the Mohammedans not doing, their New Year may begin any time in the solar year, and a year is gained about every thirty-two years, which must be taken into account in considering their reckoning, which is from the flight of Mohammed to Medina, in 622 A. D. Thus, though this is only the 1260th solar year from that time, yet they call it the 1299th. In Northern and Central India the Hindus date from the reign of Vicramarca, 56 B. C., while in 94 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. Southern India the era from which they date is the epoch of Salivahan, 77-78 A. D. Of the Parsee era this is the 1251st year, in which the two sects agree, but differ one month as to the beginning of the year, and so of all the feasts of the year. In Hindu mythology the days of the week are sacred to gods corresponding to those of our heathen ancestors conclusive evidence of a common origin. The days and nights are each divided into four watches. The hour is only twenty-four minutes of our time ; but it is divided into sixty parts. But with the exception of the regulation of their festivals, which come mostly at the new and full moons, their modes of calculation are not much used. Not only in all legal and official documents, but also in their correspondence with one another, the Christian mode is usually employed, which may be considered as a foreshadowing of the time when Christ shall, indeed and in truth, be confessed by all the land and all the earth. As to the influence of India on Western nations in ancient times, the many words in their languages derived from the Sanskrit are in evidence ; as to the same in modern times, the fewness of the words derived from Indian languages is in point, and they can almost be counted on one's finger's ends ; such as calico, toddy, punch, guuny, and shampoo. KUINS AND REMAINS. 95 6. ANTIQUITIES AND ARCHITECTURE. The archaeology of this very ancient land is most interesting. RUINS AND REMAINS. Of ruins of very remote times specimens may be MVM near Fyzabad, where was Ayodhya the capital of the ancient kingdom of Oudh, supposed to be three thousand two hundred years old, and having in it the two forts of Ram and Hanuman. Another of similar character was Ujein in Central India, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Malwa. At Gulburga and Bijapur are the remains of two Mohammedan capitals, and at Murshedabad those of the last Moslem capital in Bengal. At Delhi are the ruins of the old capitol, now the haunt of the fox and jackal, the city having been moved several times to suit the caprice of successive monarchs. In addition to these, however, there are the old walls of the present city with its massive gates, the principal being the Cashmere, the Lahore, the Kabul, the Moon, the Ajmere, and the Calcutta gates. Similar to these are the remains of the walls and forts at Lahore, Agra, Allahabad (city of God), Ahmedabad (city of Ahmed, having been built by Ahmed Shah in the fourteenth century), and Ahmednugger (town of Ahmed), some of which are still in a good state of preservation. Of Maratha hill forts good specimens, showing their great strength, are Singurh, Purundhur, and Chakan near Poona, and Logurh and Isapur near Lanowlee; 96 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. other hill forts being Chittore and Gawilgurh in Central India, and some in other parts. Of Portuguese forts and their strength the remains at Bassein, Tamra, and Bombay are good specimens. Besides these a large number of the towns and villages in the country show remains of walls and forts of different material and powers of resistance, some of mud, some of brick, and some of stone, with gates large and strong, having usually long iron spikes projecting from them to prevent being battered down by war elephants, and generally surmounted by a watchtower. Many cities now in existence are built upon and out of the ruins of previous cities, and the sites of some ancient cities can not now be determined. PALACES. At Futtepore Sikri, near Agra, was the royal residence of Akbar, and now are to be seen there the remains of the royal palace, though at present surrounded by a mass of ruins. At Lahore is the "House of Joy" of Shahjehanpore and the royal palace of Runjeet Singh in ruins. At Delhi, though many of the magnificent buildings have been destroyed since the great mutiny, yet there are still the Royal Baths and Hall of Audience (now used as a canteen). At Lucknow are the Palace Dilkhush (heart expanding), the great Imambarra or festive hall, built a century ago as famine relief works at a cost of one hundred millions of rupees. Huseinabad or Palace of Lights, the Chutter Munzil (Umbrella Hall), Motee Mahal (Pearl TEMPLES. 97 Palace), Khurshid Munzil and the Residency, where the marks of shot and shell are left intact. At Hyderabad, in the Deccan, besides the two palaces of the prime minister, are the Baradari, Januma, and Seriinugger. Among the many ruins at Bijapiir are the Happy Palace, Sweeper's Palace, Washerman's Palace, t and Palace of Prayer, the Gold Palace having been burned. Besides these Moslem remains there are at Deesa the ruins of the Rudra Mala, the royal palace of the ancient kings of Guzerat. In sight of Jubbulpore is the Muddun Mahal, a house built on a large elevated bowlder by a Goud king nearly four hundred years ago. At Jeypore is the Dewani Khas (HaU of Audience), of white marble, and the ancient observatory, well preserved, but unused. At Satara is the Julmundir (water pavilion), nearly encircled by a tank, having the walls of one room completely covered with mirrors, so as almost to bewilder the visitor. As a rule, however, the palaces of native princes are not pretentious, and some of them are exceedingly shabby. In connection with many of these remains are some lovely gardens. TEMPLES. In considering heathen temples one must banish from his mind the idea of large assembly rooms for listening to addresses. There is no such thing as public worship in them, each one going through the ceremonies for himself. In front of the temple is often a good-sized room for the priests to lounge in, but usually 7 98 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. the temple itself is only large enough in the interior to contain the idol and admit of the worshiper's walking around it, and often the temple contains only a niche for the idol, priest and worshiper both standing without. As a rule, temples are built along water-courses or on the edges of tanks. There are several thousands on the banks of the Ganges, dedicated to the god of the stream. When we speak of the magnificence of Hindu temples it refers only to the outside, and even that in most cases is not imposing. There are, however, some notable exceptions in Northern India, as the Great Durga temple and the Golden temples of Bisheshwar and Bairouath at Benares, the city of five thousand temples and shrines. At Nassick, the Benares of Western India, where Ram is said in the Ramayan to have retreated during his exile, is a temple dedicated to him, of unusual splendor. Parvati, situated on a hill overlooking Poona, which is ascended by a very long flight of steps, once contained an idol of gold with eyes of diamonds, which, having been plundered, has been replaced by one of the goddess made of silver. The pagodas of Southern India are more imposing, the finest example being at Tanjore, of fourteen stories, or about two hundred feet in height, and eighty-two feet square at the base. Seringham, near Trichinopoly, contains the largest temple in India. But that which has affected the world abroad most is Juggemath (lord but from the many self-immolations of worshipers of the world), in Orissa, not from its magnificence, CAVE TEMPLES. 99 under the wheels on which the idol is carried about. The grandest Buddhist temple is at Rangoon, the Golden Dagon, a mass of solid masonry tapering from an octagonal base of one thousand three hundred and fifty-five feet to a small spire surmounted by the sacred umbrella of open iron work. It is said to have been commmcnced two thousand three hundred years ago. The Jains have noted temples at Politana, and also at Mount Abu, in Rajputana. The great Sikh temple, called the Golden Temple, is at Amritsur. Of the many Mahommedan mosques which are of the Saracenic order of architecture may be mentioned the Jumma Musjids (cathedral mosques) at Agra, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bijapur, the Great Padshah, Souora, and Wuzeer Khan's Mosques at Lahore, the Pearl and Black Mosques at Delhi, Arungzib's Mosque at Benares, the Mecca Mosques at Hyderabad and Bijapur, and the Glass Musjid and Shah's Mosque at Ahmedabad, the latter now in ruins. CAVE TEMPLES. One of the striking features of India is the cave temples cut in the solid rock, consisting of forty or fifty different groups, and each group containing from ten to one hundred distinct excavations, the most of them being in the Bombay Presidency, where the traprock is easily worked. One of the most noted and best preserved, because the rock is harder, is Elephauta, in an island of that name in Bombay Harbor. 100 INDIA AND BRITISH BURHAH. It is Brahminical, and contains numerous immense images of Hindoo gods, many of which have been sadly defaced by some reckless persons, said by some to have been the Mahommedans, and by others the Portuguese. The main apartment is about one hundred and thirty feet square, and is called the Ling Chapel, and contains in the back part a three-faced bust nineteen feet high, representing the Hindu triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv. In a small compartment to the right of the chapel is the image representing Shiv as half male and half female, and in another, on the left, Shiv and Parvati are represented by huge images, he nineteen feet high and she twelve feet four inches, and a little further to the left is represented their marriage, and on the right again the occasion of the birth of their son Gunesh or Gunputty. In a sixth compartment is represented Rawan, the demon of Ceylon, attempting to remove Kailas, the heavenly hill of Shiv, to his own kingdom. In another small compartment is represented the destruction of Daksha's sacrifice; in another Shiv appears in his terrific form of Bhairav, and in another he is represented as an ascetic. However, the great part of these rock-cut temples are of Buddhist origin, and some groups were doubtless monasteries, as Kennery in Salsette Island, where there are nearly one hundred cells, each one cut out of the rock, with a place left for sleeping, and a cistern in front. Chunnar Lena and Panda Lena are near Xassick, Karlee, Bajah, and Bissa, in the Western Ghats near Lanowlee, Ajuuta, Ellora, and Junnar in THE TAJ MAHAL. P. 101 TOMBS AND MONUMENTS. 101 the Deccan, and Badami in the Southern Maratha country. The largest and finest of these, as also the one best preserved, is the Great Cave of Karlee. The whole length, including the antechamber, is one hundred and twenty-six feet, the width forty-seven, and the height in the center can not be much less than the width. The circular or oval roof rests upon forty-one pillars, with base, shaft, and capital richly Carved, all standing in a row around the nave, leaving aisles on each side of ten feet in width. In front is a pillar with four lions carved in its capital, back to back. Three colossal elephants project from the wall at the side of the entrance, but no idols are to be seen, not even the image of Buddh. Besides the great temple are several small cells for priests. This and the other cave temples are supposed to date back as far as the time of Christ. TOMBS AND MONUMENTS. At the head of these, not only in India, but the world over, must stand the far-famed Taj Mahal (crown palace), at Agra, the mausoleum of Shahjehan and his favorite wife, Mumtaj Mahal, built at a cost of nearly twenty millions of rupees by twenty thousand workmen, laboring at it for nearly twenty years, and thought to be the most beautiful structure on the earth. At Agra is also the tomb of Edmad-u-Dowla, and a few miles away, at Futtapore Sikri, those of the poet Sheik Selim and the Emperor Akbar, all wonderful, but far inferior to the Tty. 102 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. At Arungabad is an imitation of the Taj on a smaller scale, built by Arungzib for his daughter. Near Ahmednugger is Salabat Khan's tomb, built on a considerable eminence, rendering it visible for many miles over the plain. At Delhi are the tombs of the poet Khusro and the Emperor Hunrayun, and eleven miles distant the Kutub Minar, built in honor of Kiitub Din, the first of the slave kings, said to be the grandest pillar in the world. It is two hundred and forty feet high and thirty-five feet at the base, diminishing to about ten at the top, ascended by a continuous stair-case of three hundred and seventy-eight steps. At Hyderabad is the Char Miuar (four towers), and near by the tombs of the kings of Golconda. At Gulburga the tombs lift their white domes above the ruins for many miles around, and the same may be said of Bijapur and Alimedabad. DEMONOLA TR YPERFORMANOES. 103 III. RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 1. DEMONOLATRY. UNLIKE the success met with among their immediate predecessors, the Scythians of Southern India, the Brahmins, with slight exceptions, failed to incorporate the various hill tribes into the Hindu religion, though some, of them have adopted a few of their gods. The religion of these rude people continues in the main as it was ages ago demouolatry. They have no idols, but worship evil spirits, which are supposed to reside among the trees and by the streams and fountains, and to have great, if not absolute, control over the destinies of men. It is a most abominable system, though, perhaps, not much worse than some others. All the motive it gives to worship is fear, and the only god to worship is one who is bent on their destruction. It is in this way that some of them have adopted Shiv, the Destroyer, and the murderous goddess Kali, from the Hindu pantheon. PERFORMANCES. As long as all goes well they have no occasion for worship ; but to avert an impending calamity, as when one is very ill, they send for the demon priests, who go fantastically dressed, often in companies, enter the 104 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIT. house with dancing and jumping, and go through ceremonies and incantations, which are supposed to drive away the devil that is endeavoring to take away the life of the patient. These priests are cunning enough, and sometimes pretend to go through the burial ceremony, thinking thereby to deceive the demon, and get him to leave the place, on the ground that the patient is gone. Like all other heathen priests, they contrive to get their money for their work. It is that which holds the entire fabric together. Similar performances and ceremonies are gone through when famine, flood, or other calamity is threatened. They also offer bloody sacrifices. HUMAN SACRIFICES. Until prohibited by government, the Khonds in Orissa offered human sacrifices, not, however, from their own people, but, like some of the African tribes, prisoners taken in war in lieu of them, children kidnaped for the purpose from neighboring tribes. There are persons now living who, as children, were rescued from their cruel hands when about to be offered. AVhen the fort of Chittledroog was taken from the- Coorgs a century ago, two thousand human heads were found piled up before the horrid image of Kali. In this case they were the heads of the enemy, killed or taken prisoners in the siege, under the idea that as long as the cruel goddess was thus propitiated, the place could not be taken. Demon worship, however, is not confined exclusively to the hill tribes, but still exist? among the ORIGIN OF THE GODS. 105 Shanors in Tinnevelly and other parts near Ceylon, whither it finally betook itself, and where it prevails to this day nearly as much as Buddhism. 2. HINDUISM. This system, as being the product of Brahmins, is not inappropriately called Brahminism. But for them it could not long maintain itself as it does. ORIGIN OF THE GO1)S. Like other forms of idolatry, there is no doubt that the ancestors of the Hindus originally derived their gods from the elements. Struck with awe at the power of fire in the sun and lightning, they worshiped it as Agni. The bright sky they called Indra; the winds, Maruts; the sun itself, Surya; the dawn, Ushas, and bowed down in reverence to them. And thus the number increased, degenerating into deified men and animals, until there were thirty-three principal deities, besides many of lesser note. But the fancy, once excited, knew no bounds, and to the.^e figures ciphers were annexed one after another, until there were seven, and so now they claim thirty-three crores (three hundred and thirty millions) of gods, or nearly two to every Hindu living, though no one would pretend to name the thousandth part of them. Still it can not be successfully denied that they are polytheists, having gods many and lords many. 106 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. SACRED BOOKS. The Hindu sacred books consist of the four Veds, the six Shastras or philosophical works, and the eighteen Purans, works voluminous enough to occupy a good part of one's life simply to read over, even supposing he were acquainted with the language (Sanskrit) to begin with. Hindus claim that the Veds come from the mouth of Brahm, the Supreme Spirit. The best evidence that can be adduced assigns them to about 1000 B. C., or not earlier, at any rate, than 1200 B. C. They were collected by Rishis, or ancient saints. All the Purans have been written within the last thousand years, one of them, the Brahm Puran, extolling the temple of Juggernath, which was built not more than five or six centuries ago. The difference in the teachings of the Veds and Purans is almost as great as the difference in their ages. The latter say that Vishnu (Preserver), Brahma (Creator), and Shiv (Destroyer) were produced from the three virtues of Brahm (the Supreme Spirit) goodness, passion, and darkness. All men and all things are emanations from the Supreme and parts of him, and so they worship every thing. This also assists in solving the mystery of so many gods in the Hindu pantheon. The gods of the Veds are far different from those of the Purans, Brahma and Shiv not being found in them at all, while the Supreme appears under the name of Som (moon-plant), a plant producing an intoxicating liquor, in the extolling of which the oldest Ved is largely taken up. Vishnu in the Veds is repreINCA RNA TIONS. 107 sented as the younger brother of Indra, and far inferior to him. They give no support to idolatry, but speak of the worship of the sky, moon, certain stars, fire, water, and the eight points of the compass. The Veds consist each of two distinct divisions, the one a collection of hymns, the other commands and explanations, to which at a later date has been added a third division, containing teachings of a doctrinal and philosophical nature. It is only recently that they have been translated into the modern languages. INCARNATIONS. Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu triad, is represented as descending to the earth on various occasions in the form of man or some of the lower animals, not, however, of his own accord, but because so condemned by a curse. These incarnations are in some of the Hindu books reckoned as many as twenty-two or twenty-four, but most generally as ten. First he came in the form of a fish, which, after foreAvarning Menu of the coming flood, guided the vessel containing him and the seven Rishis, with plants and animals, by its horn, ten thousand miles long, to which the ark was attached by Vishuu's serpent. He next came as a tortoise, on which was supported the mountain of the gods, while they churned the sea for the beverage of immortality, by which to restore their impaired powers. Again he appeared as a boar, to slay Hiranyaksh, who had gone to heaven to conquer the gods; and then as a man-lion, to destroy the brother of Hiran108 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. yfiksh, who was about to cut off the head of his own son for his partiality toward Vishnu. Then he came as a dwarf, to defeat Bali, who, having conquered (he three worlds, had filled the gods with dismay; and next as a warrior, to slay Arjun, who had terrified the gods by obtaining as a reward for his piety a thousand arms and the sovereignty over the earth. In his incarnation as Ram or Ramchunder, it was to overcome Rawan, king of Ceylon, who, by his austerity, had obtained immortality, and was thus oppressing the world, so that the sun dared not to shine, the fire to burn, or the wind to blow. As Krishna he came to slay monsters and demons, and do other works of benevolence, but lost his life from an arrow shot by mistake. As BTddh, the author of Buddhism, he came to deceive the people. So say the Hindus. The tenth and last incarnation a Kalki is yet to come at the close of the present age, when he will destroy all barbarians and thieves, and put an end to all iniquity. In the Ramayan Brahma is represented as the boar incarnation to save the world from a flood ; and thus there are discrepancies in their different books, even if not sometimes in the same book. COSMOGONY. In the Piirans creation is described thus : The Supreme Spirit, in the form of the primeval male and COSMOGONY. 109 female, produced a large egg, the prime element from which all creation has sprung. In another place Brahma is represented as the creator. After trying a long time to make one creature he began to cry. From his tears a number of demons sprang, so hideous that at the sight of them he fainted. Finally, after many attempts, he created various kinds of beings to dwell in all the world. These discrepancies arose from the difficulty they found in accounting for creation how God, who is without form, could create the world with form. The Hindu Shastras speak of fourteen worlds, seven of which belong to the infernal regions. The earth is described as round like a circle, and flat. In the center is the division styled Rose-apple, and around it in order are seven seas of different fluids salt-water, sugar-cane juice, spirituous liquors, melted butter, curds, milk, aud sweet water. Between each two seas is a division of land, and beymid the last one a large continent of pure gold, the width of which is as great as all the seas together, and around it is a large mountain. Above this earth are described seven worlds. The sun is nine hundred thousand miles from the earth, and the moon as far beyond the sun. Beyond are the fixed stars, and beyond them Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, the Great Bear, and Pole-star, arranged in order. Heaven, the abode of the gods, is the second world in order from the earth. Above all, in the highest heaven, dwells Brahm, the Supreme Spirit. One year is with the gods a day and night ; 110 INDIA AND BRITISH BUEMAH. three hundred and sixty years make one of their years, and twelve hundred such years (4,320,000 years) form a "great age," in which are four ages. One thousand "great ages" is a day of Brahm, and in the night succeeding each day is the extinction of the world. Brahm's age is 311,040,000,000,000 years, and when that age has expired, there will be the absorption of all things into the Supreme Being. SACRAMENTS, RITES, ETC. For the three higher castes there are ten ceremonies, denominated sacraments, extending from the time of conception to that of marriage. The five great requirements are the worship of spirits, ancestors, Veds, gods, and men; funeral ceremonies; study of the sacred books; burnt offerings and hospitality. The ceremonies and duties of the Brahmin are innumerable, by the performance of which he obtains great merit ; indeed, these are the sum and substance of his religion. There are many kinds of penance ; as, fasting, drinking the five products of the cow, and water in which a Brahmin has dipped his foot. Formerly they sacrificed the horse, and there is a law in the Ve"ds requiring the sacrifice of the cow ; but now it is forbidden altogether to kill cows. Now Brahmins sacrifice sheep, and eat the flesh. There is great virtue in sacrifice, as also in continued meditation, but most of all in making long and wearisome pilgrimages to sacred places. Hook-swinging was quite common over the country SACRAMENTS, RITES, ETC. Ill until within thirty or forty years, and even yet it is practiced in remote districts in defiance of law or in native states where it has not yet been prohibited. Sometimes a large cart with a long pole for drawing had an upright post fixed in it, on which was a very long sweep, with one end reaching the ground, and the other high in the air, with a canopy attached, under which the person was to swing. The individual with the hooks in the naked back, held by another person, walked several times around the cart, and then the elevated extremity of the sweep being lowered, the hooks were fastened to it and the person raised, holding with one hand a rope which was suspended from the sweep, J save him from falling in case the flesh should give way, as sometimes happened. With the other hand he showered down turmeric upon the people, much to their delight, and the cart having been drawn some distance by the willing people, he was lowered and set free, having, as was supposed, gained so much righteousness that the bystanders worshiped him. All this was accompanied with music and the shouts of the bystanders. Women also submitted to this torture, it being undergone often in fulfillment of a vow for children. This performance was accompanied sometimes by another even more disgusting, if not so painful. A man personating a god would come into the circle in fantastic dress and painted body, and after going around several times, preceded by music and making sounds in imitation of a wild animal, Avould tear open 112 INDIA AND BRITISH B VRMAH. the mouth of a kid given him for the purpose, and drain the blood from it into his mouth with fiendish joy, ah1 the people shouting and declaring him to Ix? their god. One could hardly imagine a more harrowing picture of a fiend in perdition than was presented in this and many other ways. Other austerities were such as drawing ropes through holes made in the arms, jumping on sharp knives, casting the body into the flames, walking long distances with beans, gravel, or iron spikes in the shoes, and also self-immolation in various ways. Even yet cases occur of persons being crushed under Juggernath at the festival when the idol is drawn round in his car, claimed to be accidental. And while this is being written a report comes of a family of five in Kattywar who had sacrificed themselves to the Khodia Mata, an incarnation of the blood-thirsty Kali. The eldest son, after almost severing from their bodies the heads of his father, mother, and two brothers, cast himself into a well. Milder tortures and austerities still frequent are such as measuring long distances by applying the body to the ground, suspending one's self head downwards over a fire (not warm enough to hurt much), or burying one's self alive, taking care to leave plenty of airholes. Fakirs are still sometimes seen with their fingernails grown through the palms of their hands, or one hand perfectly upright and stiff from being so long in one position. But these fakir priests of different orders and various castes generally content themselves with FUTURE STATE. 113 going around alone or in companies in their dirty saffron dress and large top-knot of some coarse fiber on their heads, doing nothing but affording the people an opportunity of getting merit by giving them alms. They are celibates, but on account of their great sanctity are sometimes allowed liberties with other men's wives. Worship consists in ablutions, libations poured out to deceased ancestors, repetition of formulas, offerings of flowers, etc., at the same time repeating over and over the name of the particular god, counting on the rosary of tulsi or riidra seeds to facilitate the operation. After making his offering the worshiper is marked on the forehead, according to the god he worships, to show that he has not neglected his devotions. In addition to this it is very common to have the arms, bosom, and forehead tattooed more or less. FUTURE STATE. About this much is said in the Hindu books : Those who leave off work and spend much time in meditating on God shall enjoy bliss, of which there are four states. Those who perform great charities, keep caste perfectly, or get much righteousness by meditation, go to heaven and remain there as long as their righteousness lasts; but when it runs out they return into another birth. Some who have kept caste perfectly receive the birth of a king, saint, rich man, etc. ; but those who have sinned by breaking caste-rules have the birth of donkeys, dogs, swine, tigers, rats, kites, snakes, etc., or 8 114 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. suffer torments in hell till they have atoned for their sins, and then have other births. All creatures after eight million four hundred thousand births, being purified, shall enter eternal bliss in being absorbed into the Supreme Spirit. The belief in transmigration of souls leads to reverence and concern for all kinds of birds and beasts by the people lest they should injure some of their dead ancestors or friends. This, however, as most of their religion, is largely hypocritical,- for the bullock driver who will feed crows in hope of doing a favor to his departed mother, will beat his bullocks and treat them most cruelly as long as they are able to stand. SECTS, ETC. The five orthodox sects are the worshipers respectively of Shiv (the Indian Bacchus), who is represented as a white man with five faces and four arms, riding on a bull ; Vishnu, drawn as a black man with four arms sitting on a monster called gururu; Diirga, the wife of Shiv, and the Minerva of India; Surya, the sun, and Gunputty, a short red pot-bellied man with four arms and an elephant's head, sitting upon a rat. Vishnu, though without temples, has the most worshipers, who consider all others as heretics. The Brahmins worship chiefly Shiv and Durga, though their rites are the most obscene and disgusting of all. In connection with the temple of Shiv is the ling or image of the productive organs. Of heterodox sects and subdivisions there are said to be eighty-four thousand. SECTS, ETC. 115 The idols, which are for the most part rudely cut out of stone and smeared with red paint, are most hideous objects. Indeed, they worship almost any tiling, as a rough stone set up for a landmark; and they have even been found worshiping a piece of cowdung. Even some English officers distinguished for bravery have not escaped deification, nor do they always wait for them to die, but sometimes insist on worshiping them in defiance of threats. Their idolatry is not far removed from fetichism, for they take the idol whatever may be its form and of whatever material, and have the priest to perform some ceremony invoking the particular god to enter, when they call it their god, and worship it. They profess to worship not the idol itself, but the god in it, of whom they say they can form no idea without some tangible representation. But, of course, like idolatry everywhere, instead of leading them to God, it leads them farther and farther away from him. They claim that nothing at all can be known of the Supreme Being, though they believe, according to their books, that they themselves are part of him. As with Grecian and Roman mythology, the gods are but the reflection of the people, and in turn the people are a reflection of the gods. Thus they act and react on each other, getting lower and lower each succeeding generation. Very few new temples are being built, from the fact that they are not required, the land being already full; and old ones are not often abandoned, since the older they are the more sacred they are. Some of the tern116 INDIA AND BRITISH B UJRMA H. pies have been long endowed by wealthy men or princes, and some even, to conciliate the" people, receive revenue from the government ; but the priests, for the most part, are supported by voluntary contributions. 3. BUDDHISM. Buddhism is an outgrowth of Hinduism, and in many respects resembles it. In it are ten incarnations of Buddh (the wise one), of which, according to their books, four haVe already taken place, each one holding sway five thousand years and then giving way to another. AUTHOR. The last and only historical incarnation was five or six centuries before Christ in the person of Gautam or Sakya Muni, the son of a king of Benares or some place thereabouts. The father, fearing he would abandon his high position and become an ascetic, had him early married. But twelve years of gay life, instead of curing his contemplative mind, only deepened in him the conviction that all such is vanity; and thus he grew morbid over the thought that sickness, old age, or death would soon destroy it all. In this state he resolved on leading an ascetic and austere life in hope of finding peace. He learned all that tLe Brahmins could teach him, but it was all in vain. He resolved then on abstract contemplation, to solve life's problem, and came to the conclusion that birth is the cause of all life's sorrows, as without it there would be none; and going back farther, he concluded that ignorance is the PATRON. 117 prime cause of existence. To obviate this ignorance he continued in silent meditation until he claimed to have attained to the perfect wisdom of the Buddh. He then commenced his mission at Benares, and continued it for forty years over Northern India, preaching and making many converts, some of whom, like himself, were of royal birth. He is said to have died in Oudh in the year 543 B. C. , at the age of eighty years. PATRON. The defender of the Buddhist faith was Asoka, king of Magadha, in the third century before Christ. At first he was a persecutor of it, but having embraced the faith he became its great patron, making it the established religion in all his kingdom, which is thought to have extended over nearly the whole of India. He propagated it, however, not by the sword, but by peaceable means. He ordered that no creature should be killed and no person condemned to death throughout all his dominions. In order that all might ever be notified of this command he had it engraved in large stone pillars, erected in various places over the land, some of which are still standing in Cutch, Guzerat, and near Delhi, Allahabad, etc. On one of these it is written that the Veds are wrong, and at the same time commanded that no one should obey their authors in sacrificing. He also built and endowed monasteries in many places over the country. Some time after the death of Asoka, Brahminism revived, and the peaceably disposed Buddhists were so persecuted by them that 118 INDIA AND BRITISH BUEMAH. they fled to Western India, and hewed out of the solid stone those vast cave temples and monasteries of which mention has elsewhere been made. Finally, by the seventh century of the Christian era, they left India altogether, taking their religion to Ceylon, Burmah, the whole of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, and China, where it is now professed by nearly one-third of the people of the globe. In Tibet they claim that they still have the incarnation of Buddh in their successive Grand Lamas, whom they most devoutly worship. DOCTRINES. The sacred books of the Buddhists teach that there is -over all mundane creatures one Supreme Spirit, who, however, is so wrapped up in contemplation as to be unconscious of all that is passing; so, practically, there is no god ; for beside him they deny the existence of God or divine incarnation. Esteeming Buddh as a saint, and not as a god, they pay him reverence and worship, and in Ceylon they profess to preserve one of his teeth, which is visited with sacred reverence by thousands of pilgrims annually. His image usually colossal, represents him with hands folded, meditating like a man. They teach, also, that the earth and earthly things are eternal, and agree with Hinduism in teaching works of righteousness, transmigration of souls, punishment in hell, and happiness in heaven, and finally bliss eternal in absorption into the deity that is, nothingness ; for their system excludes the idea of a personal God. JAINS. 119 They impose celibacy and monasticism on their priests, who live by begging, but may give up the priesthood any time they may wish. Their five chief commands are : Kill nothing, Steal not, Commit no adultery, Lie not, and Drink no intoxicants. To facilitate praying, they write prayers on a paper, and put the paper on a wheel, which they turn, each revolution counting a prayer. There are no caste distinctions in Buddhism. All are on an equality, and any one may become a priest who desires it. They in some places practice austerities almost equal to those of the Hindus ; as, holding one or more fingers in the fire until they are consumed, not, however, until after they have been tightly bound, sometimes quite benumbing them. The only places where Buddhism is at present found in this country are the slopes of the Himalayas, on the confines of Tibet, and British Burmah, though there is no doubt Hinduism has been much modified by its teaching, especially that concerning taking life. 4. JAINS. The Jains are a sect who have seceded from Hinduism, but who get their religion, for the most part, from the Buddhists, though they acknowledge other teachers besides Buddh, particularly two, whom they honor and worship. This system of religion is said to have been promulgated first by a Brahmin of Benares ; but it now has adherents here and there in the whole of Upper India and as far as Calcutta, but more partic120 INDIA AND BRITISH BURXAII. ularly in Marwar, Mewar, Guzerat, and Bombay. In the latter places, on account of their great wealth, acquired by their commercial enterprise, they have become very influential, though comparatively few in number. Like the Hindus, they observe caste and perform their sacraments and duties, but not any ceremonies for the dead. Like the Buddhists, they do not receive the Veds, and will on no account take animal life. They claim that the earth and all things came of themselves, as the tree grows, and that there are two kinds of spirits those entangled with the body and those free from it. They teach that a man, to free himself from the body, should perform much meditation, keep himself from women, beg, remember his great teachers, repeat their names, and pray to them ; and should he by any means kill an insect, he must make strict atonement for it. That they may drink no insect in their water, they carefully strain it. That nothing living may enter their mouth, sonic of them constantly keep it covered. Some carry a seat with them, and never sit down without first sweeping the place where they are to sit, and some will not walk out without first having the pathway swept. In addition to all this, many of them make a practice of feeding sugar to ants and other insects, and some go so far as to purchase the fowls of the poulterer to prevent their being killed. In Bombay and other places they have built large hospitals for sick and lame animals, where may be seen oxen, cows, horses, sheep, monkeys, dogs MOHAMMEDANISM. 121 cats, ducks, pigeons, etc., with every kind of disease and in every stage of affliction, and some without any complaint, as stray dogs picked up in the streets. -These are fed and doctored till they get well or die. In this, however, again appears hypocrisy ; for these same Bunyas and Marworries, who are said sometimes to pay a man to lie still while the fleas and other vermin bite him, would, perhaps,, see one of their fellowbeings die of hunger or disease without affording any assistance. It is, however, due to them to say that some have showed their liberality by building hospitals and schools for their countrymen. They acknowledge the five great commands of the Buddhists. They also acknowledge some of the Hindu deities, and in some places have built magnificent temples. It is a part of their duty to visit daily a temple where images of Jain saints are placed, walk round three times, make obeisance to the image, and offer fruits and flowers. Besides festivals in commemoration of their own saints, they observe several of the Hindu feasts. About the thirteenth century they were greatly persecuted by the Brahmins, many being impaled or pressed to death in oil-mills. 5. MOHAMMEDANISM. INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA. Though this system of religion, unlike the abovementioned, is not indigenous, yet for twelve hundred years, or almost from their origin, Mohammedans have had some connection with India, but especially since 122 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. the close of the tenth century. What with their immigration and their proselytism, they are now about one-sixth of the population. The reasons for the rapid spread of this religion have been given as follows : The amount of truth it contains ; its not being opposed to man's depraved tastes and passions; the personal influence of its author ; its special adaptation to the Arabs ; the rewards offered to those who fall in battle ; and the corruption of the Christianity of the East, with which it came in contact, for the chastisement of which it is supposed to have been divinely permitted to rise and flourish. It must be said, however, that, though it found in India the grandest field for the display of its spirit of iconoclasm, yet it has come far short of that signal success which attended it in some other countries ; and no doubt it is making much less progress now than formerly, its strong right-arm of war hanging powerless by its side. Still it has other means of propagation, which it does not fail to use. THE KORAN. This, their sacred book, claims to have been revealed to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. In composing it he is said to have had the assistance of a Christian relative. Certain it is that all that is good and commendable in it is from the Old and New Testaments ; at the same time it contains much that is opposed to them both. Mohammed distinctly disclaimed any other mission than to teach and to preach, and so made no pretense to the working of miracles until challenged for CREED. 123 his credentials. Upon this he feigned to have ridden to the seventh heaven on the back of a mule, and to have returned the same night. This, however, is not contained in the Koran, which simply says, "Praise be unto him who transported his servant by night from the sacred temple to the farther temple." By this Mohammed most likely meant from the temple at Mecca to the temple at Jerusalem, which, however, would have been impossible in one night without supernatural means. His followers also claim that on one occasion he split in two the moon, and carried the parts under his arms a feat quite in harmony with all mythology. CKEED. \ The six articles of faith of Islam are belief in God, \/ angels, revelation, prophets, resurrection, and predestination. Thus the Moslem creed is exceedingly simple ; indeed, it is concisely stated by them as follows : "There is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." As Mohammed's knowledge of God is due to the Bible, we may concede that the Moslem's God is the true God ; but that he understands much of the true nature of that God we are compelled by facts to deny. The Koran enjoins the belief in angels with pure and subtle bodies made of fire, who neither eat nor drink nor propagate their species. It also teaches that God at different times has revealed his will to prophets, of whom Moses received the Pentateuch, David the Psalms, Jesus the Gospel, and Mohammed the Koran ; after which no more is 124 IXDIA AND BRITISH Bl'RMAH. to be expected. All but the Koran, they say, have been so corrupted by the Jews and Christians as to be unreliable. Of the two hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, according to one tradition or, according to another, one hundred and twenty-four thousand who have visited the earth, six were chief Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed ; all of whom were free from great sins. But the greatest prophet of all was the latter, though Jesus is the " sinless prophet of Islam." It is positively stated in the Koran that Jesus was the Son of God, was born miraculously of the Virgin Mary, and performed miracles; but it is denied that he was crucified, and, on the contrar}^ affirmed that he was rescued from the hands of the Jews, and another person substituted for him ; also, that he was taken to heaven, whence he will come again at the end of the world to judge the wicked. They stoutly deny his divinitv, and nothing so excites their wrath as to assert it, though it is not so certain that Mohammed himself denied it. The fifth article of their creed is the general resurrection of the dead, and the future state. Wicked Moslems, after expiating their crimes many years in hell, shall join the holy in heaven, which is a beautiful place, with every kind of sensual delights, each one having, in addition to his own wives, numerous others, with powers of enjoyment greatly increased. All infidels that is, all beyond the pale of Islam shall go to hell, and remain there forever. DUTIES. 125 The sixth article of faith is God's absolute and eternal decree of good and evil, even to one's faith or infidelity ; and hence it extends to his everlasting happiness or misery. DUTIES. As there is no Savior in the Moslem system, and not even any atonement at all (the only sacrifices being of camels, sheep, or goats, which are expected to assist them over the narrow bridge leading from earth to heaven), their only means of salvation is their good works. The first of these is prayer, which should be five times a day, accompanied by ablutions and purifications, with the face turned toward the sacred city of Mecca. The second is giving of alms, considered so important a part of their religion that many of them appoint a day in the week for feeding all the beggars and others whom they may be able to get together. Mohammed called fasting " the gate of religion." It should be of three kinds restraining the appetites and passions, restraining all the members from sin, and restraining the heart from every thing but God. The fourth means of grace is the pilgrimage to Mecca once in life, in doing which N much suffering and danger are undergone by the many ship-loads of pilgrims who go from India every year. Like the Jews, they circumcise their male children, not in infancy, but any time between the sixth and sixteenth year in accordance with the circumcision of Ishmael, the progenitor of many of the Arab tribes. 126 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. Three things were forbidden by Mohammed drinking wine and brandy, eating pork, and gambling. Fighting unbelievers is considered a sure passport to heaven, and fanatics, acting on this, sometimes kill others, utterly regardless of their own safety. Thus the viceroy of India was killed in 1872. Polygamy was allowed and practiced by Mohammed, even beyond the four wives allowed to other men. PRESENT CONDITION. If there has been a great declension in the character of Mussulmans in other countries since the death of the false prophet, much more is it the case in India. Though they commenced with destroying the idols of the land, yet they have by no means escaped contamination with these same idols. Their worship at the graves of their saints is not consistent with their creed ; neither is the reverence paid to their mimic tombs, etc. , during the Mohurrum ; and much less so are the almost divine honors paid by the khojahs in Bombay to their chief, who is said to be descended from the " Old Man of the Mountains " that figured so prominently in the Crusades. But, in addition to these things, thousands of them join in the idolatrous processions of their Hindu neighbors ; and this may be a cause of the slow progress they are making amongst them. This, however, is by no means to be deplored ; for, though having a creed far superior to them, it is doubtful whether their practice is in any wise better. When we add the fact of their almost innate hatred to Christianity, along SIKHS ORIGIN. 127 with their fanaticism, we can account for the little progress the Gospel has made amongst them. Nor is there any hope of reformation in their morality except by means of the Gospel, for the Wahabees, who claim to be reformers, make very little headway in bringing them back to their primitive condition ; and even they perhaps need reforming about as much as any. Nothing better can be expected from any false system of religion. 6. SIKHS. ORIGIN. The Sikhs (Disciples), derive their religion from the Hindus, getting a considerable mixture from the Moslems, both of whom they cordially hate. Their founder was Nanuk, who was born in the Punjab in 1469 A. D. At first he was a zealous Hindu, and visited all their sacred places, and then other countries, and finally Mecca. After all this he determined to found a new religion from Hinduism and Mohammedanism. He taught that there is but one God, and that it is wrong to worship idols, and that if one will meditate on God and love him, and be merciful to all creatures, then God will dwell in him. After the death of Nanuk nine gurus (religious teachers) sat on his throne in succession, one of whom, Arjun, compiled their sacred book from the songs of Nanuk and the writings of other teachers. Another one of these gurus, Ramdas, greatly enlarged the town of Rampore and built a large tank, which he 128 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. called Amritear (fountain of immortality), where the Sikhs come from all parts to bathe. The last one of these giirfis, Gooind Singh, changed their practices somewhat and allowed idolatry. He was not only their teacher, but also led them in war and gained great power for them. Among them many became princes, and Gooind ordered that they should unite to fight their enemies. In a fight with the king of Delhi they were worsted, at which they became enraged at the Mussulmans, and finally expelling them from the Punjab, ruled it themselves until overcome by the English in 1849. PRACTICE. They regard their sacred book with such reverence that they never open it without first worshiping. This they do four times a day, reading it and playing ; and those who can not read repeat the names of some of their gurus. They receive the stories of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, with all the incarnations. They hold to the transmigration of souls, and claim that he will be happy who by meditating much on God escapes these births and deaths. Proselytes are still sometimes made from among Hindus and Moslems, when certain ceremonies are performed, and the Moslem is commanded not to eat cow's flesh. They do not observe caste. All classes sit and eat together, but do not intermarry. Nanuk taught that nothing from without pollutes ; that it is sin in the heart that pollutes, and that he who forgets God shall suffer torments. He also taught that it is not outward worship that is ZENDA VESTA. 129 acceptable to God, but that which is of the heart. They practiced suttee until it was put down by the British Government. They abstain from tobacco, but not from fermented liquors, and pay divine honors to Nanuk. They are tall and brave, and number about one million. 7. ZOROASTRIANISM. HISTORY. The meaning of the word Parsee is Persian, and indicates the ancient home of that people, as also that of their religion. Its founder was the Persian philosopher and reformer, Zoroaster, who is supposed to have lived about 500 B. C. Having made a disciple of the king of Persia Gushtasp (supposed to be the same as Darius Hystaspes), his religion spread over the empire and prevailed for about eleven centuries and a half, when the Mohammedans, conquering the country, persecuted the people and almost extinguished their religion. However, about the year 717 A. D., many left their country and settled in Guzerat, in India, where they were afterwards joined by others, and increased until now there are about one hundred thousand of them, nearly half being in Bombay. There are several thousand still remaining in Persia, who keep up some correspondence with their brethren in India. ZEXDAVESTA. Their sacred book is written in the Zend language, which, like the Pali, greatly resembles the Sanskrit, 130 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. though it is only recently that it has been understood by philologists. Even yet hardly any of the Parsee priests understand the language, though the people use it in the Guzerati character for their prayers and forms of worship. To authenticate the mission of Zoroaster a number of silly miracles are claimed to have been performed by him or for him, as the following: When he was born he immediately laughed aloud. A wicked king attempting to stab him, his hand was dried up; he being thrown into the fire, it was like water, and he slept in it; being placed in a road to be trampled to death by oxen, one of them stood over and protected him, and the same result occurred when exposed to wild horses ; being exposed to wolves, they would not devour him, but cows came and ministered milk to him ; in crossing the sea he was borne up by the waves without a boat for a whole month; he was conveyed to heaven and conversed with God; he was made to pass through flaming fire, which he did uninjured; molten brass was poured on him without causing hurt, etc. TEACHING. Their doctrine is that, originally, there was one God, the Eternal, but being without form and absorbed in contemplation, they for the most part do not worship him. But Hormuz, who was created by the Eternal, they esteem as a god, worship and praise him. They claim that two gods were created by the Supreme Spirit and placed over the world Hormuz, WORSHIP. 131 god of light or goodness, and Ahriman, god of darkness or evil. These two are in perpetual conflict, seeking to overcome each other, but in the end Hormuz will prevail over Ahriman and cast him into hell, when all the world will become true worshipers and prosperous. Hormuz being the god of light, they especially worship the sun and fire. In their places of worship, which they call fire temples, they always keep holy fire burning, brought down according to tradition originally from heaven, and the defiling of which is punishable with death. That their breath may not pollute it the priests never approach it with their mouth uncovered, and never touch it but with sacred instruments. They will not put out fire nor smoke tobacco. Besides fire and the sun they worship the moon, stars, water, wind, sea, earth, rivers, trees, etc., claiming that they are emblems of the deity. They especially reverence dogs, believing that they keep off demons. Their priests dress in white and all orthodox Parsees wear a sacred shirt and thread somewhat as the Brahmins. Indeed, many of their modern religious customs were adopted from the Hindus in order that they might be permitted to settle in India. Though they are taught very little of the need of it, yet they have many means for purifying the heart. For the most part, however, these means are light and absurd. No sacrifices are required. Some of them spend much time in repeating their prayers in 132 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. the sacred Zend, standing in their temples or on the sea-shore, or looking toward the rising or setting sun. Many of them, however, are very thoughtless and careless in regard to religion. According to their teaching those who purify themselves go after death to dwell with Hormuz, while others go to dwell with devils in hell. They cleave very closely together, not so much to preserve their religion as their nationality, having, like the Jews, no land of their own, and no common tie but their religion. They mingle much with Europeans, and to a considerable extent adopt their dress and customs and practice their vices. 8. JEWS. It is not known when the Jews first came to India, but for many centuries there have been considerable settlements of them in Cochin and other parts on the Malabar Coast. Among them are two distinct classes known as the "White Jews," who have emigrated from Europe, and the "Black Jews," whose ancestors came from Arabia. The latter class live among the natives largely, speak their languages, and are not to be distinguished from them except by their brimless caps and some other articles of clothing, and especially by their Hebrew features, which are still discernible. Differing from their brethren of the other class, and Jews generally, they are mostly poor; but they have some education and are good citizens, numbers of them being employed in the native army. They are also FOUNDER. 133 distinguished from the other class by their Hebrew designation, Beni Israel (sons of Israel), by which they are generally known. The European Jews are not numerous, India not seeming to afford them the same field for their commercial propensities as some other countries, perhaps because preoccupied by Parsees and Bunyas, the former of which so resemble them that they have been thought to be descended from the lost tribes of Israel. These Jews, however, have large and splendid synagogues in some of the chief cities, and one of them has been knighted for his charities. In addition to their regular Sabbath services on Saturday they keep some of the Hebrew feasts yearly, and for this purpose sometimes construct booths in front of their houses. As elsewhere, however, they are isolated religiously from the rest of the world, neither influencing others nor being much influenced by others; though recently they appear amenable to the Gospel, and may become a factor in the evangelization of the country. 9. BRAHMOISM. Under this head may be included a number of efforts at a reformation of the religions of India, but principally that of which the FOUNDER was Rammohun Roy, a Hindu rtljah born in Bengal about one hundred years ago. His ancestors were high134 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. caste Brahmins; so he acquired the usual elements of a native education, to which he added Persian, and afterwards Sanskrit. When quite young he began to look into the evidences for and against Hinduism and other religions professed about him. Having found them altogether unsatisfactory, and even repugnant to his mind, he boldly denounced them. This led to a quarrel with his family and community, though his mother seems to have been convinced of the errors of her religion, but would not give it up. He spent two or three years in Tibet, where he openly denounced the dogma of the divinity of the Lama somewhat to his peril. In 1803 his father died, having disinherited him, but his brother dying in 1811 he got back what he had sacrificed. He then opposed idolatry the more, and wrote books against it in different languages. In 1820, accepting the morality of Christ's teaching, though not his divinity, he published The Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happinem. In 1831 he visited England, where, overtasking his strength to meet the many engagements made for him to speak, he died in 1833. In 1830, before leaving for England, he had founded the Brahmo Somaj (Theistic Society). DEVELOPMENT. In 1842 the society was joined by Babu Tagore, a wealthy Brahmin of Calcutta, by which, and also by the spread of the English language, it made rapid progress in different parts. In 1858 it was joined by Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, the present leader, who OTHER SOCIETIES. 135 also visited England in 1870. He has endeavored to apply the principles of the society to practical life and to organize branches in various parts of the country, of which they now claim to have one hundred, with a goodly showing of members. But there are a far greater number of sympathizers who are not willing to come out fully. PRINCIPLES. They are theistical, believing in one Supreme God, to whom they pray, but deny a divine revelation, assuming that nature and intuition are sufficient. At the same time they are eclectic, holding that there is some good in all systems of religion, and that there may be progression in religious belief. This being the case, they progress so fast that no one can keep up with them or tell one week what new development or "new dispensation," as one party now call it, will take place next week. They, however, ignore caste, and have given up all idolatrous rites, and perform public worship, and as far as they go there is a real reformation, though they do not seem to be in the way to embrace the Gospel fully. OTHER SOCIETIES. Akin to the Brahmo Somaj are the Prarthana Somaj (Praying Society), and Arya Somaj (Society of Aryans), of Western India; only they have not so fully broken away from Hinduism, from whose ranks they are mostly recruited, though many Mussulmans and Parsees are in sympathy with them. They, how136 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. ever, have some imposing edifices, which are in striking contrast with the temples, mosques, and fire temples around them. From all this it will be seen that India is full of religion of every variety, Theism, Atheism, Monotheism, Dualism, Polytheism, Pantheism, all of which have had their origin here or hereabouts. And yet here extremes meet where there is the most religion there is the least. What Paul said in addressing the Athenians applies to the whole of Asia; and with all their millions of gods they need apostles to preach to them the " Unknown God." ANCIENT KINGDOMS. 137 IV. BRITISH INDIA. 1. HISTORICAL SKETCH. HITHERTO our view has been confined to Oriental India, except so far as it was necessary to anticipate. Now let us move our telescope a little way along the political horizon until it -takes in British India. This, as has been intimated, includes Hither India and British Burmah, but not Ceylon, it also having a government of its own. But that we may see the better how India became British territory and wonder more at the marvels of Providence, we will preface our sketch with a slight glance at the more remote history of the country. ANCIENT KINGDOMS. Eliminating what is obviously fabulous from the Hindu books it seems that one of the most (if not the most) ancient cities of India was Ayodhya or Oudh, the ruins of which are still to be seen near Fyzabad. There two races of kings are said to have sprung called by them solar and lunar races, somewhat as the Chinese still style themselves "celestials." The earliest Hindu prince of whom we have any account was Ram, who traveled southward from Ayodhya into the dense forests of the Deccan, where his wife, Sita, is said to 138 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. have been stolen from him by Rawan, king of Ceylon. The story goes that Ram, assisted by the rude tribes of Southern India, crossed over and rescued his wife. Next to Ayodhya in antiquity seems to have been Hostinapur, near Delhi, about the possession of which two families of the Lunar kings, the Pandas and Kurus, had a quarrel. The Pandus, joined by Krishna, king of Guzerat, conquered, but with so great loss that they gave up Hostinapur and died of grief in the snows of the Himalayas, while Krishna was killed by an archer and his sons obliged to leave Guzerat. Another ancient kingdom of North India was Magadha, with its capital Polibothra, on the Ganges, about the place, as is supposed where Patna now stands. About 300 B. C. it was ruled by Chundragupta, the grandfather of Asoka, the patron of Buddhism, who seems to have extended his dominions over nearly the whole country. Later on, Malwa, in Central India, became a powerful nation, whose king, Vicramaditya, or Vicramarca, Avas so famous that the people of Hindustan still reckon their time from his reign, 56 B. C. This kingdom lasted till the eleventh century, A. D., when the illustrious King Bhoja reigned. About the tenth century, A. D., the Rajputs (sons of 'kings) rose to great power, claiming descent from the solar and lunar races. Mahorashtra, or the great Maratha country, was governed by Salivahan in the year 77 A. D., from which epoch the people continue to reckon their time. EARLY INVASIONS. 139 Until subjugated by the Moguls, the Gouds ruled over a large kingdom in Central India, with their capital at Chauda, whose remains now testify to their former glory, from which they have so sadly degenerated. The earliest kingdom of which we have any reliable account in Southern India was the Pandyan, the capital of which was Madura ; but a more powerful one was ruled over by the Chola princes, with their capital at Cojeveram. Travancore and Malabar were ruled over by a race of kings called Cheras. Of the ancient kings of the Carnatic nothing reliable is known, as also those of the ancient Telugu country. EARLY INVASIONS. In classic mythology (which, however, is not more to be relied on than Indian mythology), Bacchus is spoken of as the conqueror of India. Somewhat more reliable is the account of the invasion of India by Semiramis, the queen of Assyria, given by Diodorus, the Greek historian. He, however, relates some marvelous things, how that, in order to cross and navigate the Indus, she caused vessels to be built and carried all the way from Bactria; and, to supply elephants to combat the war elephants of the Indian king, Strabrobates, three thousand oxen were slain and their hides formed into the shape of immense animals, with camels and men inside for motive power. Though at first somewhat victorious, yet finally she was com140 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. pletely defeated, and lost nearly two-thirds of her large army, if not her own life, as some maintain. From Herodotus we learn that Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia, about 500 B. C., conquered the Punjab and the country along the lower Indus, from which he afterwards derived about one-third of his revenues. About 330 B. C., Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, having destroyed the Persian Empire, led his victorious army across to India, and gained several victories in the Punjab. His soldiers refusing to proceed farther, he followed the Indus, with some opposition from the people, till he reached the ocean. He returned to Babylon, where his early death put an end to the project he had in mind of continuing his conquest of India and what other countries he might find beyond. Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, who on his death obtained his Eastern dominions, invaded India, and fought a great battle with Chundragfipta, after which a treaty of peace was concluded between them. The " Persepolis" gives the account of a voyage of merchantmen in the first century of the Christian era around the whole of Western India, touching at places which are identified as the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay, Broach, Calliau, Mangalore, etc., at which they procured cotton cloths and finer muslins, porcelain, gold, silver, etc., and learned of great capitals in the interor supposed to be identical with Ujein, Dowlatabad, and Piltana on the Godavery. FIRST MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTIES. 141 FIRST MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTIES. In the year 664, or only thirty-two years after the death of their founder, the Arab Mussulmans, having conquered Persia, penetrated into Kabul to the very confines of India. They were, however, repulsed from India, but carried off many women. In 1711 they returned and conquered Sindh, which they held for thirty-seven years, till driven out by the Rajputs. Two centuries and a half then elapsed before we hear of any other attempt upon India by the Mohammedans. In 1001, Mahmoud, of the house of Ghuzui, which had been established in the mountains of Ghor on the north-west frontier, invaded India, and, conquering the king of Lahore, returned with much spoil. On his fourth invasion he was opposed by several of the rajahs, whom he defeated, and then robbed some of their temples, in which he found vast treasures. On his twelfth invasion, which was of all the most remarkable, he robbed the temple of Somnath in Guzerat, defended by Rajpxits, broke to pieces the largest idol, and carried off all the gold and jewels with which the temple was lined, and with great difficulty returned to Ghuzni, where he died in 1030. It was not till 1206 that the Mohammedan power was established in India by Shahab-u-din, the Ghorian, who subdued all Northern Hindustan. After, however, making nine expeditions into India, and gaining much treasure, he was killed on his return to Ghor. His slave, Kvitebu-din, who had raised himself to the position of viceroy, after his death became sultan of 142 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. Hindustan, founding the dynasty of the slave kings. It was during this dynasty, in 1217, that the first Mogul invasion took place under the famous Zenghis Khan. Afterwards, on their return to India, they were completely defeated by Jelal-u-din, the first of the house of Khilji, who also invaded the Deccan, making conquests as far south as Malabar. Ferozshah, of the house of Toghlak, was the best of all these early Mussulman kings. He constructed hospitals, baths, bridges, and the first canal known in India. In 1398, ten years after his death, occurred another dreadful invasion of the Moguls, under Timour, or Tamerlane, who, after sacking Delhi, the capital, and proclaiming himself emperor, returned laden with booty. So cruel was he that he is said to have ordered one hundred thousand prisoners cut down, merely because they impeded his progress. After this there was anarchy till an Afghan family, known as the Lodi kings, succeeded, and ruled for about eighty years in a most cruel and overbearing manner. The last of these was Ibrahim Lodi, during whose reign, in 1526, was fought the first celebrated battle of Puniput, in which he was defeated and slain, and his conqueror, Baber, the sixth in descent from Tamerlane, founded the Mogul dynasty, which ruled Hindustan in great splendor for more than two centuries. THE MOGUL EMPIRE. The petty Mussulman rulers in different parts of the country submitted to Baber, but not so the RajTHE MOGUL EMPIRE. 143 puts, who brought a great force against him. But they, being defeated in battle and besieged, killed all their women and children, and rushed against the enemy, fighting till the last one was slain. Baher was good, 'brave, and learned, said to have been fond of fruits and flowers and much attached to his family and mother. He died in 1530. Baber was succeeded by his son Humayun, whose younger brother claimed Kabul, Kandahar, and a part of the Punjab. During this reign Shir Shah, who had made himself king of Bengal, fought against the emperor, defeating him, and taking Agra, Delhi, and Lahore, over which he reigned a number of years with great zeal and justice. Humayun, being refused refuge in Kabul by his brother, fled to Persia, Avhere he received some help and re-enforcement from the king. With this assistance he recovered his possessions in India, from which he had been absent sixteen years, but died the following year, 1556. His sou, Akbar the Great, was born during his flight through the desert, and being but thirteen years old when he came to the throne, was assisted in the government by his father's general, Behram Khan. But, wishing to be untrammeled, after awhile he sent him on a pilgrimage to Mecca, on which he was killed. During Akbar's reign, Cashmere and Bengal were conquered fully for the first time under the Moguls, and Simlh, Guzerat, and Kandahar were recovered. To conciliate the Rajputs, he married daughters of two of their princes. Thus nearly the whole of Hindustan 144 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. was under his sway. His attempts to conquer the Deccan were stopped short by his death, which was hastened by the conduct of his undutiful sons. His reign began two years before and lasted two years after that of England's Queen Elizabeth, with which it may be compared, and during which an English traveler was received at the Mogul court. His name well became him ; for he was the greatest emperor that India has seen, doing all in his power to make his people happy, ruling impartially, making many improvements, and abolishing suttee, or as much so as was possible at that time. One of his wives was a Portuguese, and he employed Koman Catholic priests, who translated for him a part of the New Testament. Though he rejected the Koran and Mohammedanism, yet he never embraced Christianity. Akbar was succeeded by his sou Selim, who assumed the name of Jehangir (Conqueror of the World) ; but instead of doing any thing to merit it, he was idle, careless, and dissolute, though he punished others severely for getting drunk and smoking opium. His beautiful but wicked wife, Noor Jehaii (Light of the World), had great power over him. His own wicked conduct to his father was repaid by the revolt of his son, who had him put into prison. Being released by his cunning wife, he endeavored, but in vain, to regain his power, dying in 1627. Jehangir's unnatural son, Shahjehan (King of the World), had already well established himself in the Deccau ; but on the death of his father he returned to THE MOGUL EMPIRE, 145 Agra, ascended the throne, and ordered his nephews to be slain. During his reign trouble was caused in the Deccan by an Afghan chief, who, however, was routed and slain. Subsequently trouble of another nature was caused by a terrible famine, in which many people and nearly all the cattle died. He built a new city 01 Delhi, with elegant streets and courts, marble halls, a magnificent mosque, and the wonderful "Peacock Throne ;" but the greatest of all his works was the worldrenowned Taj Mahal, at Agra, as a tomb in honor of his queen, and also for himself. As a return, however, for his own conduct to his father, his youngest son, Arungzib, after getting his three brothers out of the way, threw his father into prison, where, after remaining seven years, he died in 1665. Arungzib, though cruel and unprincipled, was able and zealous, and under him the Mogul empire reached its acme, extending its authority over the whole of India, and receiving revenues to the amount of three hundred and twenty millions of rupees. The Mussulman kings of Ahmeduugger, Golconda, and Bijapur, all submitted to him. No sooner, however, was peace established in one quarter than troubles arose in another. It was during this reign that the great Maratha empire was founded by Sivaji, who, from the leader of a band of robbers, became master of the hill-forts and a large part of the country, finally compelling the kings of Bijapur and Golconda to pay him one-fourth of their revenues. In 1665 he was crowned king by the Marathas, and fifteen 10 146 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. years later died, as has been affirmed, of poison administered by his wife. Arungzib also had trouble with the Kajpiits, whom he treated very cruelly. The empire was constructed on this wise : The emperor from his capital at Delhi ruled the whole; but the country was divided into three great viceroyalties Hindustan, the Deccan, and Southern India over each of which was a governor, who had under him nawabs and rajahs, and under them in turn were officers of law, justice, and finance. Those refusing to accept the Moslem religion had to pay tribute. From the death of Arungzib, in 1707, the empire rapidly declined, though his descendants continued to reign till the second battle of Puniput, in 1761, when the confederacy formed by them with the Afghans against the Marathas was dissolved, and with it practically the Mogul empire. Even still there was a nominal emperor till 1858, when the last of the "Great Moguls," who had been pensioned by the British Government, was transported for participating in the mutiny at Delhi. The fall of their empire had been hastened, also, by the invasion of Nadir Shah, king of Persia, in 1738, when, having captured and sacked Delhi, he massacred thirty thousand of its inhabitants, and returned to Persia with untold wealth, including the famous "Peacock Throne." EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. The first Europeans to make settlements in India were the Portuguese, who in 1487 doubled the Cape of E UR OPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 147 Good Hope, and ten years later landed at Calicut on the Malabar coast, where they began to trade, and in 1500 established a factory. This, however, was soon destroyed by the natives, when they selected Cochin and Cannanore for trading purposes. In 1510 Alphonso Albuquerque was appointed viceroy, and captured Goa, which became the Portuguese capital in India, and from which they extended their settlements to Bassein, and in 1632 to Bombay. Columbus, the Genoese navigator, under the royal patronage of Spain, was in search of a passage to India by sailing westward when he discovered the new world of America, in 1492. About a century after the Portuguese came, the Dutch, who, after establishing trading-posts in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and founding Batavia on the island of Java as the capital of their Eastern possessions, opened up trade with India at Negapatam, Chiusura, and other places on the east coast. In 1600 the English having in vain attempted to open up communication with India by way of the Baltic and White Seas and across Russia, and afterwards by way of a north-west passage around North America, and later still by way of the Mediterranean and across Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf finally formed an association with the exclusive right of trade with all the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope. This was the association which, after renewal of charter several times, and consolidation with another formed 148 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. afterwards, became the powerful East India Company, which was destined, by divine Providence, to become, in the course of time, the masters of the whole of the Indian Peninsula. The first permanent possession of this English trading company was at Madras, where, in 1639, they built Fort St. George on a piece of ground granted them by a Hindu prince. Madras then became their capital for India. The chief English settlement, however, had been Surat, where they had received permission from the native princes to establish a factory about 1617. The first possession of the English crown was the island of Bombay, as a portion of the dowry of Princess Catharine on her marriage with Charles II, in 1661. As, however, it did not yield revenue sufficient to pay expenses, it was made over to the company, who, in 1687, transferred thither their Western capital from Surat. Meantime the town of Tegnapatam, on the Coromandel or east coast, had been purchased, and Fort St. David built. In 1690 Fort William was built on a plat of ground purchased by the company at Calcutta, whither, not long afterwards, the capital was transferred from Madras. Thus, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when all the English trading companies were united into the East India Company, they had fortified posts at the three presidency towns. Meantime the French had not been idle, but, though late on the ground, had founded stations at Pondicherry, Mahe on the west coast, and ChunderBRITISH RULE ESTABLISHED. 149 nagore on the Hoogley. The Danes got a footing in India as early as 1621, establishing a post at Trauquebar in Tanjore, and also one at Serampore on the Hoogley, which they continued to hold till transferred by purchase to the English in 1845. BRITISH RULE ESTABLISHED. Though formed only for trading purposes, it was not long before the East India Company was forced to assume other functions. In gaining a foothold in the East they had been greatly opposed by the rival nations, the Portuguese and the Dutch ; but now we shall see them contending for the supremacy of India with their ancient rivals, the French, with whom the English were, at the period to which we have now come, at war also in Europe. In 1744 the French commander attacked and captured Madras, agreeing, however, to restore it to the English for a sum of money. To prevent this, he was ordered back to France by the French governor, Dupleix, who, refusing to restore Madras, on the other hand, marched against Fort St. David. He, however, was repulsed by the English, with the assistance of the Nawab of Arcot, who afterwards was gained over to the French. The war coming to a close after an unsuccessful attempt of the English to take Pondicherry, Madras was restored to them. Very soon, however, they were engaged again. While the English were getting possession of Devicotta, as a remuneration for assistance rendered to the rajah of Tanjore, the French were 150 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. taking sides with one of the rivals for the throne of Arcot. Soon after the English espoused the cause of the other rival. At this juncture, 1751, there appears on the scene a remarkable man who, in a few years, became the founder of the British Empire in the East, Robert Clive. Having laid down the pen for the sword, and distinguished himself at Pondicherry, he got permission to attack Arcot, which he did most successfully in a thunderstorm, La command of only a small body of troops. The Nawab endeavoring to recover it, the defense was even more gallant than the capture, native troops being employed for the first time by the English. The following year Clive took two strong forts from the French on the coast, after which he returned to England for his health. At Seringham the French took refuge in the great pagoda, but were completely routed by the English. Again they were repulsed from an attempt to besiege Trichinopoly. ' At this the authorities at Paris, becoming quite dissatisfied with the way the war was being carried on, sent another governor to relieve the proud and ambitious Dupleix in 1760. He made peace on terms very favorable to the English. This, however, was of short duration, for the French did not readily relinquish their hopes of becoming the paramount power in, India. The new French general, after taking Fort St. David, made an unsuccessful attempt to besiege Madras. Afterwards the English besieged Pondicherry, which finally surrendered, notwithstandBRITISH RULE ESTABLISHED. 151 ing the French cruelly turned out fourteen hundred natives in the face of the enemy to allow more provisions for themselves. This was the close of the war in the Carnatic and practically of the French power in India. Count de Lally, the unsuccessful general, was recalled to France, there tried for his life, and unjustly executed. For half a century the English had held Calcutta in peace, when, in 1756, Suraja Dowla, an infamous prince who had succeeded as Nawab of Bengal, becoming alarmed at the success of the English in the South, took it into his head to drive them from Bengal. He first robbed their factory, one hundred and twenty miles up the Ganges from Calcutta, and then, marching against the city, demanded its surrender. Being but poorly defended, this was done on promise of good treatment. He took one hundred and forty-six prisoners, which, contrary to promise, were cast into "The Black Hole," a room eighteen feet square with only small apertures for ventilation. Meantime the Nawab got drunk and went to bed. As it was the warmest time of the year, only twenty-three men were found alive in the morning. The account of this horrible deed having spread, and Clive having returned from England, he Avas appointed to avenge it. This was done most signally the following year. He followed up the Nawab one hundred miles north from Calcutta, where was fought the decisive battle of Plassey. Three thousand English troops utterly routed the large army of the Nawab, consisting of fifty thousand men. Sur152 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. aja fled on a camel, but was not long afterwards assassinated by one of his own countrymen. This established the British power in India, though as yet only a small part of it Avas subdued. Even in Bengal resistance was soon shown, and eight years later the war was renewed, in which was perpetrated an act only less awful than that of the ' ' Black Hole " affair, the assassination of one hundred and fifty English prisoners at Patna. This, too, was avenged by several victories gained over native princes, which extended the British rule over the whole of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and a good part of Central India, while the perpetrator of the horrible deed was forced to flee to a foreign country for safety. Again Clive returned to England, where he was received with the greatest honor, and soon after appointed governor of Bengal with the title of "Lord Clive." Here he instituted measures for reforming the army and civil service, forbidding officers to engage in private trade, at which two hundred of them mutinied and resigned. But he, unmoved, had their places supplied from Madras. After this Bombay and Madras, each being organized into a presidency under a governor appointed by the English crown, the governor of Bengal was made governor-general of India, the first one being Warren Hastings, from 177485. FURTHER CONQUESTS. In the same way as Sivaji founded the Maratha Empire so Hydcr Ali rose to power in Mysore. First FURTHER CONQUESTS. 153 he raised a band of robbers, then deposed the Rajah of Mysore and ruled the country himself, extending his power over a good part of Southern India. Soon he came into contact with the English in their newly acquired possessions in the Carnatic, and two wars were carried on with him with indifferent success. After this he died in 1782 and was succeeded by his son, Tippoo Sultan, who had inherited his father's hatred for the English, but not his ability. With him also two wars were waged at an interval of thirteen years, attended with greater success, for at the close he was shut up in his capital Seringapatam which, being stormed in 1799, Tippoo was found among the slain. Though the English did not annex the whole of Mysore, yet their power in Southern India was now fully established. As early as 1779 the English had troubles with the Mardthas in connection with the Island of Salsette, which had been occupied by the former. After the disgraceful retreat of one English army, and the glorious success of another in defeating forty thousand Marathas at Ahmedabad, the war closed without any special advantage to either side. No sooner Avere affairs in Mysore settled than General Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington), was called to defend the territory of Hyderabad, whose ruler was in alliance with the English, from a threatened invasion of the MarAthas under two of their princes. He utterly routed them in the famous battle of Assaye, in Berar, in the year 1803, though opposed 154 INDIA AND BRUTISH BURMAH. by six times his number. Lord Lake, after taking Aligurh, commanded by a Frenchman, proceeded to take Delhi, where he captured nineteen thousand men, among whom were five French officers in the service of the Marathas, and afterwards gained a decided victory in the Deccan. After other victories and a dreadful disaster in the Mokundra Pass, in which nearly the whole of one of their armies was surprised and cut up, the English made peace with the various Maratha princes. This, however, lasted only a few years, when, in 1817, Bnji Ras, the Peishwa of Poona, attacked the English troops stationed at Kirkee, near by, but was signally repulsed, though his forces were twenty-five thousand against two thousand eight hundred. A few months later he met with a similar repulse at Koregaum, though there were less than one thousand opposed to his twenty-eight thousand. In 1818 the Rajah of Nagpore made a similar attempt to rid his territory of the English, Avhich was attended with similar results; though Nagpore was not annexed for nearly forty years, while Poona was annexed at once and the Peishwa pensioned and sent to Bithoor near Cawnpore. In 1823-24 the king of Burmah was chastised for his presumption in invading English territory on his borders, the wooden forts at Rangoon were taken, his capital at Ava threatened, and he compelled to give up several small provinces. In 1851-52, for similar obstinacy, an army was sent against Rangoon and other places until the king MUTINIES, ETC. 155 sued for peace and surrendered all the territory now included in British Burmah. In 1842-43 the Ameers of Sindh, having without cause attacked the British Resident at Hyderabad, were defeated in two battles by Sir Charles Napier, and their country annexed. The bloodiest battles fought by the English in India were during the Punjab wars with the brave Sikhs, commanded by French and Italian officers. They were, however, in 1845-46 defeated in four battles, though greatly outnumbering the English. The work of subduing the Punjab was completed in the second war m 1847-51, though with fearful loss of life at the bloody battle of Chillianwala. The whole country Avas then annexed, but Cashmere was given to the Sikh chief Golab Si ngh. In 1854-56 a number of annexations took place under the administration of Lord Dalhousie as follows: Four districts of the Nizam of Hyderabad, the revenues of which to go to the support of contingents kept in his territory; the kingdom of Nagpore, the Rajah having died without heir; and Oudh, because for half a century it had been very badly governed. MUTINIES, ETC. It is not to be supposed that all this conquest of a great land by a trading company Avith its headquarters thousands of miles away was accomplished without a great deal of opposition within its own territory as well as beyond. 156 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. We have already seen that at an early period they employed native troops in addition to those of the native princes with whom they were allied. After the conquest of Bengal and the defeat of many Niiwabs, and even the Mogul emperor himself, many of the native troops were disposed to mutiny, but several of them being blown from the mouth of cannon, the rest returned to duty and fought bravely. But a more serious mutiny occurred at Vellore, in Southern India, in 1807, when the Sepoys massacred all their officers and most of the English soldiers at hand. The few remaining European troops, however, succeeded in defending themselves till relief arrived, when quiet was speedily restored. This outbreak had been precipitated by the order forbidding them to appear on parade with Hindu marks on their foreheads, and requiring them to cut their hair and mustaches in a particular fashion, and to wear a turban resembling an English hat, by which they conceived their religion to be interfered with. Since then no such interference has been allowed. At the same time as the Vellore revolt mutinies broke out at Secunderahad and a few other places, but they were speedily suppressed. Soon after, however, a mutiny broke out amongst the European troops at Madras chiefly on account of the abolishing of the "Tent Contract," by which an allowance had been made for supplying the men with tents. But the great mutiny which filled not only India MUTINIES, ETC. 157 but all the civilized world with horror, occurred in 1857. The immediate cause was the introduction of Enfield rifles, the cartridges of which were made smooth with grease, which they reported among themselves to be the fat of the pig and the cow, the former as great an abomination to the Mohammedan as the latter to the Hindu. The remote cause, however, no doubt, was the discontent among the people caused by the various changes in government and annexations, which they fancied were intended to stamp out their religions in order to make way for Christianity. It first showed itself near Calcutta ; but the first actual outbreak was at Meerut, on the 10th of May, when three native regiments rose in revolt, butchered all the Europeans, men, women, and children, they could find, and fled to Delhi, where, joined by other mutineers, they repeated the same scenes of murder and plunder, proclaiming the aged descendant of the Great Mogul king of Delhi. At that time there were but a few thousand English troops in India ; but in a few months they had arrived from every available quarter, until they numbered eighty thousand. Though greatly hindered by cholera, they soon retook Delhi. Meantime, however, the defection had spread largely over India ; but by the vigilance of the government actual revolt was prevented in Central and Southern India and the Punjab. In Bombay the conspirators were arrested, and blown from the cannon's mouth. The most horrible event of the whole mutiny was 158 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. the massacre at Cawnpore, on the 15th of July, of a large number of Europeans, mostly women and children, by orders of Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the pensioned Peishwa of Poona, who had sworn by Ganges' water (their usual form of oath) to protect them and furnish them with boats to proceed to Allahabad. His soldiers refusing to perform the awful deed, he sent for the Mussulman butchers of the city, who, after dispatching them, threw their bodies, dead and dying, into a well. General Havelock, who had defeated the rebels at Futtepore, hastened on to Cawupore, but was too late to save his countrymen. Though it was now the rainy season and cholera was prevalent among his troops, as soon as he could get re-enforcements to his small force he fought his way through the enemy to Lucknow, where the people had already sustained a siege of eighty-seven days. But even after his arrival the English force was only two thousand strong, and the rebels had flocked together from all parts to the number of eighty thousand, so it was impossible to remove the women and children, sick and wounded, who numbered nearly one thousand ; and thus the siege continued till re-enforcements arrived. They were then taken to Allahabad, and General Havelock died the day of the final relief. It was not, however, till March 19, 1858, that Lucknow was taken from the rebels by storm, which practically closed the mutiny. Some of the mutineers fled with Nana Sahib to Nepal, some were captured MUTINIES, ETC, 159 and transported, while the leaders, as far as found, were executed. But the greater part of them were pardoned, losing, of course, their service in the army. The Pindarees (robbers) caused great trouble in 1815-17, overrunning a good part of Central India, robbing and plundering, and leaving behind them more than three hundred villages in ruins, until, a large army having been collected against them, they were scattered and driven into the mountains. In 1816 Nepal was chastised for infringing on the company's territory, some of the fierce hill tribes having been guilty of deeds of plunder and murder. In 1838-42 it was deemed advisable to send an army into Afghanistan to assist in settling disputes there, which threatened the safety of the north-western frontier. Having occupied Kabul, the Afghans raised an insurrection, killed many of them, and ordered them away ; but in the disastrous retreat they suffered so much from the weather and the enemy that, out of the five thousand soldiers, only one got through in safety. This dishonor having afterwards been wiped out, the British gave up Afghanistan, and returned no more till a similar war, for a similar purpose, with a very similar result, occurred in 1878-80. In 1868 twelve thousand men under Sir Robert Napier were ordered from India to chastise King Theodore of Abyssinia for the ill-treatment of British subjects in his territory. This they succeeded in doing after a long and -wearisome march over an inhospitable country, finding the king among the slain at his capital. 160 iyr>IA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
While this book was in preparation, troops embarked
from Bombay to assist in the protection of the
Suez Canal and the settlement of Egyptian affairs.
Thus, though India is the brightest jewel in Britain's
diadem, yet it entails no little vigilance and
responsibility.
2. GOVERNMENT.
UNDER THE COMPANY.
The charter granted to the company by Queen
Elizabeth on the last day of the sixteenth century was
purely for trading purposes, and that it should ever
rule a state in India was farthest from the thoughts of
all. Surat was at first the most important British
factory ; but in 1653 Madras was created into a presidency,
to which Calcutta was subject till 1715, when
it was made the independent presidency of* Fort
William. In 1662 Charles II gave the company permission
"to make war and peace on the native
princes." After the two companies were consolidated
into one in 1702, it was controlled by a court of proprietors,
consisting of all the shareholders who held
500 stock. They met- annually, or oftener, and
elected twenty-four from those of their number, whose
stock was not less than 2,000 (six to retire yearly),
who constituted a court of directors for the management
of the company's affairs.
When led on by avarice and ambition to mix up
in the quarrels of native princes, they required soldiers,
the first of whom were made up of adventUNDER
THE COMrANT. 161
urers, liberated convicts, and deserters from European
armies. As the power of the company increased, natives
entered the service, induced by the pay and pension
offered, but all under English officers. At first
these officers were poorly paid, but had many opportunities
for trading, whereby some of them amassed
fortunes. Clive, seeing the evil of this, recommended
better pay and the forbidding of all officers of the
company to engage in private trade, which was carried
out under Warren Hastings. When he was appointed
governor-general he had four members of council to
assist in making laws. Cornwallis introduced into
Bengal the Zemindari system, in which the collectors
of revenue were looked to by the government as landowners,
and they in turn considered the cultivators as
their tenants. Elsewhere the Ryotwari system prevailed,
in which the cultivators were looked upon as
tenants of the State, leaving no room for the cupidity
and injustice of a middle party.
In 1813 the company was deprived of the right of
exclusive trade with India, and twenty years later of
trade altogether, and could no longer govern, even,
without the sanction and continual interference of the
supreme government. In 1858 the British Parliament
transferred the government of India to the queen of
England. Thus ended the East India Company as a
ruling power, though its property was left untouched.
11
162 INDIA AND BRITISH BUEMAH.
UXDEK THE CROWN.
Most of the company's officers, civil' and military,
accepted office under the queen to assist in the government
by their experience in Indian affairs. The home
government of India is vested in a secretary of state,
who is a member of the English cabinet, and i.< a.-^i.-ned by an under secretary and a council of fifteen members. The Indian executive government is administered by* the viceroy or governor-general appointed by the crown, and acting under the control of the secretary of state for India. He is appointed for six years, and is assisted by a council of five ordinary members, three appointed by the secretary of state and two by her majesty's warrant. British India is divided into the three presidencies, Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the latter two having governors appointed by the crown and assisted by executive and legislative councils, who communicate directly with the home government, except on very important matters. Bengal Presidency includes the lower provinces, the north-west provinces, and the Punjab, each under a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the governor-general, subject to the approval of the secretary of state for India. Oudh, Assam, the central provinces, and British Burmah are under chief commissioners, appointed by the Indian Government. All the governments of India are split up into provinces, over each of which a commissioner is placed, and these are subdivided into districts under a judge and collector. UNDER THE CROWN. 163 In those known as regulation provinces justice is administered and the revenue is collected according to fixed methods. In non-regulation provinces these are modified, as occasion may require, by legislative enactment. Resident political agents are appointed by the British Government at the courts of native princes. The Covenanted Civil .Service is composed of those who have passed the competitive examination required in London, whose duty is to conduct the general administration in the Indian provinces. The Uncovenanted Civil Service appointments are made by the authorities in India. Many of the large towns have municipal governments ; but very little has yet been done toward self-government in India. On the 1st of January, 1877, Queen Victoria, to show her appreciation of the respect shown to her son, the Prince of Wales, during his visit to India, had herself proclaimed ''Empress of India." ARMY AND POLICE. Just previous to the mutiny in 1857, the army in pay of the company comprised about twenty-four thousand royal troops (lent to it and paid for by it), eighteen thousand European troops, raised and drilled by the company in England, one hundred and eighty thousand native regulars, and sixty thousand native irregular horse making about two hundred and eighty thousand in all. Such regiments as had remained faithful were transferred from the service of the company to that of the queen, those who wished being allowed 164 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAS. to retire. In 1861 the Indian army was reorganized. The English portion is a part of the queen's general army, and takes its turn serving in England and the colonies, but is paid out of Indian revenues. The native portion is managed wholly in India ; but during the late war between Russia and Turkey some were sent for service to Malta, as was the case previously in Abyssinia, and very recently in Egypt. The present force in India, exclusive of the native States, is about one hundred and ninety thousand, of whom sixty thousand are English. India is divided into three military divisions, named after the three presidencies Bombay, Madras, and Bengal. The English troops are stationed chiefly in the Punjab and along the valley of the Ganges. The police force in India consists of one hundred and ninety thousand constables or regular policemen, very nearly the same number as the army, and, in addition, the village watchmen, who assist them. The age of admission is from seventeen to twenty-one. Each district has a jail and police superintendent, and the districts are grouped for police purposes into circles, under deputy inspectors-general, while the whole police force in each province is under an inspector-general. REVENUE. The total annual revenue of India is about six hundred and twenty millions of rupees, of which about three hundred millions are from land, one hundred and twenty millions from opium (of which the government REVENUE. 165 has the monopoly), ninety millions from salt, forty millions from stamps, thirty millions from spirits and drugs, and four millions from customs, which latter, with few exceptions, have just been done away with, throwing all the ports of India open to free trade. From this it will be seen that the land-tax constitutes nearly half of the whole revenue. The government has always been considered as the owner of the soil, and the cultivators pay a rent or tax, in collecting which different systems have been followed in different parts ; as, the Zemindari, Ryotwari, and village settlements, of which the latter is the oldest and simplest. Each village (corresponding to township in other countries) was regarded as a separate municipality, which was assessed by the government at a particular sum, for the payment of which the head-man (patel) was held responsible, and as long as this was duly received the government did not interfere. This left the whole of the distribution and collection to the village authorities, and as far as it was done fairly and wisely it was a good specimen of self-government. The Zemindari system introduced into Bengal affords opportunity to the land-owners for extortion, to prevent which has required great vigilance on the part of the government. The Ryotwari system in Bombay and Madras is, no doubt, the fairest, where each cultivator is responsible to the government for the payment of his taxes. In 1871 there was created a new department of revenue, agriculture, and commerce, which has charge of all questions of land revenue and settlements, works of 166 INDIA AND BRITISH BVRMAH. agricultural improvement, silks, and fibers, forests, commerce, trade, and industrial arts. NATIVE STATES. One-fifth of the population of India and nearly two-fifths of the territory are under a large number of native rulers, mostly Hindu rajahs, though the most important of all is Hyderabad, under the Mohammedan Nizam (regulator). In the capitals of the largest of them, in addition to the British resident, a detachment of British troops is stationed, and each prince has a small army of his own, under his own control, but in some cases officered by Europeans and Indo-Europeans. These troops are merely for show and the protection of their own borders ; for they are not permitted to wage wrar or take their troops beyond their own territory, though some of them rendered valuable assistance during the great mutiny. They collect their owrn revenue and manage their own internal affairs, without any interference from the British, unless there are complaints of injustice or oppression, as was the case a few years ago against the Gaikwar of Baroda. In this case an investigation was made, he was remonstrated with, and allowed time to reform. Instead of this, however, he got worse and w7orse, until he attempted the life of the resident (as was proven, though not admitted by all the commission who sat to try him), since which time he was kept as a state prisoner until his death, not long ago. As he was childless, the widow1 of his predecessor wras allowed to NA TIVE STA TES. 167 adopt a son, who has been placed on the throne. During the long minority of the maharajah of Mysore the state was under a British commissioner, but it has been restored since he attained his majority, he having been under an English tutor all the time. As far as possible, infanticide, suttee, and slavery have been put down in these native states, though no doubt slavery still exists in some of them ; for not long ago a Mohammedan of Bombay was convicted of having a slave in his possession, whom he claimed he was transmitting to the Begum of Bhopal. A number of slave dows have been captured on the Indian Ocean at different times, and the poor Africans provided with homes in Bombay or in mission orphanages ; and it was from these that Dr. Livingstone got his attendants when he embarked from Bombay on his last expedition of discovery. This slave-trade, however, is carried on by Arabs, who not unfrequently run up the French flag to prevent being searched. Thus, though it is difficult to smuggle them into India, yet it is sometimes done. Nepal and Bhotan are independent native states, but influenced more or less by the proximity of the English. In addition to these states, the French still hold Pondicherry, Karikal, Yunan, Chundernagore, and Mahe, and the Portuguese Goa, Daman, and the island of Din altogether about thirteen hundred square miles and six hundred and seventy thousand population. 168 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. 3. COMMERCE. KOUTES TO INDIA. The discovery of the passage around the Cape of Good Hope gave a new impulse to the commerce, not only of India, but of the world. The ' ' ship of the desert," by which produce had been carried across the Asiatic continent for many centuries, was then exchanged for the great sailing vessels, which were soon plowing the main through all the East, and especially the Indian Archipelago ; and though the East Indiaman was expected to be absent on its voyage two or three years, yet when it did return, its valuable cargo amply repaid its owners, and enriched the world. About 1850 the use of steam, with convenient coaling stations, expedited matters so that the voyage to India could be made in sixty days, or about half the time of a sailing vessel. Meantime, however, the overland route across Egypt in Nile-boats and carriages had been opened up, so that Calcutta could thus be reached in forty days. This, however, was available only for passengers and light freight, which could be easily transhipped from Alexandria to Suez. The Cape route continued to be the great highway between the Eastern and Western worlds until the Suez Canal, that great thoroughfare between the continents, was opened in 1869. It marks an era in the world's history ; for by it the commerce of the world has been revolutionized, though still there is a great trade with India carried on around the Cape. Especially is this the case with STEAMSHIP LINES. 169 Calcutta; but the shipping with which the harbor of Bombay had been studded, with the exception of here and there a sail, soon cleared out. The usual time for a steamer through the canal from Liverpool to Bombay (the present commercial metropolis with the only docks in India) is thirty days. This, however, is shortened one-third by crossing the continent of Europe instead of proceeding around by Gibraltar, and affords great facility for the speedy transit of small orders, which may be filled between Bombay and London in three weeks, or Bombay and New York in about four weeks. STEAMSHIP LINES. When the monopoly of trade was taken from the East India Company numerous shipping companies sprang into existence ; and, indeed, before that the great passenger traffic between England and her Eastern possessions had called forth competition. The oldest line in operation now is the Peninsular and Oriental Company's, which, for a long time, has carried the English mails to and from India, China, and Australia, for which purpose it gets a handsome subsidy, and hence has a large number of the best steamers plying weekly, alternately through the canal, and connecting with the railway across Egypt, until the late outbreak there put a temporary stop to the latter. The British India Steam Navigation Company carries the mail weekly to Kurachee, and around the coast to Calcutta twice a month. It has lately started a fortnightly line from Kurachee to England for the 170 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII. accommodation of those belonging in Sindh, the Punjab, the north-west, and even as far as Calcutta, thus affording considerable competition to the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The Italian Steam Navigation Company runs a monthly line between Bombay and Genoa and Marseilles. The only through line to America is the Anchor Line, which runs fortnightly between Bombay and New York. There are other lines, but they do not run regularly ; and, in addition to all these, thousands of native craft coast the whole of India, carrying on a large local trade, and also some with neighboring nations. The reduction within a fewr years of rates on these lines, both for freight and passenger traffic, has been almost equal to the reduction in the time. Forty years ago the rates for single passengers from 'England to Madras by way of the Cape was eight hundred and twenty-five rupees, or overland one thousand rupees. Now the rates of the Peninsular and Oriental Company are, first-class, six hundred rupees, and second-class, four hundred and fifty rupees, with return tickets available for three months at a little more than one fare and a half. The rates of the Italian line to Messina, Naples, Leghorn, or Genoa are, first-class, five hundred rupees, second-class, three hundred and forty rupees, and third-class, one hundred and forty rupees, which latter does not include food ; but it can be procured on board for about one rupee a day. The rates on the Anchor Line are, to Liverpool, five hundred rupees; to New York, six hundred rupees. On all INLAND COMMUNICATION. Ill these lines are doctors and stewardesses. If one is hard up, as is sometimes the case, he might go through third-class to England for two hundred rupees, and from there to America, steerage, for another fifty rupees, or about one hundred dollars at the present rate of exchange. INLAND COMMUNICATION. If facilities for commerce without have been greatly increased during the past few years, much more is it the case within the country. The first railway was Opened twenty miles from Bombay to Tanna in 1853 ; now there are about ten thousand miles completed, at a cost of twelve hundred millions of rupees, and another thousand in course of construction. The longest line is the East Indian, from Calcutta to Delhi, with a branch from Allahabad to Jubbulpore, altogether fifteen hundred and four miles. The second is the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, from Bombay to Jubbulpore, Nagpore, and Raichore, twelve hundred and seventy-eight miles. All the principal cities are connected by rail, and all the great agricultural and mining districts are being opened up to commerce by its means. The carrying of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway over the Western Ghats was a wonderful feat of engineering. The only places for wagon-roads over these mountains for two hundred miles are the Bhore and Teell Ghats, over each of which the railway has been carried. Though only half as high as the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, over which the 172 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. Pacific Railway passes, yet the maximum gradient here is one in thirty-seven, while there it is only one in fortyfive. On the other hand, the shortest curve here is nine hundred and ninety feet radius, while there it is only of six hundred feet radius. The length of tunneling on the Bhore Ghat in a distance of sixteen miles is nearly one and a half miles, comprised in twenty-five tunnels. Besides railway communication some of the large rivers are navigable for light vessels, and some of the canals also are available for commerce, though intended mainly for irrigation purposes. Long before the railway was introduced excellent metal roads had been constructed through the country. Grand trunk roads extend from Bombay to Calcutta, Madras, and Agra, and from these numerous trunk roads lead from the various cities and towns, so that land communication is now possible all over India, even during the rains. The stone for these roads is found generally convenient and of a good quality. For keeping them in repair toll is levied. EXPORTS. England affords the principal market for Indian produce, except opium, which goes to China. Cotton is the most important export, reaching to about one hundred and fifty millions of rupees annually. During the civil war in America, when the supplies of cotton from the Southern States were cut off, the export from Bombay alone reached three hundred millions of rupees. This gave rise to the most enormous IMPORTS. 173 speculation, not only in cotton, but in almost every thing. Millionaires were made in a few months by trading in stock of various kinds. This, of course, was followed by an awful crash at the close of the war, when men woke up to find their stock, which had been at five hundred or six hundred per cent premium in some cases below par or worth almost nothing. Thus mushroom millionaires became beggars, coming down as fast as they had gone up. In regard to opium, none can raise it without a license from the government, which then charges a transit duty of six hundred rupees a chest, making the revenue nearly equal to the actual cost. The rich fields of Malwa and the Ganges Valley are devoted to its culture. Next to these the most important exports are grain, jute, indigo, seeds, hides, tea, coffee, silk, wool, and saltpeter, to which may be added pepper., betel nuts, teak timber, tobacco, drugs, dye-stuffs, sugar candy, cocoa-nut oil, cochineal, coir, wax, ginger, tamarinds, talc, and shawls, amounting annually to more than six hundred and fifty millions of rupees for the whole of India, and weighing eight hundred thousand tons, carried by more than six hundred vessels of various sizes. IMPORTS. The value of imports is about five hundred millions of rupees annually, the principal being cotton goods about two hundred millions, treasure about one hundred and twenty millions, metals manufactured and unmanufactured about twenty-five millions, and salt 174 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMA II. ten millions. The next important are liquors, silks, woolens, and coals, to which may be added hams, cheese, glass-ware, books, paper, hate, carriages, horses, furniture, etc. Though two thousand years ago India was called the grave of the precious metals, yet vast quantities of treasure are still imported annually. Notwithstanding the large amount of cotton goods manufactured in the country, yet the value of that article imported exceeds the value of the raw material exported. CURRENCY. In British India accounts are kept in rupees, annas, and pies, sixteen annas making a rupee and twelve pies making an anna. The coins are rupees (value two shillings sterling or forty-eight cents in United States money), half rupees, quarter rupees, and eighth rupees in silver. The copper coins are one-half, onequarter, one-eighth, and one-twelfth of the anna. In bazaars in the country smaller accouuts are kept by cowries (small sea-shells), of which it takes in Poona eighty to make three pies, the value of a pice. The currency of India is mostly silver, for coining which there are several mints in the different presidencies. Since 1861 government notes are issued of values ranging from five to one thousand rupees, redeemable in silver only, there being no gold in circulation. This being the case, for several years there has been a depreciation in the currency, which is to be borne in mind in all calculations. Thus the commercial value of the rupee is only about one shilling, eight pence, or COTTON AND SILK GOODS. 175 forty cents. Large amounts are calculated by laks (one hundred thousand) and crores (ten million), so that a crore of rupees is one million sterling, not allowing for exchange. 4. MANUFACTURES. COTTON AND SILK GOODS. Notwithstanding the large amount of raw cotton exported from India and cotton goods imported there is no inconsiderable quantity manufactured in the country, and though it is largely in the hands of natives, yet as to the introduction of machinery, which has in a great measure superseded the hand-loom, it is wholly adopted and not indigenous. The first cotton press was put up at Surat in 1684, but it was not till 1854 that the first spinning and weaving mill was begun in Bombay. Now there are about fifty in the Bombay Presidency, with a capital averaging about one million rupees, running thirteen thousand looms and a million and a quarter of spindles, which spin daily about two hundred thousand yards of yarn, nearly half of which is manufactured into cloth. About two-thirds of these mills are in Bombay alone, which aspires to compete with Manchester itself, not only supplying in a great measure the home demand, but doing something in the way of exporting. Though the other presidencies, not being so convenient to the great cotton fields, have not developed this industry to the same extent, yet they have a number of mills in operation. These mills, though so largely owned by 176 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. natives, are under the supervision of skilled European mechanics, a manager, weaving master, spinning and carding master and engineer. In these mills are on an average one thousand native employes, eight hundred being men, one hundred women, and one hundred boys and girls. It can not in so great a degree be said that machinery has revolutionized the silk manufacture, though there are some mills engaged in that business. One very interesting feature is the gold and silver thread Avoven into the cotton and silk goods, and also used for embroidery. This is drawn out so fine that a rupee's worth of silver makes nearly eight hundred yards of thread. IRON MANUFACTURES. As in the cotton so in the iron business there has been a great impetus received within a few years, though for the most part the metal is still imported from England. In the large cities almost every description of iron Avork can be manufactured except machinery, and even that branch is looking up. Light plows, harrows, cultivators, clod-crushers, drill and broad-cast sowing-machines, lawn-mowing machines, scythes, sickles, thrashing and winnowing machines, pumps, watering-pots, water-raising machines, lathes, corn-shellers, cotton gins, chaft cutters, grain grinders, oil and sugar mills, etc., are manufactured in various parts; but yet this branch is in its infancy. In the various foundries castings of all kinds up to ten tons CARRIAGES. 177 are turned out, of every kind of iron bridge and roof work. The different railway companies make all kinds of iron and brass fittings, and all their rolling stock except engines (one of which even was made for the exhibition in Bombay a few years ago), employing a large number of European artisans and foremen. CARRIAGES. Though still many carriages are imported, yet there are manufactories, mostly under European supervision, turning out good and substantial work, only inferior in elegance to the English. The most common of closed carriages are Broughams and shigrams, a kind of oblong box on wheels with sliding doors and depression for the feet, drawn by one horse. Of open carriages the most common are phaetons, mail phaetons, and chariots drawn by two or four horses ; dog carts, with two wheels and two high seats fo* sitting back to back ; the tonga, similar, only with movable hood, and usually drawn by two ponies, mainly for country use. The buggy is also a two-wheeled vehicle, with hood and one seat, except in some cases a small one in front just sufficient for the driver. The nearest approach to the American buggy or "spider wagon" is the Victoria, the second seat of which, however, is behind the hood, and usually occupied by the coachman while the master drives. A few hansom cabs are in use. They are two-wheeled, with hood and very low seat, the driver sitting perched up behind. 12 178 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. MISCELLANEOUS. A number of circular saw mills have been set up in India and Burmah for the manufacture of teak, pine, and other lumber, and, notwithstanding the cheapness of country whip-sawing they do a good business where the timber is plentiful. The German missionaries at Mangalore have introduced the manufacture of an improved pattern of tiles, large, flat, and well-jointed, for which they get good sale for government and other buildings. About the time of the great mutiny a good business in making army accouterments was begun in some parts of the country. In Cawnpore a good article of English harness and saddle is manufactured, as also portmanteaus. A few European boot and shoe makers do a good business in the large cities, but country shoes, which are about as serviceable though not so elegant, are purchased for less than half the price. Some watchmakers and jewelers keep shops, but their work is largely repairing and selling European manufactures. At Shahjehanpore is a sugar refinery, that turns out a fair article of sugar and molasses. A few flouring-mills are in the hands of Europeans, besides those in connection with government bakeries, all of which manufacture excellent flour-bread and biscuits. For many years India depended on America for ice, but now factories have sprung up over the country, furnishing it cheaper than the American article. DRAINING AND LIGHTS. 179 5. OTHER IMPROVEMENTS. IRRIGATION. 'The greatest internal improvement next to the railway is the system of irrigation works, consisting of canals, tanks, and wells, made necessary by the frequent recurrence of famines in the land. Many of them have been constructed during the times of famine as relief works, where thousands of people have found employment and support. The Great Ganges Canal takes off about one third of the water of the river at Hurdwar, where it issues from the mountains and distributes it over a vast extent of territory. The whole length of the canal, including branches, is about nine hundred miles. The Bari Doab Canal in the Punjab, four hundred and sixty-five miles in length, is converting desolate sandy wastes into smiling fields. The water works at Poona consist of a lake or large tank formed by a bund or dam opening into the canal, which not only supplies the city with pure water, but extends many miles into the country for the purpose of irrigation. Bombay and other large cities are supplied in the same way. Auicuts or dams have been constructed across the large rivers of (Southern India, thus affording water for large districts. DRAINING AND LIGHTS. Nothing has been so calculated to dimmish the death-rate in India as the drainage in the cities and sanitary and police regulations at the large melas, 180 INDIA AND BRITISH B VEMAH. where sometimes a quarter or even half a million of people congregate. To get an idea of what an Indian city would be if left to the people themselves, one needs but to go into the purlieus of London or New York, and divest them of what sanitary regulations may be still carried out. It has been no small task of the government to reduce this matter to system, nor can they flatter themselves that they have as yet succeeded in every particular. They found the cities so crowded, and the streets so narrow and crooked, and the sacred places so frequent, that it was very difficult to construct sewers or surface drains through them. A greater task still was to educate the very low classes to habits of cleanliness. Considering all these things, they have succeeded wonderfully well, as also in the supply of good water, which some of the people considered too great an innovation, and to this day refuse to avail themselves of it. Even native states have caught the inspiration, and have undertaken to improve their capitals at least, draining and sprinkling the principal streets where not metaled. At the same time the abundant supply of American kerosene, less than one-half that of cocoanut oil, affords a tolerable light. Many of the large cities under English control, however, have gas-lights ; and for lighting the new docks in Bombay harbor the electric light has been introduced, making business almost as easy by night as by day. LABOR-SAVING MACHINES, ETC. 181 LABOR-SAVING MACHINES, ETC. Notwithstanding the exceeding diffidence of the people in getting out of the old grooves, many modern improvements are gradually finding their way into the country, and even the prejudices of the most conservative are giving way. They declared the gods would never admit the steam-engine and railway, and especially that the sacred Ganges would never suffer itself to be bridged. Now there is not one that will not avail himself of the railway ; and even those who go on long pilgrimages for merit find the railway a convenient help in getting righteousness, showing that they never had any very great confidence in their works and austerities. Even caste is not a sufficient barrier, and the most orthodox* are giving up in despair. In almost every tailor's-shop may be seen one or more se\ving-machines, and some not very bad imitations of sewing-machines have been manufactured in the country. American plows have been introduced by missionaries in some cases ; but, being too heavy for their oxen, they have adopted lighter ones on the same model, though they are still very rare. It is questionable, however, whether the peculiar circumstances here will ever admit of the cultivation of Western countries. Pianos, harmoniums, American organs, concertinas, violins, and other musical instruments, besides being in Europeans' houses, are gradually finding theij* way into the native community. 182 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. The most respectable and wealthy affect lamps, crockery, glass-ware, carriages, etc. MAILS AND TELEGRAPHS. Cheap postage is one of the greatest boons of India, and it is doubtful whether it is as cheap in any other country. Between any two offices iu British India letters are a half-anna, or three-fourths of a penny, and post-cards a quarter-anna, or three-fourths of a cent. On all the railways they have their mail once or twice a day, and in nearly every large village once or twice a week. Packet or book post is four ounces for a half-anna, and sealed parcels, value payable or otherwise, eight ounces for four annas. Letters to England are four Annas and a half to the half-ounce, and to America the same, or, if not through England, three annas per half-ounce, and even that is higher than from America here five cents to the half-ounce. Book or pattern post to England or America is one anna per two ounces, newspapers one anna per four ounces. Post-office money-orders are sent, both in India and across the sea, at moderate rates. The English mail comes and goes weekly, the shortest time from London being fifteen and a half days, and from New York twenty-four days. With a little more improvement on this side, and good connections in England, we may expect it from London in fourteen days, and from New York in twenty-one, or only two days less than is expected by the proposed trans-continental railway. INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT. 183 India is in telegraphic communication with the ends of the earth, there being three lines between here and England, one to Australia, China, etc., and eighteen hundred miles of telegraph line in the country. For eight annas per six words a message may be sent between any two points in British India, or, to secure greater dispatch, one rupee, or greater still, two rupees ; to England it is two rupees, eight annas, or two rupees, twelve annas per word. 6. INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT. If the mental advancement of India under the British has not kept pace with the material, it is due to two facts. One is that, until recently, the government lias not waked up to its duty in this regard, being impelled, more or less, by sinister motives in their intercourse with the people ; and the other, that the people themselves, naturally sluggish, have required a long time to appreciate the importance of education. It may, however, now be said with truth that the dark ages of India are passing away, and the people are at least beginning to arouse themselves to a new life. This is saying a good deal when it is remembered that, instead of progressing at all, the country had been retrograding for many centuries. But even now it is estimated that only one in twenty throughout the country can read and Avrite, and only here and there a female can read, out of the one hundred millions who are of sufficient age. After all, it is no doubt self-interest that lies at the 184 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. bottom, in most cases, very few seeking education for its own sake, though exhibiting a commendable zeal and sacrifice to obtain it; some, as the story goes, tying their top-knots to nails to keep from nodding while studying at night. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. The government were just arousing themselves to establish schools, when the mutiny of 1857 greatly impeded their efforts. One great difficulty at the outset was caste, the Brahmins and higher castes not only forbidding their children to associate with others in school, but exerting themselves to keep others away. This is still a great drawback in some places, and the authorities in some cases have connived at it, establishing schools for the different classes, which adds much to the expense. They endeavor to keep up at least one school in every considerable village, free or with only a nominal fee ; so that now, altogether, they have more than 1,300,000 pupils, which cost more than twelve millions of rupees annually, or nearly ten rupees per scholar. A few of these are girls' schools, Avith female teachers prepared in normal schools. The teachers pass an examination according to their grade, and must teach no religion, which means, teach not the Christian religion. One director got out a complete set of government books, in which he boasted that he had weeded out every trace of Christianity. Other schools get grants in aid from the government on different plans. LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS. 185 There are just fifty colleges in India, thirty-one of them under the state, and the other nineteen belonging to missions, but receiving aid from the state. Among these are colleges of science, law, and medicine, as well as arts, to maintain which entails a cost, in one case at least, of five hundred rupees a pupil per annum. These do not confer degrees, but prepare for them to be conferred by the presidency universities, just as English universities do. Last year the' three universities conferred degrees as follows : Bachelor of arts, 303 ; master of arts, 20 ; bachelor of laws, 60 ; licentiate of civil engineering, 28 ; and licentiate of medicine and surgery, 95. Besides these, 3,150 passed the matriculation examination, only a few of whom continued their studies. Besides government schools, there are a large number of mission schools and a few private ones, English and vernacular receiving, in nearly every case, some State aid. A commission was recently in session to devise means for increasing the number and efficiency of the common schools, it having been found that in many cases giving a higher education has increased the burdens of the state, as the students demand situations according to their attainments, failing in which they complain of the government which has thus unfitted them for lower positions. Such is the public spirit of young India. LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS. Circulating libraries and reading-rooms are maintained in every considerable European station. The 186 INDIA AND BRITISH BUHMAH. government supply such libraries for their soldiers and many of their servants in the telegraph and other departments. This example, too, has been followed by the railway companies. But, though slow in this regard, the natives are afeo following in the wake, and are establishing libraries and institutes for lectures in many places, some of which are open for lectures on the Christian religion, as well as science, travel, etc. In every large center museums have been founded, or at least encouraged, by the government. Some of these will compare not unfavorably with those among Western nations. In connection with these, in some cases, are botanical and zoological gardens ; but these will hardly compare with those in Europe and America. BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS. The spread of education has begotten such a desire for reading that book and periodical publications have sprung up in every quarter and in every cultivated language, though English certainly leads the way. The vernacular publications, which in one year amounted to 3,148, are largely translations or compilations from English, while nearly all the vernacular newspapers have a page, or part of one, in the English language, and some are conducted by natives wholly in English. Each of the large cities has its daily paper, or more than one, besides a great number of weeklies and monthlies, and hardly any town is without its weekly paper. In the whole of India are, perhaps, more than two hundred and thirty vernacular periodicals, with a SCIENCE AND FINE ARTS. 187 circulation of nearly one hundred thousand, of which about fifteen or twenty are daily. The number of English papers is less, but the circulation, perhaps, more. Not a few of these are mortal enemies to Christianity ; but many of them, of all kinds, are friendly, and a goodly number are Christian publications. SCIENCE AND THE FINE ARTS. In 1804 was founded the Bombay Literary Society, which was afterwards incorporated into the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The Bombay Geographical Society has also been incorporated with the Asiatic, making one worthy institution, with a handsome library, rich in good works of reference, and open to members admitted by ballot on payment of an annual subscription of seventy-five rupees. Another branch of the Asiatic Society is at Calcutta. Madras has the leading observatory and astronomer. In the School of Art in Bombay, painting, drawing, decorating, photography, and sculpture are taught. Madras and other places, also, boast a school of art. A few amateur painters in oil and water-colors occasionally make a display of their skill at exhibitions of the fine arts. A few excellent photographers are followed by a host of smaller fry, who have got a glimpse of the mysteries behind the camera obscura. 188 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. V. ANGLO-INDIAN LIFE. 1. EMPLOYMENTS. ENGLISHMEN in India, and even after their return to England, call themselves Anglo-Indians. It does not, however, seem to be improper to include under this designation all the descendants of such, born in this country, though usually termed East-Indians, Eurasians, or Indo-Britons. They all together form a class distinct from the natives in regard to religion, customs, and employments. Of the whole class there are nearly two hundred thousand in India, of whom nearly half, including the sixty thousand in the army, are pure Europeans a term that here takes in the handful of Americans, as well as Germans, French, and Italians. PRIVATE OCCUPATIONS. It was a high crime and misdemeanor for a European to be in India without an appointment or special license from the East India Company, until they were deprived of their commercial privileges, which opened the door for numerous adventurers. India, however, has never afforded a promising field for private enterprise, on account of the climate and the vast competition in every branch of industry in which natives engage. So that G VERNMENT SEE VICE. 189 now the number engaged in business on their own account is very small, comprising wholesale merchants, chemists, bankers, physicians, lawyers, civil engineers, photographers, printers, musicians, teachers, artists, contractors, hotel proprietors, and indigo, tea, and coffee planters, some of whom,, especially merchants, lawyers, physicians, and planters have amassed princely fortunes; but most generally they have done no better than with the same capital they could have done elsewhere. Moreover, competition from natives is continually increasing; so erelong nearly the same state of things will exist as under the monopoly of the East India Company. GOVERNMENT SERVICE. Besides the many thousands in the military service, there are perhaps as many or more in the civil service, mostly uncovenanted. The heads of departments and their various branches, political, financial, judicial, educational, revenue, military, police, marine, health, medical, ecclesiastical, public works, railway, irrigation, post-office, survey, customs, etc., are filled by officers of the civil service and army, while under them heads of offices, superintendents, engineers, assistants, clerks, etc., are mostly Anglo-Indians, though even here the native is competing to such an extent that it is much more difficult than formerly to obtain a situation, and when obtained chances of promotion and a good salary are greatly diminished. The government supply a civil surgeon for every important station, 190 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. who, besides attending to the civil hospitals and dispensaries, also has a great deal of private practice. Officers and soldiers, with additional allowances and frequent furloughs, get largely increased salaries while on duty in India; besides, those officers filling civil appointments sometimes get double their ordinary salary. The governors of Bombay and Madras receive more than the President of the United States. Civil servants are paid salaries in proportion to their length of service and promotion. Chaplains get five hundred or eight hundred rupees a month, according to grade. Uncovenanted civil servants are paid from about fifteen up to one thousand rupees a month, with one month a year privilege leave, on full pay, and one year furlough out of about ten on half pay. RAILWAY AND OTHER EMPLOYES. Next to the government service the many railway companies afford employment for the greatest number of Anglo-Indians, many of whom have been engaged and sent from England. All engine drivers, guards (as 'conductors are called), station masters, traffic inspectors, foreman fitters, carpenters, and permanent way inspectors were until recently supplied from Europeans and Indo-Europeans ; but gradually as the natives acquire skill and Avin confidence they are taken on with less pay to fill some of these more responsible positions. It will, however, be a long time before the public will trust themselves altogether into the hands of natives on a railway. WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 191 To induce these men to leave England a great increase in salary and privileges is offered. In some cases engine drivers get two hundred and fifty rupees a month, which, with overtime in the busy season, is often doubled. In the increase of traffic occasioned by the famine they were sadly overworked. The spinning and weaving mills, as has been already intimated, afford employment for a few skilled hands, but even these are being gradually supplied from the natives. Salesmen and clerks in merchants' shops are largely sent out from England for a stipulated term, during which time they agree not to marry. Besides these, however, many are taken on in this country without such stipulation. So in one way and another there is employment for all these two hundred thousand people on at least living salaries. WOMEN AND CHILDREN. As a rule, it is much more difficult for women dependent upon their own efforts to find employment here than in most other countries. A few positions as teachers are open for them with moderate salaries, and a small number get employment in milliners' shops. Dress-making affords but a meager support, as native tailors do good work very cheap. A number come to this country as governesses in families, and occasionally there are calls for them to attend ladies or children going to England, and some keep boarding house, which is always more or less precarious. Add 192 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH. to these midwives and the vocations available for Anglo-Indian females are about exhausted. For girls there is absolutely nothing, and for boys the only openings are as ticket-collectors on the railway or apprentices in their shops or in arsenals. And this is perhaps the greatest drawback to rearing a family in India, though -parents who appreciate their responsibilities will find something useful for their children to do, if it is only to work in the garden. PROVISION FOR FAMILIES AND OLD AGE. A civil servant is assured from the tune of entering the service of 300 a year alive or dead (that is, if he leaves a family to receive it), and about the same is true of the military oificer. All persons in government employ can retire on half-pay after about twentyfive years' service; and as a pension for the family, in case of death, in some departments a fund is provided by a compulsory setting aside of a certain per cent of the salary. Eailway companies also have, to some extent, followed the example of the government, some, if not all, having a provident fund. Besides all these, insurance companies carry on a considerable business. But perhaps a better provision is the Government Savingsbanks over the country, where sums aggregating not more than five hundred rupees per annum can be invested at about four per cent interest, and drawn as required. MODE OF LIVING PROVISIONS. 193 2. MODE OF LIVING. In nothing else perhaps is there more vagueness among the majority of foreigners than as to how Europeans live in India, and it is hardly believed, when it is asserted, that they live here much the same as elsewhere. More particularly is this vagueness in regard to PROVISIONS, which, as has been amply shown, comprise nearly every thing produced in other lands as well as in this. The dishes served are very nearly the same as in England and America, with the addition of curries and a few others generally very highly seasoned, the rule being that, unless food is very pungent, bitter, sour or sweet it is insipid. The beef, mutton, and fowls are about on a par with those reared on the plains of Texas. Better pasturage and feeding of grain in special cases, as also good cooking, add to the flavor. Turkeys, geese, and ducks are good and generally obtainable. Cooking stoves were never heard of here, till recently a few have been introduced from America, but natives liave not learned to use them much. Owing to the high price of wood kerosene oil stoves are more popular where a lady wishes to do her own cooking, which is very seldom. With copper vessels, sheet iron ovens, and small fire-places, one for each vessel, the want of stoves is not felt. Large quantities of oil-mens' stores from England, consisting of anchovies, sardines, oysters, lobsters, 13 194 INDIA AND BRITISH Bl'RMAn. sausages, pickles, jams, jellies, soups, bottled fruits, etc., with hams and cheese, are consumed by the upper classes, and a vast deal of wine, beer, ale, brandy, rum, whisky and liquors of all kinds. California canned fruits are beginning to find a market here. The custom almost universally is to have the ' ' little breakfast," consisting of tea or coffee, bread and plantains, on rising in the morning, which is generally early in order to take the morning "constitutional," either on foot or on horseback. There is very little twilight in tropical latitudes, so if one is not speedily out the hot sun will be in advance of him. Breakfast is at nine or ten o'clock, or just in time for office, and consists <>f
bread and butter, rice, fish, eggs, cold meats, or madeup
dishes, chops, beefsteak, game, etc., with tea or
coffee. Tiffin, as lunch is called, is often served at
office, when it is distant, and then dinner will be after
office hours, and sometimes as late as dark. Otherwise
dinner is about two or three o'clock, consisting of
soups, roast, boiled, stewed or broiled meats, with the
inevitable rice and curry, cabbages, beans, salads, and
all kinds of vegetables, and pudding or pastry for dessert.
Supper is light, consisting of bread and butter,
jams, and tea. It is also customary in many families
to have a cup of tea in the afternoon.
Fruits of some description may be had every day in
the year, many kinds yielding two or three crops, and
plantains being always in season. It has passed into a
proverb that fruit in the morning is gold, at noon
silver, and at night lead.
WEARING APPAREL. 195
WEARING APPAREL.
It is to be hoped that ere this people coming to
India have had their minds disabused of the idea that
it is necessary to lay in a large supply of cool clothing.
If not, then be it known to all concerned that they
can procure it here cheaper, more convenient and far
better adapted to the climate than elsewhere. One,
however, should have plenty of under-linen and changes
of warm and cool suits for the long voyage, bearing in
mind that there is little or no opportunity for washing,
and that in almost any season of the year there may
be changeable weather. A good shawl is very convenient,
and may be of use by day or by night, and will
also be of service in India, where a roll of bedding is
indispensable in traveling. Another precaution is useful
to travelers by ocean steamers, namely : To be provided
with one or more portmanteaus of convenient
size for holding all that is needed for the voyage, remembering
that heavy trunks and boxes are put into
the hold of the vessel and are not seen till the destination
is reached. The great danger with intending voyagers
is providing themselves with so many things as
to burden themselves, just as though they were going
beyond the bounds of civilization altogether; whereas,
when they get here, they find just what they have
brought and perhaps cheaper and better. One should
have a few good books and writing material, as otherwise
the voyage may be very tedious, when, indeed,
there is hardly a better place for study than a large
steamer on a smooth sea.
196 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
Two parts of the body require more particularly to
be protected in India the brain and the liver. For
the former nothing answers so well as the pith hat,
broad-brimmed, and well ventilated, though even while
en route the -traveler may be urged to buy helmets
and terais (very broad white felt hats doubled), which
will do somewhat for a substitute. To protect the
liver natives have the girdle or they bind their clothes
in thick folds about the loins; but a piece of flannel
next to the body serves the double purpose of protecting
the liver from the sun and the abdomen from the
cold when it is damp weather. The best material for
coats and trousers to wear in the sun is English duck
or American drill, large quantities of which are imported.
Other varieties of cotton goods, alpaca, luster,
and China-silk coats are much worn. For the cold and
wet weather, and for the evenings, woolen goods, as
merinos and tweeds and felt hats, are used. Cloth
shoes are cooler, but those of leather are mostly worn.
One should always have at hand an umbrella with
white cover, unless its use would interfere with Avork.
Walking or moving about in the sun is not nearly so
injurious as standing still or sitting in it. To prevent
taking cold one needs to observe the changes of weather
and avoid sitting in a draught of air.
Ladies wear the same kind of clothing as elsewhere,
only of lighter material, when they go out in the day,
as is often the case, and then, too, they have pith
hats and white umbrellas. Those whose duties keep
them in the heavy rain wear rubber coats, caps, trouBUILDINGS.
197
sers, and long boots called "Wellingtons," which are
not worn on other occasions except by officers, gaiters
being the fashion for men and women.
BUILDINGS.
Generally the European quarters are quite separate
from the native, and not unfrequeritly a mile or two
intervenes. The best locality is selected for the troops
wherever they are quartered, and the cantonment
springs up near the barracks. The bungalows are situated
so as to catch the breeze to the best advantage,
and are built of stone or brick, with cement or earthen
floors, wide verandas, numerous bath-rooms, as well
as drawing, dining, and bed rooms. The roof is generally
tile, coming down low on the sides to keep out
the glare, for which purpose there are also Venetians
and bamboo screens for the windows. In the hotter
parts grass roofs are used or alternate layers of grass
and large leaves. Also the punkha is suspended across
the center of the room, where it may be pulled back
and forth by a rope attached. Other thermantidotes
resemble a wheat-fan, which, by turning, pumps the
air into the room through a khuskus or grass screen,
made cool by the constant pouring of water ; otherwise
the pulling of the punkha only stirs up the hot air.
As might be supposed, these are not healthy, for they
expose the inmates to sudden cool draughts of air. In
many parts thermantidotes are not used at all, or at
most only by a few of the more wealthy. Date or
coir matting for the rooms is the most common, over
198 INDIA AND BRITISH BUEMAH.
which there may be carpets. The furniture, of course,
may be elegant and rich, or plain and common ; but
generally it is not very expensive.
Usually from a quarter of an acre to an acre is
allowed for compound or yard, in which are the cookroom,
servants' quarters, stables, carriage-house, and
floAVer-garden. In cities good houses rent at from one
hundred to five hundred rupees a month ; but the
matter of rent is, as that of food, nearly the same as
in corresponding parts of America. Bombay and Calcutta
are, perhaps, as dear places as Xew York, while
many out stations are as cheap as country-places over
there. Living is rather cheaper here because of the
small quantity of clothing required, which is cheaper
both as to the material and making.
The item of servants, however, is in America's
favor, provided the people do their own work, which
they can not well do here. Still a family can get on
here with two or three servants, which will cost considerably
less than a hired girl there. Some establishments
have twenty or more domestics, Avho consume a
good part of a large salary, and leave nothing at all
for the women and children to do, and hence they become
so helpless that they can not dress themselves.
It is partly this that makes it necessary to send the
children away to be educated, though some parents
succeed in teaching them to help themselves here.
There are good schools here especially for them, mostly
under the management of the Churches ; also a number
of orphanages, and the colleges are available for them.
BUILDINGS. 199
There are hotels and boarding-houses in all the cities,
besides the clubs for the upper classes ; but no one
expects to live this way for a long time. Even bachelors
prefer to get rooms and servants, and keep bachelor's
hall. Occasionally bungalows may be rented
furnished ; but generally, when the furniture is required
only for a short time, it is hired from furnituredealers.
The continual moving from station to station
makes quite a business for auctioneers, and also affords
opportunity for buying good second-hand furniture
cheap. Commissioners, collectors, surveyors, and others
spend a good part of the fair weather out in their
districts, where they live in tents, moving as occasion
may require, taking their servants with them. Altogether
the Anglo-Indian population are itinerating,
almost nomadic, very few, indeed, owning their houses
or living more* than a few years in a place.
In this connection it may not be out of place to
take a glance at the public buildings which have been
erected by the English in this country, and which compare
in elegance and richness, if not in massiveness,
with those of England. Calcutta is called the "city
of palaces," at the head of which must stand the residence
of the governor-general of India, which, like
most of the residences of that city, partakes largely of
the neat airiness of modern American architecture.
Next to the government-house are, perhaps, the
Bishop's College and cathedral of St. Paul, which cost
half a million of rupees ; then come Metcalfe Hall,
containing an extensive library, etc. , the custom-house,
200 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
the mint, the bank of Bengal, and the medical college.
Bombay has just completed a list of public buildings
which will compare well with any other city, including
the secretariate, the university senate hall and library,
with clock-tower, the high court, public works offices,
post-office, telegraph office, Sailors' Home, and highschool,
to which should be added St. Xavier's College,
Elphinstone College School of Art, and St. John's
Memorial Church.
The government-house near Poona, to which the
botanical gardens are attached, cost nearly a million of
rupees. Madras boasts the Madras College, medical
college, orphan asylum, Memorial Hall (to commemorate
the escape from the mutiny), etc. Allahabad has,
besides other splendid buildings, a handsome and commodious
high court. The public buildings of the Mysore
Government are at Bangalore, commodious and
beautiful. At Lahore are to be seen the museum and
Montgomery Hall, fine buildings. La Martiniere College,
at Lucknow, was built in 1793 by General Martin,
who came to India as a private soldier.
These are but specimens of what has been done, to
say nothing of the fine offices and stations being erected
by the railway companies, as well as many palatial
private residences.
To these should be added some of the monuments
erected to distinguished persons ; such as the statues
of the queen and Prince of Wales in Bombay, those
commemorative of Bishop Heber and Sir Thomas
Munro in Madras, and Lords Hardinge, Bentinck,
MEANS OF CONVEYANCE-PRIVATE. 201
Auckland, and General Ochterlony, in Calcutta, and
Lord Cornwallis both in Bombay and Madras, and
Marquis Wellesley, both in Bombay and Calcutta.
3. MEANS OP CONVEYANCE.
PRIVATE.
Every family that makes any pretensions to belonging
to the fashionable circles has at least a carriage and
pair, and often several carriages of different patterns,
with riding-horses also, and ponies for the children.
The nobility drive four horses. Those of less pretensions
have more modest vehicles, with one horse, or at
least a horse or pony to ride. Sometimes duty requires
a means of private conveyance, for which they
may get an allowance. A two-wheeled vehicle, covered,
and drawn by two bullocks, sometimes large,
sometimes small, but which can keep up a trot for
some distance, is quite common in country stations.
Some keep palanquins or dhooleys, in which one person
reclines, borne by four men ; though these are confined
mostly to invalids or places where carriage-roads
are wanting. The tonjon is a chair, with arms and
support for the feet, borne in the same way, and convenient
for hilly ground. In some places, where water
is convenient, people keep boats. It is no inconsiderable
item to keep horses, as every one is expected to
have a groom, who must have his fashionable turban
and coat. The price of horses is not very different
from what it is in England and America, good Arabs
selling at from three hundred to five hundred rupees
202 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
or higher, and a handsome pony for one hundred and
fifty or two hundred rupees ; inferior ones from fifty
to one hundred rupees. The keep of a horse, including
groom, is about twenty-five or thirty rupees a
month.
To avoid horse-feed, etc. , some have bicycles ; but
they are likely to be superseded by tricycles, which are
coining into use in some parts.
PUBLIC.
Conveyances ply for hire in convenient localities in
the cities, and especially at the railway stations, for
which regular rates are charged according to distance.
They can be hired for the day at from three to five
rupees, but drivers refuse to go more than an aggregate
of about twelve miles. A country cart, with bullocks
and driver, costs about one rupee a day, and is generally
available for conveying luggage, furniture, etc.
Kailways are fast doing away with dak traveling,
whether in palanquins or tongas; but on much frequented
routes, where the railway has not yet come,
lines of service are kept up by contractors, who have
relays of ponies every five or six miles, and thus make
as much as one hundred miles a day, allowing little
time for rest or refreshments. The severest method
of traveling is on the mail-cart, where one may be
cramped up all night, without relief, support for the
back, or the possibility of sleep.
For the accommodation of government servants on
duty and others, it has been found necessary to conRAILWAYS
AND TRAM-WATS. 203
struct travelers' bungalows on all the main roads over
the country at intervals of about twelve or fifteen
miles, provided with cots, tables, and baths, where a
native mess-man constantly attends to provide meals
for travelers on the shortest notice, the charges for
which are moderate.
KAILWAYS AND TRAM-WAYS.
Nothing is more amusing than to witness for the
first time a railway-train at a station. Generally the
doors of third and fourth class carriages are locked
until tickets are shown as passengers file out. Then
the new passengers who, having procured their tickets,
are kept close in the waiting-room flock into the
carriages. These are boxes about twenty feet long,
with a row of board seats on each side and through the
middle, "to carry fifty passengers;" and on one line
there is a low upper story, calculated to carry twentyfive
more. However, even the gentle Hindu sometimes
protests against such crowding, and endeavors to
monopolize the room of two or three men, till the railway
policeman turns up with his baton, which he
flourishes with great authority, but never makes further
use of it. At night the numbers are, perhaps,
somewhat reduced, and as many as possible roll themselves
in their clothes on the floor. Recently there is
an improvement, especially in the third-class carriages,
which, besides being less crowded, have other accommodations.
Women travel in separate carriages. Second-
class carriages have board seats, with cane backs,
204 INDIA AND BRITISH BURifAH.
and are not so crowded, while first-class carriages are
divided into two compartments, with broad cushioned
seats, on which four or six persons can, with their own
bedding, sleep quite comfortably, there being no special
sleeping carriages. To protect from the sun, the carriages
have double roofs, allowing the air to circulate
between, and, in addition to Venetians, an outside
screen reaching out over the windows. With the exception
of a few private ones, all English railway carriages
are entered from the side, there being no communication
between one and another. The guards
have separate carriages, one in front and one in rear,
with the only brakes on the train, unless in passing
over the ghats, wrhen extra vans and extra large engines
are attached.
India has, perhaps, the cheapest railway traveling
in the world, as low as two pies per mile, or ninety-six
miles for the rupee. First-class fare, however, is about
one and a half annas per mile, and second-class half as
much. Some of the railway companies grant firstclass
passes free to ministers working on their lines, or
passing over them to and from their work.
It is only very recently that tram-ways have been
introduced into Bombay, and it was not without considerable
debate that the enterprising Yankee company
got permission and right of way ; but they have succeeded
so well as almost to drive buggies and carriages,
which ply for hire, from the field. The first line, being
regarded only as an experiment, was short ; but extensions
have been made from time to time, until the long
BOATS. 205
city of magnificent distances has become pretty well
traversed by them. The experiment at Calcutta did
not succeed so well, and was abandoned, but has since
been agitated, steam to be substituted for horses, with
what success remains to be seen. As in railways, so in
tram-ways, caste distinctions are ignored, and all jostle
together in such a manner as, after awhile, to jostle all
the caste out of them.
BOATS.
Long before the advent of railways, or even before
the invention of the steam-engine, India's large rivers,
as the Indus and Ganges, used to be navigated for
great distances. The Ganges for a long time was navigated
as far as the Jumna by barges or schooners of
from fifty to eighty tons burthen, affording a comfortable
mode of transit, if time was no object. One-half
of the vessel consisted of a deck-cabin, with two or
three rooms, a poop, and an awning. The fore-part
of the vessel was occupied by the crew, consisting of
the steersman and eight or ten boatmen, who worked
the sails, or rowed and tugged when wind and tide
were adverse. A gentleman proceeding up country
by one of these, often required two or three months to
reach his destination, and was compelled to take his
establishment of servants, cooking utensils and food,
except fowls, milk, butter, and rice, which were procurable
on the banks of the river. The scenery along
the river is very fine, and the monotony was relieved
occasionally by his going ashore with fowling-piece.
Another kind of vessel was the accommodation flat,
206 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIf.
tugged by iron steamers. The grand floating palaces
are never seen out of American waters, though there
are some nice steam-ferries on the Bombay harbor and
elsewhere. Officers in the salt department of customs
have small boats, with one mast, and diminutive cabin
for one man to live, eat, and sleep in, and in that way
coast around and run up the creeks and coves, attending
to their duties better than could be done by any
other means. These, as also some of the other small
kinds of boats, are often used by picnic parties.
In the absence of docks in India, traffic, both passenger
and freight, must be carried to ships and steamers
in small boats, which are of every shape and description,
from the barge towed by the steam-launch
to the canoe for one or two persons. This forms quite
a business for a goodly number of boatmen, who are
mostly Mussulmans. The common conveyance over
the Madras surf is the catamaran, composed of three
pieces of wood lashed together and propelled by oars.
4. AMUSEMENTS.
In nearly every family is a musical instrument of
some kind, sometimes several.
INDOOR GAMES.
Cards are, perhaps, not so popular in India as in
some other countries ; but most fashionable families
engage in some game or other with them, and not a
few gamble with them. A more common game is
chess, while young people indulge a great deal in
OUTDOOR RECREATIONS. 207
checkers or draughts along with charades and a dozen
other children's games. Private balls are given, and
once in a while a great ball sometimes masquerade
comes off, lasting till the wee hours of morning, at
which the regimental brass band discourses, much to
the annoyance of quietly disposed neighbors. Occasionally
a theatrical troupe pass through and occupy
the local theater, but the patronage is too small to
keep it up long, so theater-goers must be content with
what the amateurs can give them. To this is added
an occasional concert.
OUTDOOR RECREATIONS.
Cricket is still the national English game. School
boys are never happy without their cricket set, but
match games of cricket and foot-ball are mostly played
by young clerks, railway employes, etc. As these require
considerable time they must be played during
the day, or a great part of the afternoon, however hot
the sun may pour down. Other sports are confined
mostly to the mornings and evenings, and in this way
are carried on at all seasons of the year, gymnasia
being erected for the monsoon season. Badminton
and lawn tennis are the most popular of these, being
available for all classes, men and women, boys and
girls, high and low. Croquet seems to have lost its
popularity, or perhaps it has withdrawn to the parlor.
In almost every station are beautiful drives and
public gardens, with band stands where excellent music
is discoursed one or two evenings in the week by the
208 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
brass bands of the military. There the people in carriages,
on horseback, and on foot congregate for the
evening. There are usually vacant bungalows and
groves in the vicinity, where picnic parties go and
spend the day. Sometimes, too, they make longer
excursions by rail or otherwise. Where there is sufficient
water, boating is not an uncommon recreation.
Fast young men play polo, which is done on horseback,
or rather on ponies, the game being for the two
parties to contend in driving a ball to its destination
on either side. This, however, is unsafe, and now and
again one loses his life at it or is sadly crippled for
life, others generally refusing to take warning.
HUNTING AND RACING.
Not less dangerous is hunting the wild boar and
tiger, which are the most popular wild sports in India,
many a huntsman getting torn by the tusks of the
former or mauled by the paws of the latter. Hunting
the boar is done with neither gun nor dog, but on
horseback with spear, and is called "
pig-sticking."
Sighting the animal, a number of men give chase, when
he takes to flight, but is soon overtaken and receives
the head of the spear in his vitals. Even then he may
turn to fight, but is soon utterly exhausted. The
huntsman who strikes first gets the tusks as his trophy.
Its food is estimated a delicacy. Though greatly diminished,
and their range much circumscribed, they
are yet to be found in the jungles of the Deccan and
Central India.


HUNTING AND EACING. 209
The tiger is not hunted on horseback, but the elephant
is brought into requisition, being able to protect
the hunter and also to assist in the dispatch of the
prey. The bait is usually a cow tied near his haunt
in the night, which seldom fails to call him out, and
being fully gorged in the morning he is charged by the
hunters advancing in line with loaded rifles, which are
emptied upon him as soon as he appears in sight. If
he should not be killed he turns and gives a spring
upon the elephant with such force as sometimes to
throw both elephant and riders over on the ground,
when they are in great danger, unless he is dispatched
by their fellow hunters coming to the rescue on another
elephant. Oftener, however, he sticks to the
back of the elephant, but is soon dispatched by the
repeated shots at so short range, unless, indeed, he
snatches off a man and makes away with him. When
dead he is borne away on an unoccupied elephant, and,
his skin, well dressed, is used as a rug or howdah
carpet.
When a tiger once tastes human blood he is not
easily satisfied with any thing else, and hence the dispatch
of such a one is a great boon to the community.
The government allows ten rupees for every
tiger killed, five for a leopard, and three for every
bear.
Elephants themselves are shot for their tusks in
Ceylon, but the natives in Mysore snare them and domesticate
them for use.
Bear hunting is confined to the mountains, as that
14
210 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
of the tiger to the jungles and hills, and is sometimes
equally exciting and dangerous.
Greyhounds are imported and kept for chasing the
deer and antelope, as also the jackal.
The bustard is a fine large bird, shy of the sportsman,
whom it suspects, so he conceals himself behind
a native who walks round and round, nearer and
nearer, until within shooting range.
In all large stations is a race-course, where once or
twice in the year this dangerous and cruel amusement
is carried on, drawing out vast numbers of lookers-on,
both foreigner and native. Not a little betting is the
result; indeed, nearly all these amusements, however
innocent in themselves, have evil associations and surroundings,
so it is not always an easy matter to provide
innocent recreations.
5. MORALS.
The reader will long ere this have formed some idea
of the morals of the Anglo-Indian community, but our
sketch would be incomplete without a general estimate
of their character; and it would be impossible to give
more than that in this place.
PERSONAL CHARACTER.
To begin, it may be said that they have a high regard
for British honor, and hardly any would condescend
to a mean act. And though they may not yet
have learned what true honor is, yet there has been a
great improvement in their code. In 1844 it was
PERSONAL CHARACTER. 211
made a punishable offense for an officer in the army
to give a challenge to fight a duel, instead of its being,
as before, an offense not to accept a challenge given.
As public sentiment does not condemn drinking intoxicating
liquors of itself, but merely getting drunk
in a public place, so there are few saloons, but drinking
is carried on most excessively in the people's
houses. Large quantities are issued to the soldiers, but
the authorities are learning how injurious it is, and
thousands of the men have adopted total abstinence
principles and practices during the past ten years.
While they would scorn to bear false testimony in
court, thousands of them, even among the highest
classes, will not hesitate to send, by their servants, the
"white lie," that they are not at home when not disposed
to receive the caller; indeed, they have been
heard by the visitor himself to give the message. And
they would not stoop to steal, yet many of them contract
debts without the probability of paying them.
Usually Marwarrees will not lend them money without
exorbitant interest, and not unfrequently they get
bit at that, which others are ready to say is good
enough for them. There is a great deal of corruption
among revenue collectors, commissary officers, etc.
Though public offices and most of the "Europe
shops" are closed on Sunday, yet there is much Sabbath
desecration. Servants go to the bazaar, and fruit
sellers have not yet learned not to come around on
that day. As it is popular to attend church, hardly
one will be wanting on the Sabbath, and they preserve
212 INDIA AND BRITISH B URMAH.
a most becoming deportment while within consecrated
walls, but, as a rule, it does not last long outside.
Some will even carry their religion so far as to read
their Bibles and have family prayers, and hardly any
are there but will go through a form of private prayer
morning and evening and teach their children the
same. Withal, they are generous and friendly until
their religious character is impeached, but let it be
intimated that they are not Christians and they are up
in arms at once. With most of them anger, profanity,
drunkenness (and, with many, even adultery), are
not inconsistent with Christianity.
The comparatively few exceptions only prove the
rule ; for instance, in a certain station are several
Christian officers, who are accustomed to conduct religious
meetings. A short time ago they hired a room,
got hymns printed, and advertised in every way* that
they would hold a week of special religious services,
conducted entirely by themselves, in hopes thereby of
securing the attendance of many of their own class in
the army and civil service, who would not otherwise
attend evangelical meetings. Though this was something
new, and it was hoped by all true Christians
that it would have the desired effect, yet hardly a dozen
of the particular class out of the hundreds in the station
made their appearance.
BEARING TOWARDS OTHERS.
When the duke of Edinburgh visited India a few
years ago, he remarked that the Anglo-Indians were
SEARING TOWARDS OTHERS. 213
the most "stuck-up" people he had ever seen. They
have not lost that reputation yet. Society is not more
perfectly graded in the army than outside. In the civil
service are ranks corresponding to those in the army
(which extends even to chaplains), and so on down to
the meanest clerk. One in the receipt of two hundred
rupees a month will not associate with one receiving
one hundred, and*so on ad infmitum.
The money basis, however, is not the only one ; for
in some places they seem to have invented a hemometer,
by which they can measure the exact number of
ounces of Indian blood in a person, and they grade
him accordingly. These are proscribed entirely by
fashionable society, however high they may have risen.
An officer in the army who has risen from the ranks,
though a pure European, is proscribed as far as is permitted
; and one who has been brought under censure
by the government through want of success in battle
is immediately
" cut" by his old friends. They are exceedingly
affected in speech and manner, and perform
an act of kindness in a most patronizing way. In all
the small stations, where every body knows every body
else, there is usually a great deal of gossip not the
most charitable and edifying.
When it comes to their bearing towards their servants
and the natives generally, their exclusiveness
breaks out oftentimes into contempt, if not abuse, reminding
one of the feelings engendered by African
slavery ; indeed, it is not an uncommon thing for them
to call the natives "niggers." This feeling, too, is
214 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
largely participated in by those who are only one remove
from the natives themselves, and, what is worst
of all, it manifests itself early among the children, who,
from playing with native children as equals, will turn
round and use them for targets as crow's eggs, etc.,
purely because they are natives and are not expected
to resist, which, however, they occasionally do. To
one who has been brought up altogether independent
of human slavery, the most painful form of this pride
is the ban which it imposes upon manual labor of any
kind, so that it is considered a disgrace to be seen
carrying a parcel, however small, and to walk any distance
is to lose caste. In this way people become
helpless slaves to their servants. After all, the saying
is not far from true that the worst caste in the country
is the European, making allowance, as before, for the
honorable exceptions.
CHURCHES AXD CHAPLAINS.
In nearly every station in India the Church of Enland
has a chapel, though in many cases two or three
small ones form a parish, in visiting which the chaplain,
besides his fare, is allowed extra for his board,
provided he can get three persons together for the
service and communion. The whole support, even to
the native sexton, is met by the government, paid, of
course, by the people of the country, though oftentimes
there Is a congregation representing millions of
money. In a few of the larger cities are also chapels
of the Established Church of Scotland. There are five
CHURCHES AND CHAPLAINS. 215
bishops, with their archdeacons and private chaplains,
supported in the same way, and also some consideration
is made to Roman Catholic bishops and priests,
though they are not on the same footing as the others.
Two or three of the English bishops are evangelical,
but the others, and the vast majority of chaplains now
in India, are either ritualistic or so broad that to include
themselves they include every body.
One who had been converted amongst the Methodists
wished to enter the itinerancy, but his mother
threatened to disinherit him if he did. Though not
her preference, yet she made no objections to his taking
orders in the Established Church. Whereupon he
qualified himself and got an appointment to India. At
first he Avas very evangelical and "low church," but
has become so ritualistic that h insists on his congregation's
standing when he enters the church. They
having been under the training of a liberal rationalist
for some time did not at once take kindly to his ritualistic
innovations. But, not to be outdone by them, he
adopted the plan of giving out the hymn at the door,
and when the people rose to sing he walked up the
aisle. The average length of his sermons is about
eight minutes, and when told one day that he had
preached thirteen minutes he thought it was high time
to apply Wesley's rule, "nor too long."
Another one, who is a fine-looking British officer, to
be which is his chief ambition, says he is only a guideboard
to point people in the way ; but his case reminds
one of guide-boards sometimes seen which have got
216 INDIA AND BRITISH BVRMAH.
reversed. He is chief manager of the theater and has
especial charge of the infant department, training them
to pony-racing and scrambling in a flour-pan with
their mouths for money concealed therein. When
the bishop paid his station a visit he was out on a
hunting expedition, and did not conceal his displeasure
at being required to sacrifice his sports to attend
on his superior.
A former chaplain at a certain station made arrangements
with a fellow officer to spend the Sabbath shooting
and hunting. At the appointed time they both
dressed in their hunting apparel, and armed and accoutered
started off. As their course led by the church
the chaplain dismounted, got into the vestry, threw on
his surplice, and, hastily running through the church
service, was soon off again with his companion, proving,
at least, the convenience of church millinery on
such occasions.
The chaplain of another station was out hunting
when he suddenly remembered he had a funeral engagement.
By hard riding he was able to reach the
churchyard in time to throw over him his surplice and
meet the corpse and procession at the gate.
A senior chaplain at a certain orphanage, whose
chief duties were to teach the children a few minutes'
Scripture lesson each day (for which he got his eight
hundred rupees a month), said on one occasion that
whatever punishment he might have in the future
world he hoped it would not be teaching Scripture.
Shortly after the introduction of Methodism in a
CHURCHES AND CHAPLAINS. 'Ill
certain place a chaplain prepared two sermons by
which he was completely to demolish the schismatics.
Unfortunately, however, he arrived there on Saturday
night, which was lodge night, and, being a high Mason,
he must attend the lodge. He came away at two or
three o'clock Sunday morning so drunk that he was
unable to preach that day at all, and so his sermons
were never delivered and Methodism exists there still,
although the only question asked intending communicants
by Jhe archdeacon, who afterwards had spiritual
oversight of the station, was whether they ever attended
the Methodist services. That was sufficient to
exclude them from the communion. A story related
by an eye and ear witness of this same chaplain is too
indecent to commit to paper. His case serves to illustrate
another point, how that in India even charitable
institutions are prostituted to such an extent that a
Christian man can not belong to them.
"Like priests, like people;" so it is not to be wondered
at that the community are not what they ought
to be. There may be enough of the leaven of evangelicalism
left in the Church to save the Establishment
a little longer, as it has done, but not much longer, for
the question of disestablishment in India is being agitated
more and more every year.
Generally the Scotch chaplains are grand men of
God, but much hampered by their relation to the government.
Besides the established Churches there are English
congregations belonging to the Free Church of Scot218
INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
land, Baptist and Methodist Churches, and the Church
Missionary Society (representing the Evangelical body
of the Church of England) , and some Independents in
various parts of the country.
SE8PONSIBILITIES.
The opportunities these nominal Christians have for
influencing the native community are very great indeed,
and just as in the case of others, their responsibilities
are in proportion to their opportunities, whether
they so acknowledge or not. They are already here
in the providence of God, whether born here or not,
for whatever purpose they may have come. They are
also associated more or less with the natives, many of
them living amongst them, others employed side by
side with them in the same office, and all having dealings
with them as servants, shopkeepers, etc. But in
addition to being in their country and associated with
them, they are more or less .acquainted Avith their customs
and languages, to acquire which takes much time
and expense of the missionary. So if all these had
the spiritual qualifications which are needed, and which
are attainable by all they would make a large working
force. Just think of an army of two hundred thousand
Christian missionaries in this land, distributed
already to their various posts, armed and equipped for
the warfare! What could withstand them and their
influence ?
But they deny that they are missionaries. Still
they can not shift the responsibility in that way, for
RESPONSIBILITIES. 219
every one, ordained or not, has the obligation to do
what he can in this cause.
Instead of getting the qualifications and meeting
their obligations manfully, they are for the most part
using their influence against the cause of Christ, and
thus are stumbling-blocks to the heathen and missionaries
of evil. What an awful account will there be to
settle in the great day of accounts I
220 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
VI.
EVANGELIZATION OF INDIA.
1. SYRIAN CHRISTIANS.
THE command of the risen Lord to his apostles to
"Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,"
no doubt applied to India as well as all other countries.
There is a tradition that the apostle Thomas
came to India, where, after laboring some time, he was
martyred by the Brahmins at St. Thome, near Madras.
This most probably arose from confounding the apostle
with a monk of that name of a much later period.
However this may be, or whatever may be true concerning
that other tradition, that Indian merchants
introduced Christianity from Alexandria, where they
went to trade, and afterwards invited Pantsenus to
come and labor as a missionary, this is well authenticated,
that a number of Syrian Christians about the
fourth century settled along the Malabar Coast, where
their descendants are still found.
So great favor did they receive from the native
princes that they were allowed to be governed by their
own bishops and had their own rulers for several centuries.
Not so well, however, did they fare at the
hands of the Roman Catholic Portuguese, to whom
H OMAN CA THOLICSFRANCIS XA VIER. 221
they extended the right-hand of fellowship on their
arrival in India. Every effort was made to bring them
under papal subjection, and in 1599 an assembly under
the archbishop ordered all the Syrian prayer-books to
be burned. Some of the people were proselyted, but
more remained firm to their ancient communion,
which, at least, was less involved in error, if not in
ignorance, than that of the Romanists. More recently
missions of the English Church have been established
amongst them, resulting in a considerable reformation.
2. ROMAN CATHOLICS.
Missionaries accompanied all the expeditions of the
Portuguese to India ; but their chief means of propagandism
at first seems to have been to have the settlers
to intermarry with the natives on condition of their
being baptized. This worked so well that at the present
time there is hardly a pure Portuguese in India.
Many of them, it is asserted, have African blood in
them, owing to their slaves early transported to India,
and that accounts for the very dark complexion and
woolly hair of many of them.
FRANCIS XAVIER.
The founder of the Jesuits never displayed greater
insight into the character of men than when he selected
Francis Xavier as his first missionary, and sent him to
India in 1541. Having obtained a part of the New
Testament at Lisbon, which he thought might be of
some use to him, he resolved to take it with him. So
222 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
earnest was he that the first night after landing at Goa
was spent alone in the church in prayer and meditation.
His first efforts were made in endeavoring to effect a
reformation amongst the Portuguese population, in
which he to some extent succeeded. Meantime he
gained some small knowledge of the natives, and set
out on his first expedition to the Comorin coast. But,
unacquainted with the language and dissatisfied with
his interpreters, he occupied himself in baptizing the
children and attending the sick. Securing translations
of the Ten Commandments, Lord's-prayer, Apostles'
Creed, and the words used in making the signs of the
cross, he committed them to memory, and repeated
them to the natives collected by the sound of a bell,
which he rang as he Avent about. The young especially
were very much attracted by this novel procedure,
as he records, and in one month he baptized
ten thousand idolaters, sometimes a whole village in
a day.
After more than two years among these people,
who were mostly ignorant pearl-fishers, he appointed
catechists among them to carry on the work, while he
embarked for new fields in the farther East Malacca,
Japan, and China where he died in 1552.
JESUIT ARTIFICES.
Even the success of Xavier was too slow for the
Jesuits, so every stratagem conceivable was resorted to
to further their cause. Only eight years after Xavier's
death the Inquisition was established at Goa, and we
JESUIT ARTIFICES. 223
have already seen their efforts to subject the Syrian
Christians to the authority of Rome, and also, in another
chapter, their efforts to convert Akbar, at whose
request, through the Portuguese ambassador, three
priests were called to his court. He was suddenly
called aAvay by a revolt in his kingdom; but afterwards
two others were sent, who, despairing of their
royal pupil, still others were sent, and got access to
his court. These endeavored to conciliate him by
composing in the Persian language two books,
' ' The
History of Jesus Christ" and "The Life oT St.
Peter," in which they took care to interweave Moslem
legends Avith Scripture truth. The artifice, however,
was unsuccessful, as he died without being
baptized.
A still more diabolical scheme was employed when
Robert de Nobili arrived from Europe in 1606, at
Madura, to found a mission for the conversion of the
higher classes, whom he conceived to have been neglected.
He gave out that he was a Brahmin, as evidence
of which he produced an old, greasy parchment,
on which, in ancient Sanskrit characters, ho had a deed
forged to the effect that the Roman Jesuits had descended
in a direct line from the god Brahm, and were
more ancient than their Oriental brethren. He and
his companions also fabricated a fifth Ved, with a
sprinkling of Scripture in it. One of them composed
in Sanskrit an epic poem, the Temba Vani, in the same
character and highly figurative Oriental style. They
adopted the dress, food, and habits of the Brahmins,
224 INDIA AND BRITISH BURAfAH.
and treated the lower castes with contempt. They
added to the idolatrous rites already in the Roman
Catholic Church. First inducing a dozen Brahmins
to join them, they soon boasted of thousands of converts,
who, according to a missionary, himself a Romanist,
were worse than they had been before.
RECENT OPERATIONS.
Direct missionary work among the heathen seems
long since to have been abandoned by the Romanists,
though, no doubt, they do make converts from them
still. They, at least, are ever on the alert to inveigle
and draw away Protestant converts, in which some ritualists
have afforded them not a little assistance by
preparing the way. They seem now, however, to be
bending all their energies to their educational work,
having schools, colleges, and convents all over the
country, in which they entrap not a few Protestant
children. For building St. Xavier's College in Bombay
nearly every Roman Catholic throughout India
was assessed a month's pay. A new impulse has been
given in this direction of late years by the expulsion
of Jesuits from Germany and France, many of whom
have found an asylum in India, and ready employment
as professors and teachers. They report nearly
a million of members throughout the country, some of
whom are Europeans in the army and elsewhere,
headed by the present viceroy.
ID OLA TR US RITES. 225
IDOLATROUS RITES.
The heathen, looking at the Roman Catholic performing
his worship, calls him his
"
little brother." If
they borrowed largely from Roman idolatry, they have
also added from Hinduism. Their crucifixion drama
has been compared to the Passion Plays of Ober-Ammergau
in Bavaria, and it is difficult to conceive how
these latter could well exceed the former. During the
whole of Passion-week all of the Romanist community
are especially lively. The men, in European clothes,
with ' '
stove-pipe
"
hat, and the women in native dress,
white and clean, flock to the chapels every morning.
On the eve of Good Friday not only the body of the
chapels, but all the available space around them, is occupied
by spectators anxious to witness the ceremonies.
To represent the Last Supper a long table is filled with
plates of fruit, set in front of thirteen figures, one with
the nimbus representing the Savior, and another with
the bag indicating Judas. Later on is enacted the ap.-
prehension and trial, the hands of the wax-figure being
tied together with a rope. Afterwards it is fastened to
a cross stained with red paint to represent blood, and
left hanging behind a screen.
About eight o'clock on the evening of Good Friday
the figure is unveiled, ceremonies of different kinds
having been performed, more or less, during the day.
This is done amid the most intense excitement, accompanied
with a loud moan from the people, as though
they could see the real blood oozing over the heads of
the nails and from the crown of thorns. The cer-
15
226 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIL
emony of taking the figure down from the cross is also
accompanied with the deepest feeling, which, however,
does not last long, when all is forgotten.
In the Portuguese church of Bom Jesus at Goa is
the splendid shrine of Francis Xavier, which is hardly
surpassed by any thing else of the kind anywhere. It
is of copper, richly gilt and ornamented, and placed
within a silver inclosure, and rests upon an altar of
Italian marble. Around it are represented, in bassrelief,
the life and miracles of the saint, whose body
was brought from the China seas, where he died, and
exposed to view till 1780, when it was closed up in its
present shrine, presented by the queen of Portugal.
After one hundred years, it was opened again in 1880,
and exposed for some time, so that Roman Catholics
from all parts of India flocked to see it and perform
their worship. For weeks the coasting steamers were
crowded, when all subsided, perhaps, for another
century.
MORAL CHARACTER, ETC.
As may be supposed, many of these Roman Catholics
differ very little from the heathen, and it is doubtful
whether there has been any improvement at all in
their character. Very few of them can read, and
caste is observed very extensively. For the images of
the gods they have substituted the images of the saints,
and in their festivals there is the same shouting, beating
of tom-toms, and fire-works. Drinking and Sabbathbreaking
are very prevalent among them.
Many of them are employed as servants on about
EARL Y PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 227
the same pay as other servants, though a few have
become clerks, and some are apothecaries and medical
practitioners. In the country they wear short check
trowsers to the knees, a jacket, and a long hat without
any brim, making their appearance very quaint, and
rendering them easily discernible from all others.
Many of them defy the sun with the same impunity
as the Bengali, often going barehead.
3. EARLY PROTESTANT MISSIONS.
King Frederick IV, of Denmark, has the honor of
founding the first Protestant mission in India, at
Tranquebar, on the Coromandel coast. The first missionaries
were Bartholomew Ziegenbolg and Henry
Plutscho, natives of Germany, who arrived in 1706.
Without grammar or dictionary, in a few months they
acquired sufficient Tamil to catechise the children in
their two schools and to preach, besides learning Portuguese,
which had been introduced into the district
nearly two hundred years before. The first convert
was Madaliapa, their native teacher. In 1707 a number
of catechumens were baptized, and one was appointed
catechist. In three and a half years after
their arrival they numbered one hundred and sixty
communicants, notwithstanding the opposition received
from the governor of the colony and others. They received
other royal favor in the shape of a letter from
the German king, George I, of England, and also the
patronage of the Society for Promoting Knowledge.
228 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
Ziegenbolg, before his death in 1719, had translated
into Tamil the Xew Testament and as far as the book
of Ruth in the Old Testament, which was finished by
Shultz in 1725.
Of this mission, if not of all modern missions, the
greatest man was Schwartz, who arrived at Tranquebar
in 1750, and in about four months preached his first
sermon in Tamil, haying learned much of it before
starting from the retired missionary, Shultz. In 1766
he established a mission at Trichinopoly, which he
made his head-quarters. So highly esteemed by all
, parties was he that he was intrusted with an important
mission to Hyder Ali, who presented him, on leaving,
with a bag of rupees, which he handed over to the
governor of Madras, but, being requested to keep it,
he devoted it to the support of schools in Tanjore.
When on his death-bed, the rajah of Tanjore committed
to him the guardianship of his young son, Serfoji.
When he died, after forty-eight years' service, the converts
numbered more than ten thousand.
This mission was ultimately transferred to other
societies, and a new Danish society organized, so that
now there is one Danish society at work in India, and
five missionaries, natives of Denmark.
As early as 1784 Dr. Thomas Coke was in correspondence
with a gentleman in Bengal, projecting a
mission to India ; but, having his hands so full of his
American missions, he was unable to take it up at that
ENGLISH MISSIONS. 229
time. In 1792 William Carey preached a sermon
before the Nottingham Association from Isa. liv, 1-3,
in which he particularly urged two points : Expect great
things of God ; and, Attempt great tilings for God.
So great was the impression made that the association
determined to form a missionary society, which was
done, and Mr. Carey appointed to Bengal as the first
English missionary. He arrived at Calcutta in 1793,
in company with a Mr. Thomas, who had given up his
position as a surgeon in an East Indiaman to preach to
the heathen. They, however, were forbidden by the
company to carry on their work openly as missionaries,
and so, going up country, they took situations in indigo
factories. In 1796 they formed themselves and twro
other Englishmen into a Church. The opposition of
the East India Company continuing, for fear of offending
the natives, they removed to Serampore, the small
Danish possession near Calcutta. The New Testament
in Bengali was printed in 1801 by Mr. Ward, who,
with others, had re-enforced the mission. The first
Bengali convert was baptized in the Hoogley, on the
28th of December, 1800. Another re-enforcement,
Mr. Marshman, opened boarding-schools, which, with
the printing-press, were also sources of income. They
all lived in the simplest style, and used the money in
publishing the Scriptures and supporting preachers
and schools. Assisted by learned men in other parts,
they translated the whole Bible into six Indian languages
and the Chinese, and the New Testament into
fourteen languages, and founded the College of Seram230
INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
pore, besides much, other work, notwithstanding the
continued opposition of the government.
The London Missionary Society began Avork in
India at Chinsura, near Calcutta, in 1798.
Good David Brown, chaplain at Calcutta and friend
of Carey, gave up his appointment and salary to
preach to the poor without salary, which he did in
Calcutta for twenty-five years.
Claudius Buchanan, chaplain to Lord Wellesley,
and associated with Brown, did valuable service in
evangelizing the heathen, traveling almost from one
end of the country to the other for that object, and
was the first to make known to the civilized world the
obscene and bloody rites of the temple of Juggernath.
But the most distinguished of English chaplains was
Henry Martyn, who arrived in 1806, and immediately
began the establishment of schools at his own expense.
His great work, however, was the translation of the
New Testament into various languages the Hindustani
in 1807, and afterwards into Persian and Arabic.
But being compelled to leave India on account of his
health in 1811, he started for Shiraz in Persia, that he
might perfect his Persian New Testament. Continuing
on his way to England, he arrived within two
hundred and fifty miles of Constantinople, and, unable
to proceed further, lay down and died in a strange
land on the 16th of October, 1812.
At the present time there are six English societies
and two hundred and forty-four missionaries, natives
of England, in the land.
AMERICAN MISSIONS. 231
AMERICAN.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions was organized in 1810, and missionaries sent
to India, their first field, in 1812. Landing at Calcutta,
they were immediately ordered out of the country.
Three of them proceeded around to Bombay,
one of whom, Samuel Newell, was detained at the Isle
of France' by the illness of his wife, who, with her infant
child, died, and was laid to rest in that lone
place. He then joined his companions, Gordon Hall
and Samuel Nott, at Bombay. They were at first forbidden
to engage in mission work, but after some delay
obtained permission from the Bombay government,
December 21, 1813. Amid trials and difficulties they
prosecuted their work with earnestness and assiduity,
and not without success. A printing-press and printer
arriving, they made them a valuable accessory to their
work, throwing off large numbers of tracts, as well as
Bibles and Scripture portions in the vernacular. Mr.
Nott's health failing in a few years, he returned to
America, where he died in 1869. Mr. Newell died of
cholera in 1821. Besides preaching in the streets, Mr.
Hall devoted much time and labor to translating the
Scriptures and preparing tracts in the Marathi. He
made long tours, also, over the country, on one of
which he died of cholera, after thirteen years of earnest,
self-denying labor.
Another of this company of missionaries was Adoniram
Judson, who, changing his views somewhat,
joined the missionaries at Serampore, and in 1813,
232 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
proceeding to Rangoon, founded a Burmese mission.
Three years later, being re-enforced by a printer and
press, a part of the New Testament and Catechism
were published in the Burmese language. The first
church was erected and the first Burmese convert,
Moung Nan, was baptized in 1819. During the first
Burmese war work was necessarily suspended. Judson
and a companion, along with other Europeans, were
imprisoned at the Burmese capital for several months,
during which time Mrs. Judson brought them food,
and used every effort to effect their release, which was
unavailing till they were nearly worn out with the
heat and disease. Meanwhile work had been begun
among the Karens, which has resulted in the conversion
of many thousands, notwithstanding the great
persecution from the heathen. In 1845 Dr. Judson,
having, in the midst of his other labors and great
trials, finished and revised his translation of the whole
Bible, visited America for a short time. Returning,
he continued his labors till his health failed, and on a
voyage to the Isle of France for a change, in 1850, he
passed away, and found a grave in the Indian Ocean,
leaving the Burmese missions in the hands of able and
devoted men.
There are now from the United States eight societies
in India, and one hundred and seventeen missionaries,
and from Canada two societies and seventeen
missionaries.
SCOTCH. 233
SCOTCH.
The first Scotch missionary to India was Donald
Mitchell, who lived but a short time, but was succeeded
by James Mitchell, A. Crawford, J. Cooper,
and J. Stevenson, who, taking up their residence in
the country south of Bombay, established schools and
preached to the natives. In 1829 John Wilson arrived,
and the mission was transferred to Bombay, where,
besides founding schools and doing other mission work,
he engaged in controversy Avith the Hindus and Parsees.
When the first Parsee converts were baptized,
in 1839, such was the excitement among them that
the number of pupils in the English institution was
reduced from two hundred and sixty to fifty, and lawsuits
were instituted for the recovery of the young
men. These, however, were unsuccessful. Undaunted
the missionaries prosecuted their work, and eventually
quiet was restored. Dr. Wilson, besides his other
arduous labors, wrote many books and made numerous
tours over Western India. He died in 1875.
In the year 1830 Alexander Duff arrived in Calcutta,
after having suffered two shipwrecks on the way.
His first work was the founding of an English institution
of high grade, which soon enrolled a thousand
pupils and has educated a large number of men afterwards
prominent in the country, some of whom became
Christians and a few ministers. He also added to his
educational labors evangelistic and other services, and
was the author of a number of books. He died in
Scotland in 1878.
234 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII.
A similar institution of learning was founded in
Madras in 1837 by John Anderson, who labored faithfully
till the time of his death, in 1854.
The societies from Scotland at work in India at the
present time are three, and missionaries sixty-seven.
As we have seen, the most of the missionaries of
the Danish Society were Germans, but it was not till
1834 that the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society
established the first German mission at Mangalore.
The first missionaries were Hebich, Laner, and Greiner,
who were soon re-enforced by others. The first
of these, though eccentric, was one of the most wonderful
and successful men ever sent to India. This
mission has been especially successful in establishing
and carrying on several industrial and mercantile establishments
by which they not only provide employment
for native converts, but are able to aid in the
support of evangelistic work. Three of these are mercantile,
six weaving, two tiling, and one carpentering,
and, in addition, they have a printing-press carried on
the same way.
At the present time there are six German societies
in the Indian field and one hundred and thirtyone
missionaries, with also thirteen missionaries from
Switzerland.
IRISH.
The Irish Presbyterian Missionary Society sent two
men, J. Glasgow and A. Kerr, to open up work in
WELSH SWEDISH. 235
Kajkote in 1841, and in a few years they were joined
by Joseph Taylor, and had transferred to them the
whole of the missions of the London Society in Guzerat,
which had been carried on from 1815 by the
Messrs. Fyvie and Skinner. On the baptism of the
first converts at Porebimder, in 1843, the excitement
ran so high that they were not permitted, by the native
government, to remain in Kattywar any longer at that
time. Their greatest success has been among the low
classes at Borsud, in Guzerat. This society and nineteen
natives of Ireland are at work in India at the
present time.
WELSH.
In 1841 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission
was founded at Cherapoonji, in Assam, by Thomas
Jones. They confine their labors to the aborigines
among the Khassi and Jantia Hills, their work being
evangelistic and educational. Numbers of these uncivilized
people have been brought into the Church
and are independent of the mission, in one year paying
one thousand two hundred and forty-four rupees
for the forwarding of the cause of the Gospel.
Though mostly not in connection with this society,
there are fifteen Welsh missionaries in India at this
time.
SWEDISH.
The first Swedish Mission was founded in India in
the year 1877, at Chindwara, in Central India. The
following year two other stations were occupied
Sangor and Nursingpore where they have opened
236 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAII.
vernacular schools and begun preaching, having already
a small Christian community.
In this society are six missionaries, besides four
Swedish missionaries in other societies.
4. CHURCHES ENGAGED AND THEIR SUCCESS.
Having noticed the various early missions to India,
according to nationality, we now propose to aggregate,
as far as possible, the various denominations represented.
In this there will be more difficulty, as a
number of the societies are undenominational, or at
least were so at first.
In addition to the Baptist Missionary Society,
founded at the instance of Carey, there are now in
the field four other Baptist societies. The General
Baptist Missionary Society, operating in Cuttack since
1822, has a large native community with a goodly
number of members. In addition to the Burmese
mission, founded by Judson, the American Bapti.st
Missionary Union has, since 1836, sustained a prosperous
mission in Assam, among the Garos, and also
a Telugu mission, which, though for a long time not
encouraging, yet recently has been the most fruitful
field in India, nearly ten thousand being baptized in
1878, and perhaps as many since. This society, and
also the original Baptist Missionary Society, have a
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in connection
with them. The American Free Baptist Missionary
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 237
Society was organized in 1834, and at once took up
the work in Northern Orissa and Southern Bengal,
and afterwards at different points in the east of India.
The Canadian Telugu Baptist Mission was founded
by Thomas Gabriel, in 1868, and adopted by the society
in 1874.
In these five Baptist societies are about seventy foreign
missionaries, one hundred and twenty native ordained
agents, about thirty thousand members, and a
native Christian community of seventy-five thousand.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
In 1807 the Church Missionary Society, which had
been organized eight years previously, sent a grant of
money to Messrs. Brown and Buchanan and another
chaplain at Calcutta, who appropriated it for the translation
of the Scriptures. In 1814 the society began
operations in Tranquebar, but soon removed to Madras.
In 1817 the Danish mission at Tinnevelly was
transferred to them, and so great has been their success
in that field that a suffragan bishop was consecrated
for it in 1877. In 1816 missionaries were sent
to Travancore, especially for the benefit of the Syrian
Christians in that quarter. In 1841 Masulipatam, in
the Krishna District, was occupied. Work was begun
at Calcutta in 1815, in the following year at Burdwan,
and in 1821 at Benares. In 1828 the first missionary
was appointed to Delhi,where a native preacher
had been laboring. In 1839 a missionary was appointed
to Agra, in 1843 a station was opened in the
238 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMA II.
Himalayas, and in 1862 one among the Santuls.
Bombay was occupied in 1818, and neighboring stations
soon afterwards.
The oldest of all modern missionary societies, that
for the "Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Ports,"
was organized in 1701, but did not commence work
in India till 1817, when Bangalore was occupied. This
society came in for its share of the Danish missions,
those of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, which have proved
themselves so fruitful as also to demand a suffragan
bishop. At the proposal of Bishop Middleton the
Bishop's College of Calcutta was begun in 1820, and,
at the suggestion of Bishop Heber, Bhagulpore was
occupied in 1825. In 1859 Bombay was taken up,
and soon afterwards other stations in the presidency.
In connection with the Church of England is also
a zenana mission.
The statistics of these two societies together are,
foreign missionaries, one hundred and fifty-one; native
ordained agents, one hundred and sixty-three; and
-about thirty-five thousand members, representing a
Christian community of about one hundred and seventy
thousand.
CONGREGATIONAL.
The London Missionary Society is one that was organized
on an undenominational basis, but recently, in
particular, derives most of its support from the English
Independents or Congregationalists. In 1798 it began
a mission in Bengal, and in 1804 one in Madras. In
1806 its agents entered Travancore, and in 1810 BelLUTHERANS.
239
lary. Operations in Benares and in Belgaum began
in 1820.
In addition to the Marathi Mission in Western
India the American Board, which became Congregational
on the withdrawal of other Churches to support
their own societies, has also the Madura Mission in
Southern India, which was founded in 1834, and has
been more fruitful even than the first.
In connection with both of these societies are
Woman's Foreign Missionary Societies, some of the
ladies, as also some of the men, being medical missionaries.
In these societies at present are sixty-nine foreign
missionaries, sixty-five native ordained agents, sixtyfive
thousand native Christians, among whom are eight
thousand five hundred communicants, organized into
Churches under the Congregational form of Church
government.
LUTHERAN.
The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Missionary Society
entered the Indian field in 1840, the first missionary
being H. Cordes, who labored at Tranquebar till
the Danish possessions were ceded to England in 1845,
when the Leipzig society took" charge of the Trauquebar
mission. This is the only Protestant society that
still allows the retention of caste among its members.
The Foreign Missionary Society of the American
Evangelical Lutheran Church conducted a mission at
Guntoor in Southern India from 1840 until a board
of foreign missions of that Church was organized to
240 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
take the place of the missionary society, since which
it has had the control, though there are still the two
missiona.
The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Society, after
transferring its Tranquebar missions to the Leipzig
society, took up work in the South Arcot District.
The Hermannsburg Evangelical Lutheran Society
began work in India in 1865, in the Kellore District,
and, as has been stated, the Swedish Society entered
India in 1877.
Besides many Lutherans in independent societies,
there are in these five societies a total of forty-six foreign
missionaries, thirteen native ordained agents, and
forty thousand native Christians, of whom about nine
thousand are communicants. There is also a lady
missionary in connection with the American Lutheran
Mission.
METHODIST.
Iii 1813 Dr. Coke offered himself and 6,000 to
the English Methodists to open a mission in India.
He embarked in company with six young ministers,
but on the morning of May 3, 1814, while on the
Indian Ocean, he was found dead in his cabin (having
had, as was supposed, a fit of apoplexy). The sorrowing
company, encouraged by the civil authorities,
began their mission in Ceylon, both in the Tamil and
Singhalese language. In 1817 the work spread to
Madras, the first station occupied by them in India.
Bombay, however, was occupied the same year, but
was relinquished after four years. In 1818 TrichinMETHODIST
MISSIONS. 241
opoly was occupied, and, three years later, Negapatam,
Manargudi, and Melnattam ; in 1861, Warriore, Trivalur,
and Carur ; and in 1879, Secunderabad, all in
the Madras District.
In 1821 a Canarese mission was begun at Bangalore,
to which have been added, at different times, Gubbi,
Mysore, Ootacumund, Tumkur, and Shimoga, forming
the Mysore District.
In 1830 Calcutta was first occupied, but soon relinquished,
until it was reoccupied in 1862. In 1864 the
society took up Lucknow, and afterwards Benares,
which belong to the Calcutta District.
The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church of America, organized in 1819, did not enter
India till 1856, when Dr. Butler started work at Bareilly,
in the north-west provinces. The mutiny, however,
coming on, he escaped with his family to Nynee
Tal, which was made a station. After the storm blew
over, Bareilly was reoccupied, and Lucknow and Moradabad
taken up. In quick succession followed Bijnour,
Shahjehanpore, Budaon, Seetapore, Roy Bareilly,
Gonda, Paori in Gurhwal, Bahraich, and
Cawupore, and in 1873 Pithoragurh, in Eastern
Kumaon. Orphanages, mission press, theological seminary,
boarding-schools, medical dispensaries, and a
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society have contributed
to the success attained.
In 1872 William Taylor, while on his way home
from India, having held a number of meetings in Bombay,
in which a hundred or more of people, Anglo-
16
242 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
Indians and natives, were converted, was entreated by
them to organize a Methodist Episcopal Church, to be
self-supporting and self-propagating among all classes
of people in the land. Being re-enforced by George
Bowen, already a self-supporting missionary of twentyfour
years' standing, and others from India and America,
he, after beginning a similar work at Poona, proceeded
to Calcutta, where, after the hardest toil for
several months, a Church was raised up from the unsaved.
In the same way, and by the help of those
already saved, work began at Madras, Bangalore, Secunderabad,
Bellary, Egutpoora, Nagpore, Mhow,
Jubbulpore, Allahabad, Kurachee, and Agra, and
more recently at Bhosawal, Khundwa, Hurda, Ahmedabad,
Rangoon, Eoorkee, Bandikui, Meerut, Lahore,
and Mussoorie. There are English boarding and high
schools, English and native orphanages, a book concern,
six missionaries devoted exclusively to native
work, and others preparing for it.
Including the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, who
are so in name at least, there are, exclusive of Ceylon,
one hundred and sixteen missionaries, twenty-three
native ordained agents, about ten thousand native
Christians, of whom more than half are communicants,
and about twenty-five hundred Anglo-Indian members.
During the past year a Free Methodist Church
Mission was established at Buchanpore, hi Central
India.
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. 243
PRESBYTERIAN.
As has been seen, the established and free Churches
of Scotland have missions in the large cities, devoted
mainly to higher education. Besides these, they have
some prosperous missions in rural districts.
The Presbyterian Church in the United States began
work at Lodiana, in Upper India, in 1834 ; but
active operations were delayed some time, owing to
sickness among the missionaries. Three years later a
Church was organized, schools opened, and evangelistic
work carried on. Soon after Futtegurh, Manipuri,
Furrukabad, and many other stations in the
north-west were occupied, and finally formed into four
presbyteries Lodiana, Lahore, Furrukabad, and Allahabad.
The mission suffered greatly in the mutiny
of 1857, Messrs. Campbell, Freeman, Johnson, and
McMullin, with their wives and two children of the
first, falling victims in the Cawnpore massacre. The
presbytery of Kalhopore, in Western India, was formed
in 1870. The society has done a vast deal of publishing
in the vernacular, besides educational and evangelistic
work.
The Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church in
America, founded in 1857, has been carried on successfully
in eight principal stations.
The United Presbyterian Church in the United
States has had a mission at Sealkote, in the Punjab,
since 1854, and the United Presbyterian Church in
Scotland, one in Rajputana since 1860, both doing
successful work.
244 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAIL
The Canadian Presbyterian Mission at Mhow and
Indore, in Central India, was begun in 1877, and is
occupying a most populous and needy field.
These seven societies, with the Irish Presbyterian,
have seven Woman's Foreign Missionary Societies in
connection with their work, and number one hundred
and nine foreign missionaries, twenty-three native ordained
agents, about ten thousand native Christians,
and forty-five hundred communicants.
MORAVIANS AND FRIENDS.
The former of these, in accord with their selfdenying
principles, began a mission in the inhospitable
Himalayas, on the Tibetan frontier, in 1855. The
latter began work at Benares in 1866, but soon transferred
their labors to Jubbulpore, Sohagpore, and
Hoshingabad. Some of their most zealous workers
are ladies. In these two societies together are five
foreign missionaries and small Christian communities,
with a few members.
UNDENOMINATIONAL.
The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society has already
been adverted to. Since 1838 Gessner's Missionary
Society has been doing most successful work in
different parts of Bengal and Central India, having a
Christian community of about thirty thousand, mostly
Kols. The Christian Vernacular Education Society
has been doing a grand work since the mutiny in supplying
English and vernacular literature, and in supTRANSLATIONS
AND PUBLICATIONS. 245
porting normal schools. A flourishing mission among
the Sautals has beeu carried on since 1867 by some
Scandinavian missionaries, supported in India. An
independent mission has been carried on in the delta
of the Godavery since 1837, attended with good success.
Since 1877 Dr. D. Morrison has been laboring
in a private capacity at Rampore Bauleah, in Bengal.
At Punrutti, in the Arcot District, is a mission and
orphanage, carried oil by Mr. and Miss Reade. A
mission to the lepers is conducted in the Himalayas,
resulting in their temporal and spiritual good. A
medical training institute is established at Agra. Miss
Anstey's orphanage at Colar is a fruitful field. The
Bassim mission in Berar is also conducted by ladies.
A few other private missions are in operation in different
parts. In all of these are one hundred and twentythree
foreign missionaries, eighteen native ordained
agents, about forty-five thousand native Christians,
and eighteen thousand communicants.
5. METHODS OF WORK.
TRANSLATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS.
The first work that offered itself to the early missionaries
was the translation of the Scriptures and
publishing them in the vernaculars ; for how could they
evangelize the people without theii? great instrument,
the Word of God, in the language of the people ? In
this they met with many difficulties at the outset.
Grammars and dictionaries, in many cases, were wanting
as well as suitable teachers. In addition to this,
246 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
among the hill tribes there was no written language,
and it is mostly due to missionaries that their languages
have been reduced to writing a work which is still
going on in some of the dialects. As might be supposed,
the early translations were very defective, and
still the work of revision is going on, affording labor
for the best linguists. There is, perhaps, not a person
in India who can read but has access to the Scriptures
in his own tongue, and even in his own dialect.
Next to the translation of the Bible has been the
work of preparing tracts and a Christian literature in
the various languages. Of all that had ever been
published in this laud during the many centuries,
there was not found reading suitable even for schools.
There is now quite a literature of wholesome books in
many of the languages, while others are being constantly
added. There is still, however, a great field
open for authors and publishers. Religious periodicals
iu all the languages are being freely circulated. Of the
tracts that have been published, many have been scattered
gratuitously over the land, and not a few cases
of conversion have resulted from them, as also from
the simple reading of the Scriptures, accompanied by
the power of the Holy Spirit ; but, as a rule, the gratuitous
distribution of tracts is not considered the best.
So a nominal price is set upon them that they may be
the better appreciated, and not wantonly destroyed, as
otherwise would often be done. To serious inquirers
they may be presented with good results. The various
Bible and tract societies, local and foreign, have been
SCHO OLS AND S UNDA T-SCHO OLS. 247
valuable auxiliaries in this great work, their management
in this country, for the most part, being in the
hands of missionaries and other ministers, and collections
being taken in the various English and native
congregations.
Colporteurs are employed to canvass the country,
making a part of their support from their sales. Also,
shops are opeued in the cities, and occasionally a
friendly heathen bookseller will keep Christian books
for sale in his shop.
SCHOOLS AND SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.
As we have observed, some missions and missionaries,
seeing the great difficulty in reaching grown
people, have laid great stress upon education as an
agency for advancing the cause of salvation; but it is
very doubtful whether the results have been commensurate
with the labor and expense; though it was in
this way that the State was first incited to its great
work of supporting schools for the people. In these
schools many heathen teachers were employed at first,
as Christian teachers were not procurable. Secular
training is accompanied by the teaching of the Scriptures,
which has resulted in some notable conversions.
But Avhile most generally those trained in the schools
lose faith in their own systems, very few are induced
to embrace Christianity, which is quite another thing;
and, indeed, in some cases the most obstinate opposers
are those who have been educated in mission schools.
Still nearly all missions have considered it a part of
248 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
their work to establish free schools, or those with only
a nominal fee, for the neglected poor and low cln-
There is no doubt that the hope of the country lies
in impressing the children rather than those who have
grown old in idolatry and superstition; and hence
some, in addition to the Sunday session of the day
school for the study of sacred truth, have organized
Sunday-schools. To begin, these various expedients
have been employed to attract the children. Even
sometimes, as in establishing day schools, at first a
little money has been offered. However, the offer of
a picture card or small book is in many cases sufficient
to bring them, and after they get once interested in
the native hymns and other services they come very
readily of themselves and are active in bringing others.
The chief exercises are learning to sing religious songs
and repeat passages of Scripture, especially the Ten
Commandments and Lord's Prayer, along with lessons
in Bible history, etc. Those who may be able to read
are taught more directly from the Bible. To increase
the enthusiasm anniversaries are celebrated with processions,
banners, speeches, singing, and simple refreshments;
and perhaps some rewards in the shape of a
suit of clothes for the poor children are given. The
great difficulty is to procure suitable teachers in sufficient
numbers; and hence they can not be conducted
very extensively until a Christian community is first
raised up.
In these Sunday-schools some have been soundly
converted and brought into the fold, while some have
ORPHANAGES. 249
died pointing their heathen parents and friends to the
Savior, to whom they declared they were going.
The pioneers in Sunday-schools of this latter kind
have been the American Methodist missionaries, who
have met with great success, especially in the north,
where they have two hundred and eighty-one Sundayschools
and thirteen thousand one hundred and eleven
pupils, besides two hundred and seventy-two day
schools. Others, however, are following their example.
ORPHANAGES.
Famines in different parts of India have left large
numbers of orphans to perish if not cared for by the
charity of others. The government itself has done
much in this regard, but has usually been quite willing
when the famine is over to transfer its interest to
missionaries or others who would undertake the responsibility.
In this and other ways many missions
have orphanages under their care, notwithstanding the
expense entailed. Having the children completely
under their control, and excluded from heathen influence
around them, they have no difficulty in making
nominal Christians of them, and also many are soundly
converted. In order to get them settled in life and
to enable them to help themselves, they need to be
taught some kind of work, and even then they are not
always best fitted for life's battles. There may be some
difficulty in getting Christian partners for them unless
there are both boys and girls. After all, the results
are supposed to repay amply for the outlay. Two
250 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
things need to be well looked after in the orphanage;
that is, that the children be taught to care for themselves,
and that they be thoroughly converted and
instructed in the religious life. In this case they may
not only get on in life, but may become very useful
agents in bringing others into the fold.
DISPENSARIES, SOXG SERVICES, ETC.
There are quite a number of medical missionaries
in the land who superintend dispensaries and visit the
sick in their homes. In connection with the dispensing
of medicines to the people they also dispense the
Word of life. The prejudices against such have almost
ceased where they have been any time established, and
now there is very little difficulty in getting the people
to come. Before the dispensary is opened in the
morning the missionary and catechists address them on
spiritual things. Even where there is no regular physician
something has often been done in this way. It
is a great help for any missionary to be able to advise
the people and administer simple remedies when they
are sick. This, too, is a key to the zenana which lady
physicians have used with great zeal in many cases.
Sometimes it is the only key, but lady missionaries
have found the teaching of needle-work, plain and
fancy, and other means to be very useful in attracting
native women, and thus preparing their minds for the
reception of spiritual teaching. As a rule, it is only
ladies who can get access to the zenana at all, and
hence the great need of female workers.
PREACHING. 251
As a means of attracting a crowd of people, however,
nothing else succeeds so Avell as song services,
magic lanterns, stereopticous, etc. The first is made
up of singing native airs, accompanied with native
music, interspersed with speaking by the leader of the
party, all illustrating a particular subject, such as Jesus
Christ, caste pride, etc. Thousands flock to see a
magic lantern exhibition who would never come for
other objects; but while they may be interested they
may also be instructed. The scenes are mostly Biblical,
but sometimes interspersed with comical, and perhaps
those on astronomy and natural history, all
accompanied by suitable explanations and exhortations.
The looking at a drop of water greatly magnified,
showing the animalcula, gives them a new idea
about taking animal life.
PREACHING.
Of course, the great means of spreading the Gospel
is the ancient one of preaching, all others being auxiliary
to that, and legitimate just so far as conducive to
that. As in all pioneer work, the preacher must go
to the people and not wait for them to come to him,
which of themselves they would never do ; so the missionary
must use every means to gather a congregation.
It is not enough even to build a chapel in their midst
and expect them to come at the toll of the bell and fill
it ; at any rate, not till they get somewhat acquainted
and rid of their prejudices. The first place that suggests
itself for finding a congregation is out in the
252 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
streets in the bazaars, which are crowded during all
the day, or especially morning and evening. For
preaching in such places the missionary will need all
the strength and skill he can command. It is in the
open air; the minds of the people are preoccupied
largely with other things, but curiosity induces them
to stop a few minutes, when, unless much interested,
they are off again ; there are usually a few, one or
more, ready to create a disturbance, the most common
method being to try to draw the speaker into a debate.
Discussions in every case should be postponed,
at least till the preaching is over, if not altogether. It
is better to have two or three short, pointed addresses
than one long one, and then, if others are present, let
them corroborate the preaching with their personal
testimony. After this service is over, if a house is
available, as should be if possible, any wishing to converse
on the subject of salvation should be invited to
stay, and any wishing to discuss should be invited to
the missionary's house or other eligible place. Not
often will these accept, for they propose discussion
only to hinder the preaching. Occasionally one will
endeavor to drive all the people away, and if of some
influence he may succeed, but another crowd will soon
collect.
The more practical and pointed the preaching the
better, and it should be well illustrated with things
the people are familiar Avith. Hence the necessity of
being acquainted with their customs and manners, as
also their proverbs and their religions. The missionTEA
CHING. 253
ary will require all the grace he can get to keep sweet
amid the many annoyances that may occur. He
should not be surprised if, at the close, he is greeted
by a skeptical shout, followed by words not at all flattering,
even if not by some things less complimentary.
It is mostly the loafers and roughs who wait till the
service is over, though now and then a very quiet and
attentive listener may be observed who takes no part
in the abuse, but lingers behind, and if an opportunity
is afforded will enter into a private conversation with
the missionary. His case may be a hopeful one, but
it is well enough for the missionary to fortify himself
for many a disappointment from inquirers; but this,
of course, should be without at all betraying his suspicions
or weakening his faith. Nine cases out of ten
some selfish motive is at the bottom, the most common
of which being the desire of a situation, which it
is supposed the missionary's influence will secure without
any difficulty, though he may have not the least
knowledge of him or his fitness for it. Still, even in
such a case, an opportunity may be given for impressing
something better on his mind.
Thus the message should be delivered, though in
much weakness, trusting to the Holy Spirit to apply it.
A favorite place for some for preaching is at the
great festivals, when vast numbers congregate professedly
for religious purposes. When their ceremonies
are not going on, congregations consisting of many
thousands may be got within sound of the voice, but
Ihey partake more or less of the character of the itin254
INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
erating congregations in the bazaars. It is quite in
error to suppose that one out of a thousand goes there
from a sense of his sins. In nearly every case it is
some temporal benefit sought for, if not for the mere
pleasure of seeing and being seen. It, however, affords
a good opportunity for the colporteur to dispose of
tracts, books, and Scripture portions. It affords less
opportunity for following up any impressions that
may have been made than almost any other kind of
preaching, for in a few days the thousands are scattered
everyAvhere ; and if one impressed should be in
reach of a missionary, it is most likely a strange one,
to whom he would hesitate to go. Still it is one way
of casting the bread upon the waters.
There is still one method of getting a congregation
that applies more particularly to educated natives;
namely, to procure halls in large cities in which lectures
are given in English or the vernacular. Some
have found this a very successful method.
ITIXERATIXG.
Half a century ago many missionaries were impressed
with the importance of reaching the people in
the country as being more impressible than those under
the worldly and ungodly influence's of the city. To
do this they planned very long tours, occupying sometimes
months in the cold season and extending hundreds
of miles. As a preparation for this they required
tents, carts, servants, and horses or carriages for themselves.
Several helpers perhaps would accompany
CIRCUIT SYSTEM. 255
the missionary, and they would go from village to
village, stopping a day or tAvo in a place, preaching,
distributing tracts, and conversing, but generally without
expecting immediate and tangible results. For
how, indeed, could such be expected when they would
certainly not see the place again for a twelvemonth,
even if ever. Some seeing this resolved to visit oftener,
or perhaps have a colleague to go over the ground ;
but they undertook too large fields and were thus unable
to carry out their purpose. No doubt good was
done in this way, for God's Word shall not return
unto him void, but it was altogether too random and
scattering.
CIRCUIT SYSTEM.
It is remarkable how, after all, that which has
proved the most successful among the heathen is practically
the same as what has proved so successful
among others. In pioneer work in America and other
new countries the settlements were few and far between,
and the laborers so few that each one was compelled
to travel circuits of hundreds of miles in extent
and requiring a month or six weeks to compass it.
But in this densely populated country almost anywhere
a circuit of fifty villages, large and small, containing a
population of from one to two hundred thousand, may
be formed in a radius of twenty miles or less. That
is field enough for one missionary with a dozen or more
helpers to cultivate. Should he have so many helpers
under his superintendence, after accompanying them
to different parts of the field and opening up the work
250 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
in person, each one might be placed over half-a-dozen
or so of the villages, to reside in the most eligible one
and visit and preach in the rest, which would not require
more than five or six miles walking from his
home, while the superintending missionary could circulate
through the whole, visiting each helper, if not
each appointment, once a month or oftener. If, however,
he is short of assistants, he must cut his garment
according to his cloth, and thus contract the limits of
his large circuit. In addition to preaching and visiting
from house to house, perhaps schools might be conveniently
opened in some of the villages, and also
Bible-women employed to work among the females.
It is on some such system as this, with persistent
hand to hand work, that the greatest results have been
attained, as, for instance, among the Tamils in Tennevelly
and Trichinopoly, the Telugus in Ongole, the
Santals in Bengal, the Kols in Chota Nagpore, and the
Karens in Burmah. In any case, the work begun
must be carried on with the most untiring zeal and
assiduity. If the evil one is ready in Christian lands
to snatch up the seed sown, much more is he ready
here, and so there is required line upon line, precept
upon precept, here a little and there a great deal. In
such a vast field, however, as this is, with such a
heterogeneous mass of people united only in one thing,
that is, their opposition to Christ, every variety of
workmen and every means and agency may be adopted
to get people saved. The end will justify the means
provided the means secures the salvation of souls.
WOMAN'S WORK. 257
6. WOMAN'S WORK IN THE INDIAN MISSION FIELD.
In no other branch of Indian missions has there
been such an impulse received during the past dozen
years as that of woman's work. The wives of missionaries
have long since realized that there was a
special mission for women to their down-trodden sisters
in heathen lands, and, in connection with a few single
ladies who had been sent out by the various societies
as teachers, had inaugurated this department of labor.
It was not, however, till about the year 1870 that the
ladies of the various Churches in the United States
and Great Britain felt the burden laid upon them to
organize more fully for this great task. Since that
time nearly two hundred female missionaries have been
sent to India, representing about twenty different societies.
Of these about a score have been engaged in
medical work, and the remainder in teaching in schools,
orphanages, and in private houses or zenanas, to which
females alone can obtain admission. The greatest obstacle
they have met with is the custom of child-marriage,
which, in most cases, subjects the women to the
men as completely as ever Roman slave was to his
master. Of the twenty-one millions of widows in India
about half have never been wives at all. They have
been heard by the zenana ladies to say, "Your government
stopped our burning ourselves with the bodies
of our husbands, and we are now left without a
remedy." The authorities have been appealed to to
legislate in this matter, and no doubt erelong they
17
258 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
will see their way to do so. Custom has long forbidden
a widow to re-marry. Those who refused to perform
"suttee" burning themselves on the funeral
pyre of their husbands were regarded Avith contempt.
No priviledges \vere accorded to them. They were
banished to the work-rooms of the zenanas, never receiving
company nor mingling on an equality with the
other women of the family, but doling out a miserable
existence as servants and outcasts. Since the government
has reversed this order of things, a very few
instances have occurred of the re-marriage of widows,
and the precedent having been thus set, it will probably
be followed hereafter in numerous instances. To
men who have lost their wives there has never been
any restriction in the matter of their marrying again.
Notwithstanding all the hindrances much success
has attended these labors, and there is every encouragement
to push on the work with greater zeal.
In the month of December, 1882, fifty-two of these
lady missionaries assembled in Lahore, and spent five
hours a day for five days in the discussion of their
work in the Punjab under the following heads :
Day and boarding schools European, Eurasian,
Native Christian, Normal, and Heathen.
Sunday-schools and orphanages.
Zenana work.
The selection, training, and salaries of female agents.
Vernacular literature, general and educational.
Medical missions and training of assistants.
Village work.
WOMAN'S WORK. 259
But to give an idea how the minds of Christians
are being revolutionized so as to recognize the true
position of woman in the great work of evangelizing
the world, at the Decennial Conference for the missionaries
of all India held in Allahabad in December, 1872,
an invitation was given to a lady missionary to furnish
a short paper to be read for her at the conference,
while at the one held in 1882 in Calcutta the ladies
were allowed one whole session for the reading of
papers and the discussion of their work, in which they
acquitted themselves so well that an evening was
set apart for them in which to continue their discussions.
At the close of this conference the lady missionaries
formed a Woman's Home Missionary Association of
India, the object and plans of which are as follows :
Object. The object of this association shall be to
promote voluntary mission work among Christian
women of all classes.
Membership. The condition of membership shall be
not less than three hours a week spent in giving religious
instruction to servants, neighbors, in zenanas, or
wherever opportunity offers. The study of a vernacular
language, with a view to engaging in such work,
will entitle to membership.
Organization. The general interests of the association
shall be directed by a committee of three, who
shall have power to fill vacancies, and whose chairman
shall be secretary of the association.
The regular meetings of this association, for the
260 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
appointment of the committee and the transaction of
business, shall be at the time and place of the Decennial
Conference.
In stations where a number of Christians can be
brought together in schools and in the Churches auxiliary
associations may be formed, holding monthly
meetings and arranging and directing their work.
Annual Report. The auxiliaries and individual
members, where auxiliaries are not formed, will report
to the secretary on or before the first of July of each
year, when a general report will be published.
The following appointments were made:
Central Committee. Mrs. McGrew, Methodist Episcopal
Mission ; Cawnpore, Mrs. J. Newton, American
Presbyterian Mission; Lahore, Miss Leslie, Independent
Mission, Calcutta.
From this it wr ill be seen that these ladies are endeavoring
to utilize all the available agency in the
country, for which purpose they are enlisting and
training many Christian ladies who bid fair to do a
work for India which is simply incalculable. In the
van of this particular department are the ladies sent
out by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, who have added to
their number a large corps of workers in India who
are most valuable as assistants.
This waking up of the conscience of Christian
women is no doubt one of the most hopeful signs of
the times, and if so much has been done in so short a
time, what may not be expected in the near future?
HOME BOARDS. 2til
7. MEANS OF SUPPORT.
When only recently the national assembly of
France refused to vote the money for carrying on war
in Egypt, nothing was left to be done but to withdraw
from the field. So in any great enterprise it is considered
lawful to inquire where the "sinews of war"
are to come from. It should not, however, be forgotten
in this great warfare, that our Lord of the Exchequer
has said, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and
the cattle upon a thousand hills;" and in this connection
he would, no doubt, add "the gold and the silver."
HOME BOARDS.
The great Lord of the harvest has given a grand
opportunity for all to engage in this grand work of
evangelizing India and the world. Those who can not
come themselves can pray for more laborers, and also
for greater success, and, in addition, may answer in
part their own prayers by lending to the Lord some
of the means he has committed to their care for this
very purpose ; just as the patriotic sons of America in
the great struggle for life and liberty did to their government,
to which they owed all they had. Though
many Churches in Christian lands have done well in
this particular, yet not a tithe of what they might and
ought to do; otherwise there would not be so many
empty mission treasuries, and some of them even in
debt, while new fields are opening in every quarter of
the globe, and old ones need re-enforcing. Money
262 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
has never been better applied than in this way. With
few exceptions, perhaps, the missionaries thus supported
are grand men doing a grand work, and the
salaries which they get are not better than they deserve,
nor perhaps better than they could get preaching
in their own land, as a general thing, though there
is considerable inequality among them. While some
societies give as high as two hundred and fifty or three
hundred rupees a mouth for a married man, with
an addition for each child, others do not give half as
much, especially some of the German societies.
INDIAN CHURCHES.
While other Churches and individuals have been
working and giving for India it is only fair that India
should work and give for itself. A number of missions,
as the Santal, are supported by funds collected
from Churches and individuals in this country. There
arc advantages in having the base of supplies near the
field of operations, as is recognized by every general.
The Great Commander, weary of waiting for mission
boards to do all the work, and, at the same time, knowing
what impediments merely nominal Christians are
to the work, but how they might be conserved when
saved and enlisted, determined on raising up a selfsupporting
mission Church in India, and for this purpose
sent his servant, Willian Taylor. When the first
re-enforcements came to this work from America they
were provided with homes among the people, and it
was proposed that, in addition to their board, clothGOLD
MISSIONS. 2G3
ing, and traveling expenses, they should have thirty
rupees a month as pocket money, but they with one
consent, declined. The one married missionary, at the
time having ascertained just what he could live on
with his family, refused to receive more. With some
modifications, according to the varying circumstances,
such has been the financial policy of this mission for
these ten years, and such it continues. And notwithstanding
no higher amount than about one hundred
and fifty rupees a month is received by any one and
in most cases much less, yet they have never suffered
for food, though allowed oftentimes to touch the bottom
of the barrel, just as preachers elsewhere.
While it is pleasant to have the question of support
settled and quite off the mind, it is at the same
time a great means of developing faith to have to trust
Providence more directly day by day for daily bread.
Knowing the difficulty of weaning Churches and people
who have been depending on outside help, and
how missionaries have deplored such a state of things,
this mission continues to decline to receive salaries
from foreign sources, but accepts help for building
schools, etc., in whatever way it may come. It received
in that way fifteen thousand rupees during the
past year. Even heathenism flourishes more where it
is not endowed, but has to support itself.
" FAITH MISSIONS."
In order to develop and exhibit this faith more
fully still some have felt led of the Lord to go far
264 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
away from human agency and without any visible
means at all to trust the Lord for support. Such is
the case of a few institutions in Germany, England,
and America. In this way the Godavery Delta Mission
has been carried on for forty-five years. Quite a
number of other missions have followed the example
of this pioneer, the Bassim Mission, the Telugu Mission
and Orphanage, and the Calar Orphanage, where
nearly four hundred children, saved from the late
famine, have been supported in that way.
In every case God has honored the faith of his servants
after trying it thoroughly, thus stimulating the
faith of others as well.
PAULINE SELF-SUPPORT.
Paul, though distinctly avowing his right to support
from the Churches which he served, yet waived
that right, especially with reference to Corinth, where*
the people were so wedded to the world and money,
working with his own hands at his trade of tent-making,
that they might have no possible chance for
charging him with preaching for a salary. Some of
the workers in India for the same reason, and the additional
ones that the heathen among whom they labor
can not be asked to support the Gospel (though the
writer himself has had experience of their hospitality),
and the Churches have their hands full, are supporting
themselves in various ways, and devoting all the time
they can command to the Lord's work. A few there
have been like Dr. Coke, whose means allowed them
PA ULINE SELF-S UPPOUT. 265
to do this without work, but others have worked at
teaching, writing, editing, merchandise, and some even
at agriculture or some handicraft, like Paul.
We have already seen how some of the early missionaries
contributed to their own support and the forwarding
of the Gospel in this way. It was on this
basis that Gossner's Missionary Society was founded,
and it was only after funds flowed in more abundantly
that the workers received support, and then only very
meager. It is truly surprising how little a family can
live on and how much time one can spare for missionwork
when he has a mind to it. Of course, he must
deny himself many things and carry on work on the
most economical principles; but that will inspire his
helpers with a similar spirit, and they, instead of complaining
of the disparity between their and his salaries,
will emulate his example of self-denial.
In imagination accompany the itinerant missionary
on one of his pioneer circuits. Though it is the rainy
season, yet we shall wait no longer for settled weather.
Thanks to a beneficent Providence and a Hoosier farmlife,
though he may have neither carriage nor horse,
he has two good legs that have never failed him, and
sole leather is cheap, notwithstanding what the shoemaker
says. Here is Narayen, the native assistant,
who lives on five rupees a month, most of which he
gets for teaching in the mission vernacular school, and
is ever ready for touring, though he has not been very
well tested yet. With umbrella for stick the missionary
throws his bag across his shoulders after the man266
INDIA AND BRITISH BURXAH.
ner of the irrepressible tramp or carpet-bagger, and off
they go together at six o'clock in the morning. Ha !
just snuff this Deccan air, ladeu with its thousand
sweets from the famous gardens of roses. What would
they not give for such Summer weather in other countries?
We shall cut across the nearest way by the
lawn tennis ground, and some of the "upper ten" are
already here for their morning game. Across the
railway we go, and if it were going our direction we
might be tempted to take a fourth class ticket and
board it, but then it would not be so convenient for
our itinerating. See this fine avenue through which
the road goes with peepul and babul branches intertwining
overhead thick as an arbor. There is the
board of "H. H., the Nabob of Jungeera," who is
staying for the season. Look at those beautiful gardens
with band-stand, where the elite come out in
numbers when the weather is fair; but we shall not
take up our precious time in passing through. Now
we cross the bridge, and have a full view of the bund,
built at the cost of many thousands by the Parsee
baronet to supply the city with water before the present
works were constructed. A few days ago the
water was nearly level, but having subsided somewhat
there is considerable fall at present. On the hill beyond
is the famous Yerowda Temple, which is reached by a
long flight of steps ; but here is the village of Yerowda
itself, with its tottering walls. There are a number of
men enjoying their morning gossip. The missionary
accosts them, and without preliminaries tells them of
PA ULINE SELF-S UPPOR T. 267
the best news the world has ever heard, backing it up
by his own personal testimony of the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ to save, and perhaps adding, by way
of corroboration, that, unlike most of foreigners, he
has not come ten thousand miles to get either money
or reputation, seeing that he paid his own passage to
this land and now gets no salary, just what little food
and raiment may be required in this mild climate; and
as for honor, instead of that he gets oftentimes abuse
and persecution, and that not from Indians alone,
but from many of his own race, to whom he would be
glad to do good. Then, to prove the value of going
two and two, Narayen follows up with an exhortation
and application. By this time quite a crowd has
gathered, and one man who wants to exhibit himself
endeavors to drive the rest away, but without success.
As an evidence of what we preach about a spiritual,
omnipresent God interested in his creatures, we close
with prayer, during which the most profound silence is
preserved. This, however, is not always the case.
Bidding them farewell, with a promise to come
again, off w"e go for the next station. As usual at this
season, the roads are undergoing repairs, but as it is
only one side at a time our progress is not impeded.
Men dig up the old metal and women carry the new
prepared by the roadside in pans on their heads, and in
the same way the dirt or gravel that goes on top,
which, after being leveled, is pressed down by a stone
or iron roller, drawn by several yoke of oxen or buffaloes.
In the city are steam rollers. Just over the
268 INDIA AND BRITISH BVRMAII.
way there is the Government Central Jail containing
several hundred prisoners, who, if accessible, would
afford us a good audience. It is said many of them
are perfectly content, having plenty to eat, and when
one term is out they soon find their way back again ;
indeed, it has been asserted that one prisoner at one
time being released wanted to know what crime he had
been guilty of that he was dismissed. They do all
kinds of work carpenter, printing, weaving, spinning,
gardening, and, under European supervision, turn out
a good article.
Narayen now coming up enlivens the journey by
reciting some of his adventures at Kandahar during
the late war in Afghanistan, the scars of which he still
bears, though his promised pension has not come.
Not the least interesting of his exploits was his preaching
to the Sepoys and Kabulis while there.
"But, Narayen, where are your shoes? This stony
road is hurting your feet."
' ' I have none. The last ones given me are entirely
gone."
" I am sorry ; these I have on are quite old enough
to cast off, only I have no others so well suited for
marching ; but I must get some Christian friend to
give you a pair. How quickly Ave pass the mile-stones!
I venture they will not appear so near together by the
time we get through."
The fields of bajri and other grains look well,
though it is only here and there a small patch can be
tilled for the stones. Herds of cattle and flocks of
PA ULINE SELF S UPPORT. 269
goats are grazing over the rocky plains and hills, green
and fresh by the recent rains.
Narayen, unlike his companion, did not have his
breakfast before starting, so as here is a nice stream
of clear water he goes down by its side for his repast,
while the missionary, anxious to sow beside all waters,
proceeds a little distance to occupy the time in conversation
with half a dozen wagoners, who are eating their
bajri bread under a fine mango tree.
"Salam, Baba."
"Ram ram, ram ram."
"Mi thakiin gelo." (I am quite tired.)
"
Tuzapashi gadi, ghoda nahi kay ?" (Have you no
carriage nor horse ?)
' '
Mazapashi kahi nahi." (I have nothing.)
"Parantu amhi tuzha helkari pahila." (But we
saw your cooly.)
"Nahi, to mazha helkari nahi, to mazha bhau ahe;
tyatsa hel to neto, ,ni mazha mi neto." (No, he is
not my cooly, he is my brother; he carries his own
load while I carry mine.)
' ' Tu roz lamb zatos kay ?" (Do you go far in a
day?)
MazhyS, deshant mi roz roz vis kos zat ase tar ya
d^shant ushnatfi mul^ mi^ dahats kos zato." (In my
country I used to go forty miles a day, but in this
country, on account of the heat, I go only twenty).
This gave an opportunity of telling how he happened
to come to India from so far and to impress
upon them the necessity of that salvation he had
270 INDIA AND BRITISH LVRMAH.
come to preach. This they all assented to and went
their way.
What may be the effect, \vho can tell? This we
know, the Word of God is powerful when corroborated
by the testimony for Jesus.
By this time Narayen coming up, they proceed on
their way.
That is Wagholi, with its old stone wall and massive
gate. What troublous times they used to have in
these parts; now the Mohammedans prevail and now
the Marathas are in power. A better defense, however,
seems to be the mass of prickly pear growing
rank and dense and tall outside the walls.
Wagholi is a jaghire held by a petty native prince.
When here a year ago in company with a brother missionary
and the magistrate who was a friend of the
Jaghirdar, we waited upon him, and after a time, the
cattle being cleared out of the reception-room, a cotton
carpet thrown down and four chairs mustered up in
the village, the prince came out and gave us a princely
reception, offering us in a pewter-looking cup a drink
from some one's old stock of porter, which we respectfully
declined. We had the opportunity of bearing
our testimony to him and the bystanders, after which
he, old and decrepit, accompanied us to the village
gate. He was childless, and his lawful heir, a nephew,
was dissolute, so he was anxious to have the government
permit him to adopt a son. We impressed upon
him the necessity of other preparation for death, and
bade him farewell with a hearty shake of the hand.
PAULINE SELF SUPPORT. 271
As it is only recently that we have been freed from
other duties to devote ourselves exclusively to native
work, we have not been here since, and soon after our
visit the old man was going on a visit to his other
estates; so it is not likely he is here at this time.
Do you see that temple of Shiv there by the tank,
with its inevitable stone bull and ling before it?
Once inside the Avails, we pass on through till we
come to the temples of Gunputty and Marsoty, before
which we halt and put down our luggage. See these
people, one by one, boy, woman, man, go into the temple,
make their offerings and compass the altar four or five
times, each time making obeisance to the ugly image.
However, they stop to listen to Narayen as he
reads a portion of Scripture and discourses to the
small crowd of men, women, and children gathered
around, the most of the men of the village being out
in the fields at this time of day. In illustration of his
speech he now and then sings a verse of a native Christian
hymn, which very much interests some of them,
especially a jolly, fat woman, who assents to every
thing. The singing of the hymn, "Shall we gather at
the river?" in the Marathi, gives the missionary a
text, "The water of life," about which they are much
interested, as they appreciate the value of water more
than most others, and know IIOAV every thing perishes
in time of drought.
On our way back to the gate we accost some shopkeepers
about their love of money, quoting the Savior's
language,
" What shall it profit a man if he gain
272 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
the whole world and lose his own soul?" An old
man is washing his teeth at his door, and, after reminding
him of the nearness of death, we ask him
where he expects to go. He unhesitatingly replies,
' 'To
God." But on being interrogated as to the grounds
of his assurance, he replies nothing, but listens while
we show him how he may have the real assurance.
The word "
salam," which is the Arabic cognate of the
Hebrew "
Shalom," affords a text for preaching peace
to a number sitting outside the gate. The "missionary
will never use the Hindu form of salutation in the
name of Ram.
Four miles more, with hardly a hut intervening,
brings us to Loni, where we find a good stoppingplace
in the rest-house of the native soldiers when on
the march. It is freer from vermin than the native
dharmsala, and has fewer mosquitoes than the traveler's
bungalow, and nothing to pay. A water-pot serves
us a good purpose, and there is a nice stream flowing
hard by, so in a few minutes, after once more invoking
the divine blessing on our labors, we partake of the
bread and beef and butter found in the bag, thanks to
the good wife and Christian servant a necessary precaution,
since we can not always depend on getting
food in the villages at a moment's notice. Then, after
bathing our feet according to our army experience,
and taking a little nap, we leave Narayen to stay by
the stuff and rest his feet, while we proceed three miles
to the river Bheema, which is crossed by a ferry at this
season of the year for half an anna; but as there is
PAULINE SELF-SUPPORT. 273
plenty of work on this side, we need not extend our
circuit farther for the present, though just across is
the village of Koregaum. This is the place where the
Marathas, twenty-five thousand strong, including a
large number of Arabs, under the command of the
Peishwa in person, made their last attempt to restore
their tottering empire on the 1st of January, 1818.
They were, however, kept in check during the whole
of that New-year's day by five hundred native infantry,
two hundred and fifty native cavalry, and a
detachment of twenty-five European artillery with two
guns, all under the command of Captain Staunton.
Their loss was one hundred and seventy-five men,
twenty being of the artillery, against a loss of five
hundred or six hundred of the Marathas.
On the hill over there is where the Peishwa sat,
screened from the sun. Near by, on this side of the
river, is an obelisk about fifty feet high, erected by
the British Government four years after, to commemorate
the event. It is built of black basalt, finely polished,
and on it the victory is denominated one of the
most glorious achievements of the British arms. A
little way beyond the Bheema is the tomb of a gallant
British officer, Colonel Wallace, which is worshiped by
the Hindus.
Having seen the monument, with the names of the
participants inscribed on it in English and Marathi, let
us ascertain whether that village over the way is on
this side of the river or not. To do this we must cross
the fields of young bajri ; and, by the way, this is a
18
274 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
fine, loose, black soil, and ought to produce well, and,
from the number of wagons we have been meeting
loaded with grain, it must produce well. See that
jackal on the left, and that covey of quail on the
right ; but they do not seem to be very suspicious of
us. Yes, the village is on this side, and we must
preach to them, possibly the first visit of a foreign missionary
they have had. How shy the women and children
are in these country places, clearing quite out of
the road for a European. They are, however, quite
amenable to any attention they may receive. There
are the inevitable temples, and here the men seem to
be discussing the news of the day. After preaching
Jesus to them for some time, one man flouts at the
idea that Jesus Christ is his Creator and Redeemer and
Judge ; but we tell him that he can get rid of the fact
that he is under the British Government as easily as
that he is under the Savior, however unpalatable it
may be to him. The name of this village, we find by
inquiry, is Perena, and a mile beyond is Dongargaum ;
but the late hour and the threatening clouds remind us
that we must hasten back. See those men irrigating
the sugar-cane. It requires much water. We shall
return by the traveler's bungalow, and see that large
grove of banyans, a half-dozen or so, the boughs of
each reaching out fifty feet on every side, and only a
few feet above the head, notwithstanding they are not
supported by their usual stems, which have not been
allowed to grow. The old mess-man who entertained
PA ULINE SELF-S UPPOR T. 275
us a year ago allows us to talk to him about his soul ;
but he seems hardened, poor fellow !
Ho, ho ! Narayen, are you tired waiting ? Now
we must make a sally into Lorn itself, whose ancient
mud walls are still standing in some places. We are
ushered into the government school, which is an old
temple of Bhairawa the best use, no doubt, that it
has ever been put to and the bell is much more
profitable to call in the children than to wake the
sleeping god. However, it is very sad to have his
ugly visage peering down upon the children all the
time. The smiling school-master gives us his chair,
and calls up his classes, two of which we examine in
reading, and, after giving them some advice, we sign
our name in the visitors' book, in which we see the
name of our friend Winsor, of the American Board
(a brother of our college-mate, Sam. Winsor), who, it
seems, was here, and visited the school just six months
ago.
The schools seem to be held early in the morning
and late in the evening, with a long recess, though the
weather does not require it now. But where shall
we get the people to assemble together ? In the town
hall. Very well. By the time we have sung a native
air showing the vanity of works of all kinds, a large
crowd seat themselves before us on the ground-floor.
After reading them a tract entitled ' ' The Well of
Sin," and addressing them for awhile, Narayen follows,
and becomes very interested in their attentiveness, and
keeps them till it is quite dark, applying his Sanskrit
276 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
quotation, "Papohum, papakarmahum, papatma, papasambhar,"
in which man's total depravity is so plainly
set forth.
Now we return to our resting-place for the night,
spread out our thick cotton quilt or comforter on the
earthen floor, and use the extra coat for a pillow.
Meantime the pint and a half of milk and two warm,
fresh bajri cakes, which had been ordered for two
annas, have come, and are eaten by both of us with a
relish, though it may be a good thing for our stomachs
that it is too dark to see them well.
Having performed our evening devotions, we repose
ourselves, not in the arms of Morpheus or any
other heathen god, but on the bosom of the Keeper
of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, but giveth
his beloved sleep.
If you wake up in the night, and are reminded of
Wesley's remark to John Nelson under similar circumstances,
that he had one whole side yet, just turn over
that one to the floor, and let the other recuperate.
If, after all, a good conscience will not prove a better
soporific than a downy pillow, just get up and yield
yourself to the soothing influences of Orion, or the
Pleiades, or the Great Bear, or the Southern Cross,
or the moon playing hide-and-seek behind the passing
clouds. Listen to the sough of the wind among the
branches of the trees, or the murmur of the rivulet
under the bridge. Have you ever seen the subdued
richness of a tropical moonlight? What a mellow
grandeur in the peculiar foliage, and how sublime
PA ULINE SELF-S UPPOR T. 277
those great hills in the background ! Why is the night
so well adapted to meditation? One reason, no doubt,
is that man is asleep, and you see only God. The
trail of the serpent is hardly visible at night.
At last the morning light is breaking, the darkness
disappears, and away we go, after prayer and the reading
of a part of that inimitable one hundred and nineteenth
Psalm and the fifty-second chapter of Isaiah, to
the village again, even before the people are up. But
soon we have as good a crowd as last night, and Narayen
discourses eloquently to them ; but we find that
it is rather early for preaching, and our tongue seems
to be in sympathy with our joints, which need oiling.
But they listen attentively, and the interest seems to
be real.
Now for a tramp of four miles across the hills,
\rhere a carriage could never go, to Kesnuud, where
the Patel soon musters for us, in front of their temple
and school-room, a crowd of fine, tall men, who also
listen well. When asked why they should not worship
one stone as well as another, they explain that
the goat and the dog are both alike flesh and blood,
and yet we eat the goat and not the dog. But it was
replied that some people, as the Chinese, eat the dog.
What flimsy excuses they make for their idolatry!
Sometimes they seem to be really ashamed of it ; but
at it they go again, wedded to their idols.
About eight years ago two men of this village were
baptized by a missionary in Poona, but, having no
teacher, they gave up the profession of Christianity,
278 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
though still claiming that they secretly follow the
Savior. To give them an opportunity, if present, of
making themselves known, we made inquiries, but
could learu nothing ; though it is to be hoped that
they will yet come out fully aud form the nucleus of ^
a Church in this place.
On our way back some men plowing in a field
leave their bullocks and run to us for tracts, which
we give them, accompanied with an exhortation. It
is ten o'clock when we reach Loni again, and quite
time for breakfast. As Narayeu wishes to remain a
few days to follow up the impression here, he is permitted
to do so. Giving him the remaining pice for
his food, we shoulder our bag again, and off we trudge
to meet the Sabbath engagements to-morrow. Our
progress is considerably impeded by the strong and
continuous south-west wind, with now and then dashes
of rain full in the face, which remind one of the northwesters
of Texas, though not so cold. We find it
good to adopt a native plan, and lie down by the roadside
once or twice for rest. We tried, however, to
draw out into conversation some travelers going the
same way ; but they were reticent about religion, and
so we went on.
And now here we are, back again, having walked
more than forty miles in two days, preached six times,
and held a number of private conversations, with, it
is hoped and believed, the accompaniment of the Holy
Spirit and power. Every sign of indigestion is gone,
and we are none the worse except a little stiffness and
INDIA AS A FIELD OF LABOR. 279
burning in the face from the strong wind all which
will pass off in a few days, and we expect to be ready
for another jaunt in the same direction, when we shall
hope to be not so pressed for time.
8. CONCLUSION.
IXDIA AS A FIELD OF LABOR.
There is no doubt that one of the most, at least
(if not the most), momentous Avorks the Almighty has
on hand is the salvation of India. But, then, he delights
in great and difficult things, which give him the
better opportunity of proving his greatness. So, if any
one wants to assist the Most High in this undertaking,
there is as good an opportunity for self-denying, earnest,
arduous labor as he needs to want.
India has peculiar drawbacks and peculiar advantages.
Doubtless caste is one great barrier to the entrance
of the Gospel ; but when a break is once made
it will be, no doubt, a help. A greater difficulty is
the pantheistic Vedantism with which all classes, high
and low, are thoroughly imbued. The great thing
amongst any people is to get them convicted of sin ;
but this is utterly impossible as long as they lay the
whole responsibility of their sins upon God. "Of
course, I am a sinner all men are sinners ; but I did
not make myself. It is not I that sin, but God in
me." It is vain for you to reply that they hold each
other responsible for their conduct, and wish to punish
another for his crimes. The punishment, they say, is
fate, the same as the crime.
280 INDIA AND BRITISH SURMAH.
The Mussulmans, also, are fatalists, and hence conscience-
hardened, the same as others.
The stagnant civilization of India is having some
healthy life-blood pumped into it ; but it has been fully
proven in this case that even Christian civilization is
not Christianity, and one doubts sometimes whether it
ever paves the way for the Gospel. But at any rate it
opens the door for the missionary, and the Avhole of
India's millions are now accessible, as far as that is
concerned.
Every variety of people and every variety of country
are to be found. If one can not find a field of
labor in India, he can not find it anywhere in the
world. Thousands, too, are panting for something
nobler and better. Many serious but timid inquirers
are to be found yea, many who claim that they accept
Christ secretly, but are wanting in courage to
make the public profession. Here, where it is the
crossing of the Rubicon, the breaking of the last tie
that binds them to family, friends, religion, and associations,
can be seen the value of baptism as an outward
ceremony. Are you sure, dear reader, that you
would be braver with their surroundings ? Still the
time will come when there will be a general break, and
that, perhaps, as soon as teachers are ready to care for
them. Now one is waiting for others, just as is oftentimes
seen in Christian lands. The Luther or Knox or
Wesley has not risen among them yet to lead the way ;
but he will be forthcoming.
There is room for more laborers in this vast field.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE WORK. 281
Three foreign missionaries to a million of people is
not enough. Besides, there are some provinces containing
millions without a single one. Somewhere
there are Jonahs shrinking from their mission to India,
not, however, for the same reason, it may be supposed,
but for some other. God waited long for his Church
to get ready to take India for him ; but now he is in
earnest. The field is white already ; where are the
reapers ? Who will say,
' ' Here am I, send me ?"
There is, perhaps, not one in the whole Indian field
who would exchange for any other, or if away would
not come as at first. Those kept away from ill-health
or other cause are yearning to get back.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE WORK.
While any one coming to India to labor should
have a sound mind in a sound body, yet he need not
despair if his health is not so robust as that of some
others. For some complaints, no doubt, India would
be better than many other countries, and especially is
that the case with lung complaints. One of bilious
temperament, with torpid liver, should not come. One
very subject to fever would better not come, unless he
is assured beforehand of his particular field.
Neither should one lose hope if he be not possessed
with profound learning and brilliant talents. These
will do very well for fashionable Churches at home.
Do not give up even because you may not have a
genius for languages. The Lord can not wait to save
the world by geniuses, unless it is those whose genius
282 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMAH.
is for work and soul-saving. The more learning one
may have for this work the better ; but the great question
is this, Has he pluck to devote six solid hours a
day for six days in the week, for at least one year, to
the dry study of a foreign language, and confidence
enough to strike out in the use of it, like one learning
to swim, regardless of mistakes that may be inevitable
at first, and, perhaps, even long afterwards?
The great qualifications, of course, are spiritual.
Do not come before you are sent ; but do not wait to
be driven. The Lord does not like that. Being satisfied
of your own salvation, do you sincerely wish to
do the most you can for the Master, and go where most
needed? Then, where is a more needy field than India?
But you say you do not feel a particular interest for
the people of India. You have never seen them yet.
Just look at them bowing down to a hideous, greasy,
painted stone, and then if your heart is not stirred, it
is certainly not right, and you would better at once
seek to have it changed, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Do not stop to analyze all the motives by which you
may be prompted ; but, being sure that the uppermost,
ruling one is to glorify God, and leaving all with him,
just wait for the moving of the pillar, and then follow
wherever it may lead. But let your motto be " holiness
to the Lord."
PROGRESS AND PROSPECT.
Though, perhaps, no one is satisfied with the progress
the Gospel has made hi India, yet, as has been
PROGRESS AND PROSPECT. 283
shown, it has made progress. It is something that one
hundred and twenty-five thousand men and women
have been brought out of devil-worship, idolatry, and
superstition, representing a Christian community of
nearly half a million. It is something that thousands
have gone from India to the realms of bliss. It is
something that principles of justice, truth, and charity
have been instilled into the minds of millions more,
young and old. It is something that the Bible has
been translated into every Indian language, and thus
made accessible to two hundred and fifty millions of
people. If mistakes have been made, it is only the
common lot of man, and often he can learn in no
other way. If the work moves slowly, be not impatient.
God is painting for eternity. He lives by the
millennium, and though he has yearned over India for
thousands of years, as he did over Jerusalem, yet he
is not impatient.
But even suppose nothing had been done, dare we
give it up ? No ; we are committed to it. God is
committed to it. It must be done. It will be done.
He will cut it short in righteousness. Only let his
Church bestir herself; arise, shine, put on her beautiful
garments. We have our marching orders, and all
we have to do is to obey. We may be marching to
death, but we are marching to victory. How glorious
it will be to look over the battlements of heaven to a
redeemed India a redeemed world ! Of the final
result there can be no question.
Learn a parable from the sacred fig-tree. When it
284 INDIA AND BRITISH BURMA H.
is young it takes hold upon the hoary heathen temple,
and insinuates its rootlets between the massive
stones cemented together for centuries, and extending
and increasing, erelong rives the structure from top to
bottom, till it falls to the ground.
Or, again, it insidiously steals upon the palm, which
rears its haughty head above other trees, and quietly
throwing coil after coil around its trunk, throttles it in
its giant folds, till it succumbs and decays, leaving
nothing but the sacred peepul.
So the everlasting truth of the Almighty lays its
gentle but powerful grasp upon every false system,
until it gradually overpowers it, though cemented by
thousands of years of superstition and idolatry, and
nought remains but the sacred truth of God.
Such is the strength of this wonderful tree that,
where left undisturbed, it destroys walls and wells,
bridges and buildings, and even the Anglo-Portuguese
fort in Bombay, that laughed at the shot and shell of
the Abyssinian admiral, was unable to resist its amazing
power a type of Christianity, which, though so
gentle in its influence, must eventually prevail over all
civilizations, ancient or modern, Eastern or Western.
Is it to be supposed that a factory clerk (who finally
took his own life), assisted by a few of his fellow-mortals,
could conquer such an empire as India, and bring
it into subjection to a small island six thousand miles
away, and the great God of heaven and earth can not
subdue it to himself? Though it must be admitted
that the empire of the heart, fortified by sin and held
PROGRESS AND PROSPECT. 285
by the evil one, is a stronger fortress than any other in
India, yet be it understood that ' ' the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds ; casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every .thought to the obedience of Christ."

THE END.

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