India and the Hindoos: being a popular view of the geography, history, government, manners, customs, literature and religion of that ancient people; with an account of Christian missions among them

Front matter

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Contents

^X^APTER I.

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Pag«

Chapter II. Natural Productions Of India

Introductory remarks — Elephants — Rajah of Mysore's State Carriage — Rhuioceros — Wild Boar — Camel — Dromedary — Bear (anecdote of an Indian Himter and Mountain Bear) — Deer, various species — Goat — Sheep — Buffalo— Ox — Cow — Brahminee Bull — Ganjal — Arnee — Yak — Horse — Ass — Mule — Dziggetai — i^Ionkey, various tribes (anecdote of a Monkey and flock of Crows) — Bat — Porcupine — Sloth — Armadillo — Mangoose — Loris — Squirrel — Chipmuck— Rats— Ratel— Rabbits— Martin — Civet — Ichneumon — Tiger — Lion — Panther — Leopard — Cheetah (mode of use by hunters)— Cat— Jackal— Hyena — Lynx — Thibet Dog — Native Dog — Lizzard — Gecko — Scorpion — Centipede — Tarantula ^-

X CONTENTS.

Faos

Cobra-de-Capella — Tic Polonga— Mountain Snake— Crocodile- Anaconda— Tortoise— Frog— Insects (sc?ne presented when entering a long-closed house;)— White Ant (a choice dish)— Ant Hills as seen by Bp. Heber— Birds and Fishes, a large variety of each Class — Botany, including Vegetable, Fruit and Forest Trees, Flowers — Minerals, &c. -------27

' CHAPTER III.

HISTORICAL SURVEY.

What is known of Ancient India— Invasions by Sesostris, Semiramis, Darius and Alexander — Invasion by Mahmoud of Guznee — Somnaut captured— Its venerated Idol and Temple Gate — Successors of Mahmoud — InvasionVby the Portuguese — Dutch — East India Company — Black Hole of Calcutta — Governors-General — Relation of India to England — Remark of Dr. DufF — Measures pursued by the English — Opinions and Feelings of the Hindoos — An Historic Law respecting India — Characteristics of the several periods of Hindoo History — An Eloquent Extract - - €1

Chapter IV. Inhabitants Of India Classified

Population — Native Hindoos — Mohamedans (Annual Festivities) — East Indians — European Ptesidents, of several grades — Arabs — Parsees — Chinese and Jews ------ §3

Chapter V. Government Of India

The three Presidencies — Governor- General — Metropolitan Bishop — Officers, &c. in the four Departments, Revenue, Judicial, Military, and Ecclesiastical — General Remarks . - . - gj

Chapter VI. Personal Appearance And Dress Of The Hindoos

Figure and Physiognomy — Bodily Structure and Strength — Pedestrian Agility and Endurance — Emblematical Marks upon the

CONTENTS. XI

Fags

Forehead, Neck, &c., — Dress of the Men, of the Women, of the Children — Ornaments ; their kind, value, and dangers - - 100

Chapter VII. Courteous Customs

Hindoos a polite people — Visit from a Native — Salaam — Namaskariim — Sashamgam — Modes of addressing superiors— Epistles — Materials of Writing — Different Styles of Address, to an Inferior, an Equal, and a Superior — Remark by Abb6 Du Bois - - 108

Chapter VIII. A Hindoo At 1 (o.me

Native Dwelling described — Furniture — Its apartments, especially the Room of Anger — The Hindoo returning home — Preparations for a meal— Rice and Curry — Mode of Eating — Sleeping-room — Different modes pertaining to different classes — Price of dwellin*' — Evil Eye, and other superstitious fears — Flower Gardens — Market — Times of eating — Topics of conversation - - - ng

Chapter IX. Hindoo Water Craft And Sailors

Author's arrival at Madras — Reflections — Catamaran — Massuli-boat — War Steamer — Merchantman — Dhony — Basket-boat — Budgerow ---------- 127

Chapter X. Hindoo Land Convevances

Travelling propensity of the Hindoos — Primitive mode of carrying a child — Cart and Bullocks — Canopied cart — Palanquin — Tonjon — Miscellaneous vehicles in City and Town . - - - 140

Chapter XI. Hindoo Literature

Languages of India — Antiquity of the Sanscrit — The Vedas — Shastias — Pooranas — Ramayanum, Analysis of, and Quotation from

Xii CONTENTS.

Pags the Poem — Remark by Dr. DufF— Institutes of Menu, and other Works on Hindoo Jurisprudence — Ethics — Extracts from the Cural and Ovviya — Miscellaneous Proverbs — Puncha tantrakathy — Moothory — Nannery — Nalladiyar— Hindoo Poetry - - 155

Chapter XII. Science Of The Hindoos

The Hindoos not a barbarous People — Arithmetic— Geometry — Algebra — Trigonometry — Astronomy — Geography — Chronology — Natural Philosophy — Chemistry— Mineralogy— Botany— Geology — Doctors — Medical Institutions at Calcutta — Polytechnic Institutions — Lawyers — Present state of Learning in the land - - 181

CHAPTER Xm.

ARTS AND OCCUPATIONS OF INDIA.

Introductory Remark — Agriculture — Modes of Cultivation — Native Plow, Harrow and Threshing Machines — Cultivation of Rice, Wheat, Barley, Indigo, Opium, Sugar, and Tobacco — Fabrics — Native Loom — Glass — Potter — Carpenter — Blacksmith — Goldsmith — Shoemaker — Brassfounder — Barber — Confectioner — Florist — Shopman — Washer-man — Oilman — Milkman — Fisherman — Distiller — Palanquin Bearer — Difficulty of introducing Modern Implements — Public Buildings — Descriptions of Temples at Elephanta, Syringham, and Madura — Droogs — Reflections upon beholding these Ruins - - - - - - - -195

Chapter XIV. Popular Amusements Of India

Hindoos not fond of work — Card-playing — Backgammon — Dominoes — Checkers — Chess — Quoits — Marbles — Cock-fighting — Dancing — Story-telling ; Tale of the three deaf men — Theatrical Exhibitions — Hunting — Gymnastics and Jugglery, illustrated by descriptions of wondrous feats— Remarks . - . _ 206

CONTENTS. Xlll

Pass CHAPTER XV.

MUSIC OF THE HINDOOS.

Remarks on the universal prevalence of Music — Antiquity of Hindoo Song — Remarkable statements by Sir William Jones — "No accounting for tastes" — Hindoo Gamut — Extract from Abbe Du Bois — Names of musical instruments — Style illustrated by Stanzas from the Poem of Arumuga Tambiran, sung at his baptism — Two verses written in English by a Convert at Calcutta — Authors of "Spiritual Songs" in Southern India - - - 219

Chapter XVI. Peculiar Ceremonies

Two circumstances that impart importance to the Birth of a Hindoo — Hindoo Names, whence derived, and the Ceremony of giving them — Hindoo Marriages — Courtshii^ — Desirable Qualities in a Wife — Kooleen Brahmins — Death — Exclamations of a Mother over a Dead Child — Strange Comforters — Nuisances on the Ganges — Burning of Bodies — Singular Custom in the Northern Districts — Parsee mode with their Dead — Mohamedan Cemeteries — Also Roman Catholic — Graves of Foreigners — Superiority of the Gospel over Brahminism in the Dying Hour - - - 228

Chapter XVII. Woman Ii» India

Importance of Female Influence — Facts illustrating the relative posisition of women in India : (1) Grief at their birth ; (2) Subjection exacted ; (3) Not to mention her husband's name ; (4) Not to speak of her husband's excellencies ; (5) Not to be seen walking with him ; (6) Not to take food with him ; (7) Is not inquired after by guests ; and (8) Is not taught even the rudiments of knowledge — Remarks by a Hindoo writer — Life and self-immolation of Hollee Lutchema — Suppression of Sutteeism — Lord William Bentinck —Appeal -. 240

XIV CONTENTS.

Paob

CHAPTEIl XVIIL

HINDOO CASTE.

Definition of Caste — Four-fold division — Origin and duties of Brahmins, Kshatiras, Veishas, aid .Soodras — Pariars — Six facts illustrating the evil influence ot Caste upon its adherents — Its anti-social and anti-benevolent jclaaracter — A barrier to the progress of Christian truth— A cc^iiveria1.^.Calcutta— Apology by Abbe Du Bois — Early Views of ^iirtz, Bishop Heber, &c. — Action of Bishop Wilson and ]\fpdem Missionaries — Caste doomed, and what is now expected of all converts to Christianity - - 256

Chapter XIX. Religion Of The Hindoos

Design of the Chapter — Brahm — Brahma — Vishnu — Siva — Ganesa — Supramunyan — Doorga — Kaiee — Latchmi— Sarasvati — Munmuthan — Indru — Sooryu — Kartikeya — Parvuna — Vuroona — Yumu — Weakness of them all — Immorality — Character of the worshippers — What can elevate India — Appeal to the Reader 267

Chapter XX

iriNDOOISM IN PRACTICE.

Facts indicating the Religious Tendency of the Hindoos — Car Drawing — Sailing — Hook Swinging — Passing through the Fire — Other and like Observances — Quotation from Bishop Heber respecting the Moral Character of the Hindoos - - . - . - 278

Chapter XXI. Means For Advanci:n'g Christianity In India

Harmony between these m.eans— First Agency, Preaching; to Stated Congregations, in the Highways, at the Mission- House and at Tayats, with Trials of Body, Mind and Heart — Second Agency, Bible and Tract Distribution — Its Necessity and Success — Third Agency, Education, (1) Day Charity Schools, (2) Boarding Schools, (3) Literary Seminaries, (4) Theological Academies, and (5) English Schools— Concluding Remarks - - - 288

CONTENTS. XV

Fagb

Chapter XXII. Lights And Shades Of Missions In India

Quotations from the Abbe Du Bois, with Remarks in Opposition — Considerations favorable to the Cause of Christian Truth in India — (1) Change in Governmental Policy ; (2) Disconnection of Government from Hindoo Festivals and Superstitious Ceremonies ; (3) Improved Character of Foreign Residents; (4) Posture of the Native Mind tovv^ards the Religion of Christ; {-5) The existence in India of a Christian Church, with many thc^and Members ; (6) The array of Organized Means for Propagating the Truth ; and (7) The Practical Interest of all Christendom in the Prospects of the Hindoos — Certain Offsets to these Encouragements— Summing up of the whole subject -------- 306

Chapter XXIII. Christian Missions In India

The interest felt by Christendom in India — St. Thomas— Roman Catholic Missions — Society for Propagating the Gospel — Danish Missionary Society — English Baptist Missionary Society — London Missionary Society — Scottish INIissionary Society — Church Missionary Society — Free Church of Scotland Missions — American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions — American Baptist Missionary Society — Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society — Free Will Baptist INIissions — Evangelical Lutheran Missions — Concluding Remarks -------- 323

Chapter XXIV. Glossaey

Or, Vocabulary of Words and Terms in common use by writers on India, arranged in alphabetical order ----- 330

Chapter I. Geographical Survey

Relative position — Boundaries — Geographical divisions — Names of opposite Sea Coasts — Mountains described — Droogs — Rivers — Tanks — Wells — Modes of drawing water — Cataracts — Courtallum — Nullahs — Hot Springs — Lakes — Salt Marshes — Face of the country — Seasons — Climate — Extremes of heat and cold — Means of avoiding the constant and oppressive warmth — Longevity — Diseases — Features of Constitution needful in a Foreigner who would live long in India — Rapidity of death's doings illustrated by facts — Comparative healthfulness of different seasons — Cities and large Towns named and described.

The vast continent of Asia terminates on the south in three peninsulas, the central and most important of which is India. Bounded on three sides by water, and on the fourth disjoined from the high table-land of Thibet by the lofty Himalayas, nineteen hundred miles in length and in breadth fifteen hundred, with its extreme points in 8° and 35' Ts^orth Latitude, and in 67° and 92' East Longitude, this extensive country embraces within its ample limits forty districts, viz : in Northern India^ Cashmere, Sirmoor, G-urwal, Kumaoon and Nepaul ; — in India Proper, I

Lahore or the Punjaub, Mooltan, Delhi, Oude, Sind, Ajneer or Rajpootana, Agra, Kuch, Guzerat, Malwa, Allahabad, Bahar and Bengal ; — in the Deccan^ Khandesh, Gondwana, Berar, Orissa, Aurungabad, Beder, Hyderabad, the Northern Circars, and Bejapoor ; and in Southern India^ Dcoab, Ceded Districts, Northern Carnatio, Kanara, Mysore, Baramahal, Salem, Central Carnatic, Malabar, Koorg, Coimbatoor. Southern Carnatic and Travancore.

The Sea Coast on the west side from Bombay to Cape Comorin is called by Europeans the Malabar^ and that on the East side the Coromandel.

The Mountains of the Peninsula are few in number, but lofty and majestic. The Himalayas (or *' Seats of Snow") which form its northern boundary constitute one of the sublimest features in the structure of curglobe, the highest peak as yet ascertained, rising 27,000 feet above the level of the sea, and lofty as the Green Mountains of "Vermont if piled upon the Chimborazo of South America. This cloud-capped summit is esteemed the chosen residence of Siva, who, in retiring from Ceylon, threw up the Himal ayahs as his. place of retreat. Dewtas or spirits, are supposed to inhabit the most inaccessible glens, and by feigned sounds to lure the unfortunate traveller on to his ruin. In those lofty ranges the extremes of heat and cold are excessive, the former melting the snow and laying the mountains bare, while the latter is so intense as to split and detach huge masses of rock, which roll into the valleys and chep chasms below with loud and terrific reverberations. These mountains and elevated plains, rich in the precious metals, furnished, in the time of Herodotus and Ctesias, that quantity of native gold and auriferous sand, which gave rise to the fabled ants, industriously amassing stores of this precious ore, and fountains from which it bubbled up from a seemingly exhaustless depth. The inhabitants of the villages skirting the sides are poor, illiterate yet simple minded — the chiefs, however, being jealous of foreign visitors. This stupendous chain of hills is indented with ''passes," through which travellers and, at times, armies journey to and from Nepaul on the south side and Thibet on the north, for commerce and on predatory excursions. Encircling the base is a plain about twenty miles broad (called " Tarryani") upon which the waters from above pour down with such profusion that the river beds, unable to contain the torrent, overflow and convert the ground into a species of swamp, which, acted upon by the rays of a tropical sun, throws up a rank vegetation, long grass and coarse shrubs, dense and almost impenetrable. In these gloomy regions the elephant, the tiger and rhinoceros, prowl unmolested, while the few human beings who can resist the pestilential vapors, present a meagre, dwarfish and sickly aspect. Waiving any special mention of the Kumaoon, Sewalick, and Vindhya Mountains, all of which lie north of the Dekkan, our attention may be directed to a double range of hills, lining the opposite coasts of the southern peninsula and called the Eastern and Western

Ghats. The latter commences near the river Tuptee; in 20° North Latitude, and extends to Cape Comorin, while the former, beginning near the river Kistna, in 16° North Latitude, stretches to the Cauvery River on the south. From the Gulf of Cambay to the Bay of Bengal is a tract of high country, which, with the two ranges before named, form a triangle enclosing a table land elevated three thousand and more feet above the level of the sea. The mountain scenery of this region, thou2:h destitute of those features which invest the Himalayas with so awful and sublime a character, is beautiful and picturesque. A traveller leaving Madras, after traversing a country of prairie smoothness for a distance of a hundred miles, finds himself at the foot of the Western Grhats, where a steep ascent of two thousand feet brings him upon the level surface when he moves forward with ease until he reach the base of the Neilgherries, to attain the summit of which he has six thousand feet more to rise. Here the air is clear, the climate cool and healthy, the fields fertile, well cultivated, and free from jungle, while, as a farther compensation for his labor, here he meets the violet, primrose, butter-cup, wild thyme, fern, dogrose, woodbine, mosses and litchen, with various vegetables and fruits, which he has not before seen since leaving his fatherland. The native of that delightful region will tell you that he dwells in a favored spot — in a country whose origin was celestial. •' The God Rama," he says, " being i\\ pursuit of his enemy, Ravena, who had forcibly carried off the Divine

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. O

Goddess Sita, sped through the vaulted heavens, having his sword drawn, ready to deal the death-blow of revenge. In the forgetfulness of his direful wrath, lo ! by an incautious wave of his mighty weapon, he struck the moon with the point thereof, and severed from the face of that beautiful orb a chain of verdant mountains, which immediately fell to the earth in the province of Coimbatoor and united the Eastern and "Western Ghats. Hence the name Chandgherry, (or Mountains of the Moon,) which was subsequently changed by Rama to Neilgherri, (or Blue Mountains;) because he would not be reminded of his awkward mistake." In proof of his statement, the Coimbatori will point out the place on the lunar orb from which the hills fell off!

Ootacamund, a village about six thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, and two hundred miles S. AVest from Madras, is much resorted to by European invalids from all parts of the Peninsula, as also from the adjoining islands, because of its clear air and invigorating climate. Excepting these table lands and cloud-piercing heights, Southern India is very level, presenting immense areas of barren sand and dense jungle, with occasional rocks rising from the plain to the height of 100 to 200 feet, like icebergs in the northern seas. Upon the summit of these rocky acclivities the traveller often finds a fort, (called a Droog) which has done good service in years long past, when life and property were exposed to the invader's power. One of the mc/st remarkable of these is the b INDIA.

fortress of Dowlatabad, the Capital of Arungabad This fort is a mass of granite, standing more thaa a mile and a half from the hills, and rising to an elevation of five hundred feet. Another, and the most remarkable in India, is Sevendoorg, twenty miles northwest from Ban2:alore. This has a base of about eisrht miles in circumference and a height of about half a mile. In some cases a temple has been erected on the solitary summit which, with a pagoda at the base, secures a lar^e share of reverential attention from Bramins and other devotees.

The largest Rivers of India are the Indus, Sutlij, Jumna, Granges, Brahmapootra, Nerbudda, Tuptee, Muhanuddee, Grodavery, Toombudra, Pennar, Palar and Cavery — which run a united distance of about ten thousand miles : — most of them rising in the lofty Himalayas, and falling into the Bay of Bengal or Arabian sea. Of these the Indus is noted for its length and variety of appearance, flowing a distance of 1700 miles, and forming the boundary line between the Peninsula and Afghanistan. The Ga7iges is far famed for the spiritual efficacy of its waters, especially those parts of the stream which happen to run from South to North, contrary to the general direction. The Brah^ mapootra rises in Thibet, near the mouth of the Indus, sweeps through Assam with a curve westward, uniting with the Granges just above Calcutta. The Godavery is sometimes called the Second danges, because of its sacred origin and purifying efficacy. The Krishna^ from the resemblance in its color to that of Vislma in his ninth incarnation, is also an object of religious worship. The name of Punjaub (or land of streams) which the natives apply to a small portion of the Northern Hindostan is descriptive of at least one half of the peninsula. The valley of the Ganges is the most extensive and luxuriant on the face of the globe, forming a tract of 400,000 square miles, the greater part of which is susceptible of cultivation of some kind, and much is extremely fertile. In the southern district there are but few perennial streams.

During a large part of the year the bed of the river presents the appearance of an extended plain of arid sand, with a mere brook running through its midst, but so soon as the rainy season sets in, the mountains pouring down the flood that has fallen upon them, the desert is converted into a stream, or more frequently a raging torrent, majestic to behold, refreshing to the neighboring vegetation but annoying to the traveller who must wait till it has subsided, ere he can safely attempt to cross. As these rivers are an uncertain reliance for agricultural purposes the country is supplied with tanks or large artificial lakes, measuring from two to twenty miles in circumference, encircled with an embankment of clay and clods, into which the water is allowed to flow during the rainy season, and is there retained for future use. Upon each side, gates are built, by the raising of which the neisjhborino: fields are irrisrated and made fruitful. One of these is essential to every extensive farm, as without it man and beast could not subsist, and the fields would lie barren and useless. There are, it is true, large wells to be frequently met with, but these would be quite insufficient to supply water for cattle, and field-irrigation. The mode of obtaining water from the wells or tanks (when a large quantity is needed) is by means of a sweep, or Pecotah. One man climbs an upright post and placing himself on a transverse beam, treads backward and forward, thus sinking and raising an iron bucket, which another standing below guides as it passes up and down and empties when full into the channel prepared for it. This labor is performed with great rapidity, and is accompanied by a pleasant song, almost the first sound the foreigner hears after landing, and the last he forgets.

In respect to Waterfalls India is unequalled. This might be expected from the loftiness and rugged character of the Himalayas and other mountain ranges. Two instances must suffice by way of illustration and proof. The river Shirawati or Carawooty rises in the western Ghats, and falls into the Arabian Sea not far from Bombay. The bed of the stream near the Cataract is one fourth of a mile in direct breadth, but the edge of the fall is elliptical, with a sweep of about half a mile. This body of water rushes, at first, for about three hundred feet at an angle of 45° in a sheet of white foam, and is then precipitated to the depth of eight hundred and fifty more into a black abyss, with a noise like thunder. It has, therefore, a depth of eleven hundred and fifty feet, quadrupling Niagara in the depth to which it sends its foaminor waters. Another

GEOGRAPHICAL 6URVEV. 9

fall of less grandeur though greater utility is to be met with at Courtallum about 100 miles north from Cape Comorin. A horse-shoe indentation is made into the east side of the Grhats, near their southern extremity, about two miles in breadth and one in depth, within which the village is situated, with its native huts, foreign dwellings and consecrated temples. During the prevalence of the western monsoon the clouds are so driven as to cause almost hourly showers of light rain to fall within this enclosure, giving to the air a delightful and invigorating coolness, especially when contrasted with the heat which prevails but a few miles inland. Upon the summit of the mountain the water collects in large quantities and is precipitated over seven lofty ledges before it reaches the basin below. At this place Hindu superstition has erected several temnles of large dimensions and great sanctity, and a native, who would not hesitate to take a false oath elsewhere, would tremble to do so on this sacred spot. This is a favorite resort for foreigners, who will bear patiently the greatest domestic inconvenience, if they can but inhale its refreshing air and bathe in its health-giving flood. So soon, however, as the western rains cease, a rank vegetation springs up, dangerous to the life of all but native inhabitants. I spent several weeks in this delightful Sanatarium and have full knowledge of its worth and beauties, as well as the society of the agreeable and good who are wont to assemble in that "happy valley."

The traveller through India is ever meeting with small streams, from a few feet to several yards in breadth, called nullahs. These arc either arms projecting from neighboring rivers, or streams from the adjacent hills, and, though not imposing in appearance, are useful in feeding tanks and watering the herds.

Hot Springs are very numerous in the mountains, and river beds being much frequented for medicinal purposes, and with religious reverence. An English officer speaks of one he met with near the source of the Jumna, the water of which was sufficiently warm to boil rice, and the deposition of which led him to suppose that it was occasioned by the decomposition of pyrites. In some of those Greysers the temperature is 170 and even 194° Fah., and at the elevation of ten thousand feet above the sea. Others have been found in the middle of the river Godavery, in the valley of the Nerbudda, in the G-ondwana district, in Bundelcund, in a village near Pooree, in Setacuno on the Granges, and in a village near the city of Delhi. In these springs the thermometer, plunged in, ranges from 100° to 140°, and a strong smell is diffused throughout the surrounding neighborhood.

Lakes are but few in number, and those of limited dimensions. Just north of the Bay of Cambay there is an immense region of marshy land called the "run," where the waters, accumulating during the monsoon, evaporate when the rain ceases to fall, leaving a saline incrustation, which the natives collect, cleanse, and use for culinary purposes. Another salt lake was found high in the Himalayas at an elevation of sixteen thousand feet.

As to the face of the country characterizing the four geographical divisions before named, Northern India is very mountainous, but the regions between the hills susceptible of high cultivation, India Proper is divided between the vast desert of Rajpootana, the extensive valleys of the Ganges and Indus, the salt marshes of Kutch, and the jungly regions about the mouth of the sacred stream, the Dekkan has the twofold features of level and sandy plains from the sea to the foot of the Ghats, and a table land upon their summit, while the same features belong to the Southern region, where it terminates in a dense jungle and remains without cultivation and well nigh uninhabited several miles north from the Cape.

Of Seasons there are but two in India, the dry and rainy, produced by the periodical winds called rtiori' soons. During the former, vegetation labors under a deadly languor, and the sunlight penetrates with difficulty the dense vapors with which the atmosphere is loaded. Then follow the rains, a fall of two or more weeks of which without interruption being not at all uncommon, during which inundations from the bursting of tanks and the overflowing of streams frequently level to the earth the mud hut of the distressed native, and drown his flocks beneath their swelling waves. In the year 1822, the Brahmapootra overflowed its banks, by which calamity thirty-seven thousand persons were drowned, besides sheep and cattle without

12 GEOGR^PHTCAL SURVEY.

number. If the rain come not at the ordinary time, or if not in sufficient quantities, disastrous effects follow during the entire year. In 1793 so great was the scarcity occasioned by the drought, that parents sold their children for a few pounds of rice. Distress of such severity is uncommon, but inconvenience, destitution and suffering from a like cause is far from unusual in those equatorial regions. To talk of an Indian summer would be to include the whole year ; to speak of its atitumn would be absurd, for its trees are never denuded of leaves ; spring would be equally unmeaning, when vegetation blossoms in every month, and winter is there unknown.

The Climate of India, as distinguished from that of the western world, is characterized by warmth, continual, and often extreme. A few statistics will illustrate the point. During the month of January the mean temperature is —

in Calcutta . . . 69^5' Fah.

While in the State of New York it is 25°, making a difference during the coldest part of the year of 49"^. Again during the month of May the mean temperature is — while in New York State it is 70 in July — making the difference in the warmest weather of 17°. The mean temperature throughout the year is 30° higher in India than in the State of New York. The averasre coldest month in India (the mountainous region excepted) is warmer by 6° than the average warmest month in this State. Over the largest part of the peninsula the thermometer never sinks below 60° while it often rises to 95 or 100°. In the Northern Circars it has stood at 100° at midnight and 110° at 8 o'clock A. M. On the 15th of May, 1849, the thermometer stood in the City of Madras as follows :

at 10 o'clock . . . 156° Fah.

" 12 " ... 169 "

" 12 " . . 181 ''

This was, of course, under the direct action of the solar rays. In the shade, it was above 100°. Such is the intensity of the heat, that birds sometimes drop down dead in the streets and squares of Calcutta. Travellers who are compelled to pass the day in tents, often creep beneath the table or cot to shield themselves from the heat that strikes through the canvass. A modern author upon these equatorial regions, says, with much liveliness and truth : "It is all well for any one to sit by his fireside in Old England, and imagine and talk about the " sunny east" as supereminently splendid, and to be coveted ; but if he ever have the opportunity of being conveyed in a palky, (palanquin) about 2, P. M., on any day in April, from Fort St. "William to Grovernment-house and back he will never after repine, though doomed forever to remain in that climate which Prince CaricioUi described to be in Britain, ''where the sun is never seen ; and where there is no ripe fruit, but roasted apples." The climate of India is little understood by Englishmen (Americans) "at home," and an instance of which appeared in a letter I read, in which the fair writer said '• she could picture her correspondent reading under the shade of a palm-tree;" whereas the onlyendurable place was a room with all the blinds closed, and a punka waving over head. The reader may like to know what means are in use to shield the foreigner from the distressinsr effects of this constant and fatally-tending heat. Dwellings are located in places most open to the sea, are large and airy, with lofty ceilings, terraced roof for promenading, Venetian blinds, instead of window-sash and glass, bamboo mats for the floor, (carpets being too warm, and attractive to snakes, scorpions and smaller vermin,) and the whole painted white or green. Between the rising and setting of the sun, a foreigner should not leave his house without the shelter of a carriage, a palanquin, or a thick umbrella. Large fans, called pimkahs, made of the fragrant Cuskus grass, arc suspended from the ceiling, and kept in motion by a servant stationed on the verandah or in an adjoining room. Mats formed from the same material, are hung outside of the door and window, and kept saturated with water. These adjuncts relieve the heat of the parlor, the dining-room, office and church. Hand fans are often used at meals, by a native, standing behind the chair. Bathing once a day, is universally practiced, two or