goldsmiths of Kutch and Kattywâr emboss very neatly, by filling the cup, watch-case, box, or other vessel, with gum-lac, and punching it in, to the figure required, with a small chisel. Major Sale shewed me a watch-case and a small tankard, very prettily ornamented in this manner, with flowers, elephants, and different birds and animals.' As ornaments of gold and silver are much worn by the Hindoos of both sexes, whether young or old, this is a flourishing caste. Distillers, though they employ a rude apparatus, produce excellent arrack, and the Nagas and other tribes brew good beer. Few castes of Hindoos are more despised than the shoemakers, principally because they work up the skin of the cow, and may thus be suspected of indirectly encouraging the slaughter of that sacred animal. However, though despised and not allowed to get drunk, they are excellent workmen, and will make a pair of shoes for four-pence; but for a good pair, which will last two years, they demand eighteen pence. In the upper parts of India they make several kinds of gilt and ornamented shoes, like those worn by the Grecian ladies, which sell in Bengal for from three to forty rupees. These merry sons of Crispin are likewise employed as musicians at weddings, feasts, and religious ceremonies; which, in the opinion of Ward, accounts in a great measure for the horrid din which on these occasions stuns the ear of an European. The Hindoo druggists are a respectable class of people. The brass-founders are numerous and skilful. Shell-ornament-makers abound in Calcutta, where the women sometimes wear six or eight rings of shells on each wrist. In some parts of the country all the lower part of the arm is covered with them. These trinkets, like the gold and silver ornaments possessed by the peasants of France, sometimes become a kind of heir-loom in the family, and descend from mother to daughter to the third or fourth generation'. In different parts of India gunpowder is manufactured, cannon (both brass and iron) cast, and various warlike weapons, as also coats of mail of exquisite workmanship prepared. Paper, whether for writing, printing, or wrapping, is made in large quantities, and the introduction of a steam papermill at Serampore has introduced an improved material into the market. The indigo made by natives is equal to any of the European factories, and in delicateness and brilliancy of dyes they quite excel us. The Hindoo surgeons, although not equally daring as the Europeans in the large operations of amputations, &c. are quite as skilful in couching for the cataract, or cutting for the stone; and whether handicraft requires patient endurance, firmness of touch, and keenness of sight, they are not behind their Western brethren. To say,' says Bishop Heber, that the Hindoos or Musulmans are deficient in any essential feature of a civilized people, is an assertion which I can scarcely suppose to be made by any who have lived with them. Their manners are at least as pleasing and courteous as those of the corresponding stations of life among ourselves; their 1 Ward, View, &c. vol. i. p. 98-142. inferior to the Where they fall houses are larger, and, according to their wants and climate, to the full as convenient as ours; their architecture is at least as elegant. Nor is it true that in the mechanic arts they are general run of European nations. short of us (which is chiefly in agricultural implements and the mechanics of common life), they are not, so far as I have understood of Italy and the South of France, surpassed in any great degree by the people of those countries. Their goldsmiths and weavers produce as beautiful fabrics as our own, and it is so far from true that they are obstinately wedded to their own patterns, that they show an anxiety to imitate our models, and do imitate them very successfully. The ships built by native artists at Bombay are notoriously as good as any which sail from London or Liverpool. The carriages and gigs which they supply at Calcutta are as handsome, though not as durable, as those of Long Acre. In the little town of Monghir, 300 miles from Calcutta, I had pistols, double-barrelled guns, and different pieces of cabinet-work brought down to my boat for sale, which in outward form (for I know no further) nobody could detect to be of Hindoo origin.' In closing this chapter I trust sufficient facts have been adduced to prove the claims which our Hindoo fellow-subjects have on their brethren in England: I have quoted the testimony of others, in preference to recording my own observations, in order to avoid the recurrence of the charge that has been made of my being prejudiced in favour of the Hindoos, and of our colonists in general. I know of no individual who has ever resided long in India, or attentively examined the Hindoos, without speaking warmly in their favour: I found them, whether Hindoos, Mussulmans, or Parsees, grateful for even slight attentions, courteous in their manners, hospitable without ostentation, punctual in their duties, and brave without boasting,-in charity abounding, strict in religious rites, and scrupulously exact in the performance of social obligations; of an intelligence quick and refined, docile under instruction, and expanding in comprehension. That England may treat them with justice, and no longer impoverish their beautiful and fertile land by a grasping, mercenary commercial system, which beggars the Hindoo without enriching Britain, is my fervent and anxious wish. CHAPTER VIII. STATE OF CRIME IN BRITISH INDIA. INTIMATELY Connected with the press, education and religion of a people, is the state of crime in a country; the judicial establishment of India will be detailed in the next volume, and here it will only be necessary to refer to some statistics of crime. The official returns on the subject are few, not to the latest, and consequently most favourable period, and relating principally to the Bengal Presidency-such as they are, however, they demonstrate, that while crime has increased rapidly in England, owing to the poverty of the people, and the severity and uncertainty still existing in her criminal laws, the contrary has taken place in the territories of the East India Company; demonstrating the improved condition of the people and the beneficent nature of their government'; for assuredly whatever elevates a nation in morality and temporal happiness, well deserves the appellation of beneficent. To begin with the highest class of offences for examination : Number of Persons Sentenced to Death, and to Transportation or Imprisonment for Life, by the Court of Nizamut Adawlut of Bengal, from 1816 to 1827. To Transporta To Transporta tion or First Sentenced tion or Second Sentenced for Life. for Life. The decrease which the foregoing table exhibits will delight every friend of humanity; on death sen 1 Since the first edition of this work went to press, corporal punishments, as the penalty of civil crimes, have been abolished by the Anglo-Indian Government. |