they have constructed a series of terraces rising over each other, whence by simple and ingenious methods they raise the waters to irrigate the rich crops of sugar-cane, cotton, and rice, which they cultivate upon them. Wherever soil could be found, or time decomposed these primitive rocks, a barrier was raised. When discovered, should it be in a hollow below, or on the summit of a crag, it is alike greedily seized on: even there water is found, and if you leave the path below and ascend 100 feet above the terraces, you will discover pools or reservoirs dammed in with massive trees, which serve to irrigate such insulated spots, or as nurseries to the young rice plants. A patch of ground, for which the cultivator pays six rupees rent, will produce sugar-cane 600 rupees in value '.'

Among Hindoo implements of husbandry is an excellent instrument in the form of a hoe, with a handle about two feet and a half long, and the iron as wide and strong as a spade, called a kuddala, which answers the purpose of a spade and hoe.

The Indian loom, though much more simple and imperfect, is in substance the same as the English. The frame is laid almost on the ground, in which a hole

It is not true, as some writers suppose, that the Hindoos never manure their lands: in Canara leaves are strewed over the fields and ploughed up; in Nagpoor (where the mode of ploughing answers Dr. Tennant's description,) they use manure to a great amount, particularly in the cultivation of sugar, the betal leaf, and tobacco. For this purpose the dung of sheep and other animals is used. In the culture of cotton the ground is manured with wood-ashes. Rept. 1830, p. 147. 211. 322.

is cut to receive the feet of the weaver while at work. Women of all castes are engaged in the preparation of the cotton-thread. The finest muslins are manufactured at Dacca, Shantipoor, Sonarga, and Vicrampoor, where the price of a single piece, which occupies the weaver four months, sometimes amounts to 400 or 500 rupees. When this muslin is laid on the grass, and the dew has fallen upon it, it is no longer discernible. Tavernier relates that the ambassador of Shah Sefi, on his return from India, presented his master with a cocoa-nut, set with jewels, containing a muslin turban, sixty covets, or thirty English yards, in length, so exquisitely fine that it could scarcely be felt by the touch; indeed, the manufacture of no modern nation can, in delicacy and fineness, vie with the textures of Hindostan.

'The common kinds are also preferred, on the score of enduring great hardships, and retaining their whiteness better; and in respect to the coloured or prohibited goods, for the foreign markets, they will always retain their superiority. In the article of Guinea stuffs manufactured at Surat, and in request on the coast of Africa, many attempts have been made to imitate them, particularly by the French, but in vain. The Moors discover merely by the touch whether they have been manufactured in Europe or India: nor is it even to their feel and colour that they chiefly trust; they ascertain by their smell, as the indigo with which they are dyed gives them a peculiar smell which cannot be imitated'.'

1 Oriental Commerce, p. 297.

The cotton manufactures of India seem anciently to have been as much admired as they are at present, not only for their delicate texture, but for the elegance with which some of them are embroidered, and the beautiful colour of the flowers with which others are adorned. From the earliest period of European intercourse with India, that country has been distinguished for the number and excellence of the substances for dyeing various colours, with which it abounded'. The dye of the deep blue colour, in highest estimation among the Romans, bore the name of Indicum 2. From India, too, the substance used in dyeing a bright red colour seems to have been imported; and it is well known that both in the cotton and silk stuffs which we now receive from India, the blue and the red are the colours of most conspicuous lustre and beauty 3.'

The tradesmen of India are numerous. Among the inferior classes, the napitas, or barbers,' claim a distinguished place, as, like their ancient brethren of Europe, they unite a certain knowledge of pharmacy with the art and mystery of shaving. No Hindoo, even of the poorest class, ever shaves himself, or cuts his own nails; and there are numbers who disdain even to clean their own ears, which operation falls to the lot of the barbers, who may be seen in the streets, seeking employment, with an instrument like a skewer, covered at one end with cot

1 Strabo. lib. xv. c. 1, p. 694, ed. Casaub.
2 Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxv. c. 6, § 27.
3 Robertson, Dissertation, &c. App. § 4.

ton, in their hands. The rich are usually shaved daily, the middling ranks once a week, the poor once in a fortnight. The operation is generally performed in the street, or under a tree, and the operator receives for his pains, from the poor a farthing, and from the rich double that sum. The wives of the barbers, who in France both shave and cut hair, are condemned in India to operate on their own sex only, for whom they cut the nails of both fingers and toes, and stain the feet and hands with henna.

The confectioners of India, who are in great request, make and vend nearly a hundred sorts of sweetmeats, principally composed of sugar, molasses, flour, and spices, no fruit, excepting the cocoa-nut, being ever used in these delicacies, which are in great request among the Hindoos. It is very interesting to drive along the Chitpore road at Calcutta on an evening, and examine the confectioners' shops, piled with every variety of cakes and sweetmeats, while smoking fires at the very edge of the bazaar or shops, send forth a savoury odour of refreshing delicacies.

The potters' caste are numerous and varied; for besides manufacturing earthenware of different kinds, they plaster houses with clay, make bricks, tiles, spouts, balustrades, together with those little images, which, having been worshipped during certain days, are cast into the pools or rivers. Toys, also, as birds, horses, gods, coaches, and elephants, which are painted and gilt, are the work of the potter.

Blacksmiths are numerous, they make arrows, billhooks, the kuddala, or spade-hoe, the axe, the farmer's weeding-knife, the ploughshare, the sickle, the

hook to lift up the corn while the oxen are treading it out; besides nails, locks, keys, knives, chains, scissors, razors, cooking utensils, builders' and joiners' tools, instruments of war, &c.

Flower-sellers are found in great numbers in Hindoostan. It is a part of their business to make wedding crowns, together with the lamps and artificial flowers which are carried in marriage processions. They likewise work in gardens, and manufacture gunpowder and fire-works. Hindoo joiners were formerly a very rude and ignorant race, possessing no knowledge of the rule, compass or gimlet, or, indeed, of more than ten of those implements, which compose a joiner's chest of tools: but they are now richer in tools, and more skilful in the use of them. They make idols, bedsteads, window-frames, doors, boxes, seats, pillars for houses, delineate the figures of idols on boards, paint images, and sometimes engage in masonry.

The Rajakas, or washermen,' are a numerous caste. They were ignorant until recently, of the use of soap, and to this day make use of a wash composed chiefly of the ashes of the plantain, or of the argemone mexicana. The linen having been steeped in the wash, and boiled, is dipped repeatedly in water, and then beaten with a heavy mallet on a board, which is generally placed by the side of a pool or river. And this method, though somewhat adverse to the duration of linen, renders it much whiter than