will be found, in every respect to do the writer very great credit, as a man of observation and good taste; and they will be perused with no less interest than instruction :

LETTER I.

Written from the City of Shahjehanabad.-In the year Vikari, the fifteenth day of the month Phalgoon.

To the noble, and accomplished and learned Krishen Churn, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, who sitteth at the side of the cow's mouth, and drinketh the cup of Science by the water-lilies of the holy stream, his humble and grateful pupil Ram Chunder, the son of Hurripoora sendeth greeting.

When first I took my departure from the mountains of Gungootri, and bad adieu to my paternal roof, I little thought of the difficulties I should have to encounter before my arrival at this place, of the long and painful Journey I was destined to perform, and the fatigue of travelling alone and unexperienced, through an unknown country. Indeed my friend, I have already found the truth of what you declared to me before my departure, that--" the road of wisdom is interspersed with a thousand difficulties "--and--" the top of the hill of learning is most difficult of

access."

But how shall I thank the friend of my youth for all the instruction he has afforded me. Till Gooroo arrived in the valley of Coolnar, the son of Hurripoora had remained in ignorance and inactivity. Bred up in my Father's house, in the rules and maxims which our cast prescribes, I never imagined that any wisdom existed but that which the Shasters contained. In them I believed that every branch of knowledge had arrived at perfection, and that the laws and the doctrines which Munoo, the wisest of me had taught, comprehended every truth which the mind of men was destined to know. In this delusion, I had even now remained, if you, my Gooroo, had not appeared in our dwelling, spreading the light of your presence over the hills of my native home, as the beams of the morning sun when they first cast forth their light over the highest summit of Soomeroo.*

The experience you had gained in foreign countries, and your extensive acquaintance with the sciences and the manners of many nations had enlarged your mind to a more comprehensive view of mankind, and afforded you a fund of knowledge, which you were ready to communicate to others. To this happy circumstance, my present Journey may be ascribed. From your conversations, and the many wonders you related of the people who inhabit the plains, I too was led to seek a further knowledge of these things, and to view with my own eyes the extraordinary sights of which your description had so often filled my mind with delight and admiration. I longed to behold so wonderful a sight as a people whom you declared to be wiser than those renowned sages to whom in days of yore the sacred vedas were entrusted, by Vishnoo himself ;--for however impossible the existence of such a people appeared to me when those volumes were the only sources of my knowledge, I could not deny the fact after a perusal of the books of other countries, and the judgment which you enabled me to form of them. To you, my Gooroo, I

* A fabulous mountain, which, excluding the rays of the sun, is supposed in Hindoo Mythology to occasion night.

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am indebted that the thirst of knowledge, which from my infancy I inherited, had led me to a more enlightened view of mankind than the books of my own country could have afforded me. To you especially I am indebted for the wisdom and discernment with which you gradually unlocked the strong prejudices which my first studies had implanted in my mind, and which none but a superior and enlightened guide, could have combated with so much success. Still must I confess to you that these prejudices are not entirely removed, that I cannot altogether divest myself of those habits of thought to which the earliest studies of my youth have trained my mind. Though the instructions you have delivered to me are such as oblige me to yield my assent to them, yet the conviction which I desire has not always followed your arguments, and the habits of my youth, and my attachment to my earliest pursuits still raise scruples in my mind, which I foresee that a lapse of years and a more extended knowledge of the world can only fully move. Above all my veneration for the sacred vedas, the memory of those antient traditions which have handed down to us the history of our fathers for so many generations, and the high antiquity of the laws and the manners of our Country, the mysterious awe with which I have contemplated those profound doctrines which our sacred books unfold and endeavoured to believe the wonderful stories they relate, the hours that I have spent in silent meditation on the form of Vishnoo, and the frequent performance of other still more solemn rights of devotion; the influence of all these things, my Gooroo, has rivetted a strong and powerful charm over my mind; and often whilst I am engaged in the fascinating range of European learning, the remembrance of them, comes across my mind, and checks the ardor of my pursuit, filling my fancy with many a scruple which it requres no small effort in me to overcome. On such occasions, often do I long for your assistance, and recall to mind the words of your advice-" Go, and seek in an intercourse with the world a confirmation "of the things I have told you; lay aside all that you have yet learnt, "and judge of the fitness of things not by the rules of the Shasters, but "by the maxims of common sense, and the wisdom and learning of "other countries." Adieu, my Gooroo; your advice shall be attended to by him who well knows the value of it, and your instructions shall be treasured in my heart as the horns of the sacred cow which lie buried in the caves of Golparoo,

LETTER-II.

FROM SHAHJEHANABAD, THE 23D BYSAKH.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

Lament with me my kind friend and adviser! The misgivings which I mentioned in my last letter, I now find from experience I had but too just reason to entertain.

Vainly I thought that the wisdom of your lessons had shielded me against the encroachment of those prejudices they were intended to remove. I have scarcely yet begun to associate with the English Residents of th's Country, when the propriety of many of their customs, their impure habits of living, and the inconsistency of their opinions with regard to right and wrong, have quite bewildered my mind. From the writings of their Countrymen which I have perused, I was led to believe that nothing but wisdom and excellence dwelt among them, that each person I met would be as learned as Brihuspotee, and that nothing but the most profound truths could have proceeded from their lips. But

alas how erroneous is the knowledge which is derived only from the writings of wise men, and how soon will he be disappointed with the world, who has formed his judgment of mankind in the retirement of his study, from imaginary wars of human life, without mixing in the busy scene himself.

I had not been long in this place before I waited on the English Gentleman to whom you recommended me. My object you already know is to obtain a further knowledge of these inhabitants of the western world, these birds of flight who finding their way over the wide waters of the Sea wherever wealth or riches point out, resort as it were for a season amongst us as the breed of wild deer who pay their annual visits to the green pastures of Shatu.*

I found the person whom I went to see, to be a man of learning and politeness. He enquired at what season of the year I had quitted Gangootri, of the situation of the place and the character of the country from which I came, of the nature of its productions, the number of its inhabitants and their manner of living. In these particulars he evinced the remarkable desire of obtaining every kind of information, which so universally characterize the manner of this people. He asked me also of the history of my father's house, and seemed surprised that any one of my country should have left his home with no other object than the pursuit of knowledge.

Though even in this person I could not but discern many little omissions which offended those ideas of good breeding in which I have so long been bred up, it was not till the following evening when I was taken to a nautch at a Gentleman's house, that I was farther struck with the infringement of the established rules of propriety and decorum. Here, my Gooroo, my prejudices were first awakened by the extraordi nary sight among a wise and intelligent people, where all the females of the house whether married or unmarried were admitted to dance promis cuously before the Company. But first I thought it might be some palliation to this singular custom, that those with whom the females danced were possibly near relations of the family-but on further inquiry I was told that very few of the parties were related to each other; that on the contrary many had not even known each other before the evening when the amusement took place, though I have some reason to think that this last is a little exaggeration. The only good which appears to me can possibly result from this uncivilized custom (for such I cannot help still considering it) is the opportunity it affords to young persons of meeting and associating with the females of other families to whom they may afterwards be married, and although the Shasters expressly declare, that "in every stage of life a woman is born to obey her husband," yet I am inclined to think that a previous acquaintance with those with whom we are thus united, would remedy in some degree the inconvenience of adopting as wives those whom we afterwards find to be mere prattlers and quarrelsome housewifes, rather keeping the house in an uproar than attending to their own domestic duties. This, however, though the only apparent advantage of such familiar intercourse between the male and female part of society, seems to be very little attended to, by this extraordinary people, for I am credibly informed that many of them contract matrimonial alliances after only a week or ten days acquaintance, so that one would suppose they are incapable of even profiting by any little advantage which the wise and discerning of man

* A small Village in the vicinity of Gangootri.

kind know how to elicit even from the most barbarous customs. Upon the whole, my Gooroo, I am very much inclined to the same opinion which we formerly discussed together in the mountains of Coolnar, that since chastity, modesty and exclusive attachment to their husbands are the most important duties of married women, such virtues are more likely to be preserved by wise and judicious retirement within their own families than by the unrestrained intercourse which appears to subsist in the female society of this people. I cannot refrain, however, from expressing my surprize that though this is the conclusion which at first sight such a comparison would readily suggest, and which indeed after long meditation I had fully settled in my own mind, yet experience leads me to an opposite result-for since I have frequented more their Society, I am obliged to confess that notwithstanding the general familiarity which prevails between the two sexes, there are after all fewer instances of infidelity in married life among them than with us. I shall take further notice afterwards of the causes to which such a strange anomaly can be attributed. I confess it has surprised me more than any thing else I have met with, nor till I had well examined the truth of it, could I be fully persuaded of its reality.

In respect to the laws of caste, I am rather surprised to find that they are held in pretty much the same estimation with them which has been so often objected to on our part, for I am told that a young lady of this place who had formed an attachment to a Gentleman who deals in Indigo was prevented from marrying him, because a Captain in the Army had paid his addresses at the same time. Indeed I am told by some people, that even now if a Major or Colonel was to make his appearance in the same pursuit, the Captain in that case would have to seek a wife elsewhere.

I have only further to add with regard to the married part of society, that whatever you may have said to the contrary, I see no instances of any one who has more than one wife, and I am told by the best authority that the King himself has no more; indeed what is still more surprising that this rule was adhered to even though his last wife and he were on the worst terms possible, so that they very seldom or ever met, which you would have supposed would at least have been sufficient reason for his taking one more wife.

At the conclusion of the nautch, I was invited in a very polite manner to join the company at supper, where it required no little forbearance on my part to sit surrounded by people, who contrary to all the ideas of propriety which from my infancy I have been led to respect, made no scruples in helping themselves to every sort of animal food in their way, who would devour the flesh of a cow with as little remorse as a fowl or a turkey, and who empty full goblets of wine with as much ease as the learned Ugustyu, who drank the ocean dry in a single mouthful.

One young man I observed of a delicate appearance, who sat next to me, abstained altogether from the pernicious custom, and did not even join the others in drinking wine. At first I supposed he was one of the Padres of the place, and I ventured to quietly ask him a few questions on the subject, touching on the point as delicately as possible, but I could not help feeling some what disappointed, when after a few leading questions, he candidly answered me that he had merely discontinued the custum in consequence of bad health, and that in a few days he should take to it again. Indeed I could remark that when any one else invited him to drink; he filled his glass with wine rather than water, from which I am led to believe, that he thought it rather disreputable not to in

dulge a little in the former. So strange is it that the customs of society alone should oblige any individual to conform so scrupulously to a practice for which they have no written laws either for or against it. Truly, my dear Gooroo, the Kali Yoogu has come amongst this infatuated people, who confess they have not one prescribed will for eating and drinking, a practice of such frequent occurrence that one would suppose it a more essential point of obedience than any other occupation of the day.

LETTER III.

FROM GANGOOTRI, THE 28TH JOISHTA.

Krishen Churn Gooroo to Ram Chunder.

My Son.-Thy letters that we have at last received have filled thy father's house and mine with joy and satisfaction. Thy family rejoice to hear thou art well and I to see thee on that journey of life, which will alone extend thy powers of mind, and give a useful and practical application to the lessons I once taught thee in the solitude and seclusion of these mountains. Mayst thou continue thy journey in peace and safety. May the winds of heaven waft thee all the blessings of life and defend thee from its evils, that when thou returnest to the dwelling of thy fathers, I may see that reason has acquired a victory over prejudice, and the end of my instructions will be accomplished.

Do not however suppose that you will soon accommodate yourself to the manners and sentiments of this people. The intellectual fabric which you there see raised is the work of ages, and think not that in a few months or even few years you will attain the same. The principles and opinions which influence the mind of a European will never, I may venture to say, be infused into the mind of an adult of our country.

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If indeed according to their Philosophers, the mind of man at its birth is but as a blank paper, I see no impossibility that a son of one of our countrymen, should become a Newton or a Montesquieu, but the work can not be accomplished unless begun at the foundation. The fountains of the largest rivers may be diverted to a different channel from that where they are accustomed to flow, but you may well attempt to turn the waters of the Ganges, when they have overspread the plains below, as to eradicate from the breast of a son of Brahma the principles of a religion which so many years have established. It is not for thee however to despair. Thy virtue and good sense have taught thee-- to raise thy mind above the intellectual pursuits of thy countrymen, and if you have not yet acquired the extended knowledge of one of these people, or if you do not possess their high powers of mind, and the opportunities they enjoy of enlarging and perfecting them, you will escape also the high criminality of being master of those lofty privileges and of allowing them to remain unemployed-content thyself therefore with the knowledge thou hast acquired, and wonder not that it is no more, for what thou already hast has been the work of ages of civilization.

What I tell thee above is rather to remind thee of my former opinion, that if thou meetest any of thy countrymen ambitious of European Science, thou mayst tell them that the work can only be effectually done in infancy, and that every succeeding year in which native manners and native principles are imitated and adopted, adds only an increasing obstacle to any future attempt to subdue them.

In the meantime do not be surprised at what you behold in European Society. They too have their prejudices as well as we, but there is