in the presence of friends, place a garland of flowers on the neck of each other, and thus declare themselves man and wife.

The greatest number of marriages take place in the months Ugrŭbayunŭ, Maghŭ, and Phalgoonŭ, these being considered as very fortunate months. In Joisht'hŭ, eldest sons are forbidden to marry. In Voishakhŭ few marriages are celebrated, and in Poushŭ and Choitrů scarcely any, except where the parents are of low cast, and extremely poor. In the other months, none marry. From marriages in the first three months, arise riches; in Asharbŭ, poverty. If an eldest son be married in Joisht'hŭ, he will die; if any marry in Shravŭnŭ, none of the children will live; if in Bhadrŭ or Choitrů, the wife will be inconstant; if in Ashwinŭ, both husband and wife will die; if in Kartikŭ, they will have fevers and other diseases; if in Poushu, the wife will become a widow.b

Hindoo girls, to obtain good husbands, frequently worship the gods; and a woman sometimes secretly administers to her husband a medicine obtained from some old woman, to cause her husband to love her! When husbands remain long from home, some women practise a superstitious custom to hasten their return; while others, to ascertain whether a husband is well or ill, is on his way home or not, is dead or alive, call a witch, who takes the winnowing fan, and, according to its motion in her

The Romans, says Kennett, were very superstitious in reference to the particular time of marriage, fancying several days and seasons very unfortunate for this design. Ovid says, Fast. 5. 487,

"Nor ever bride

Link'd at this season long her bliss enjoy'd.”

if the wife be guilty of many wicked actions, and the husband die first, he will suffer for the sins of his wife. In the apprehensions of a Hindoo, therefore, marriage ought to be a very serious business.

SECT. III.-Notices relative to Manners and Customs in general.

THE Hindoos, notwithstanding their divisions into. casts, and various sects, are scarcely less peculiar and iso lated in their manners than the Chinese: their dress, their ceremonies, and their domestic economy, have been preserved without innovation from age to age. Still, however, the unchanging dress and modes of the Hindoos are natural and graceful, compared with those of a Chinese, who, with his long tail, his fantastic dress, his fan, his wooden shoes, and his chuckling sulam, looks more like a piece of carved work, than a human being walking at large on the earth.

Many of the higher orders of Hindoos, especially in the Northern provinces, are handsome in their features, having an oval face, and a nose nearly aquiline. Some are comparatively fair, and others quite black, but a dark brown complexion is most common, with black eyes and hair. The general expression of the countenance reminds you, that the Hindoo is mild and timid, rather disposed to melancholy, and effeminate pleasures. In Bengal, the greatest number are below the middle stature, and very slender in body; but this description does not altogether suit the Hindoos of the upper provinces, where you immediately perceive, that you are surrounded.

The following description of Hindoo females, though written respecting those living in another part of India, appears to be so just, that I have thought it right to copy it. Bartolomeo is certainly one of our best writers on Hindoo manners and customs. "Till their thirteenth year, they are stout and vigorous; but after that period, they alter much faster than the women in any of the nations of Eurode. Early marriage, labour, and diseases, exhaust their constitutions before the regular time of decay. They are lively, active, and tractable; possess great acuteness; are fond of conversation; employ florid expressions, and a phraseology abundant in images; never carry any thing into effect till after mature deliberation; are inquisitive and prying, yet modest in discourse; have a fickle inconstant disposition; make promises with great readiness, yet seldom perform them; are importunate in their requests, but ungrateful when they have obtained their end; behave in a cringing obsequious manner when they fear any one, but are haughty and insolent when they gain the superiority; and assume an air of calmness and composure when they acquire no satisfaction for an injury, but are malicious and irreconcileable ⚫ when they find an opportunity of being revenged. I was acquainted with many families who had ruined themselves with lawsuits, because they preferred the gratification of revenge to every consideration of prudence."

The merits and demerits of husband and wife are trans ferable to either in a future state: if a wife perform many meritorious works, and the husband die first, he will enjoy heaven as the fruit of his wife's virtuous deeds; and

The Muhabharŭtů, and other shastrus, teach, that a female, when she offers herself on the funeral pile, removes the sins of her husband, and carries him with her to heaven. Savitrēē, a bramhiŭuée, say the poorants, raised her husband to life by her works of merit,

if the wife be guilty of many wicked actions, and the hus band die first, he will suffer for the sins of his wife. In the apprehensions of a Hindoo, therefore, marriage ought to be a very serious business.

SECT. III.-Notices relative to Manners and Customs in general.

THE Hindoos, notwithstanding their divisions into casts, and various sects, are scarcely less peculiar and iso lated in their manners than the Chinese: their dress, their ceremonies, and their domestic economy, have been preserved without innovation from age to age. Still, however, the unchanging dress and modes of the Hindoos are natural and graceful, compared with those of a Chinese, who, with his long tail, his fantastic dress, his fan, his wooden shoes, and his chuckling sulam, looks more like a piece of carved work, than a human being walking at large on the earth.

Many of the higher orders of Hindoos, especially in the Northern provinces, are handsome in their features, having an oval face, and a nose nearly aquiline. Some are comparatively fair, and others quite black, but a dark brown complexion is most common, with black eyes and hair. The general expression of the countenance reminds you, that the Hindoo is mild and timid, rather disposed to melancholy, and effeminate pleasures. In Bengal, the greatest number are below the middle stature, and very slender in body; but this description does not altogether suit the Hindoos of the upper provinces, where you immediately perceive, that you are surrounded.

with a people more robust and independent, though the general features are the same.

The Hindoos are generally loquacious, and the common people very noisy in conversation. Their youth are lively, inquisitive, and of quick perception. They appear to be capable of great improvement, and of imitating most of the European arts, and carrying them to the greatest perfection: either they are incapable of bold and original designs, or their long slavery to ancient patterns and usages has, like the Chinese shoe, made the whole race cripples.

The dress of the rich, in which there is neither buttons, strings, nor pins, is happily suited to the climate, and produces a very graceful effect. Over their loins they fold a cloth which almost covers their legs, hanging down to the tops of the shoes. The upper garment is a loose piece of fine white cloth "without seam from top to bottom," thrown over the shoulders, and, except the head, neck, and arms, covering the whole body. The head is always uncovered, unless the heat or cold cons strain the person to draw his upper garment over it like a hood. Shoes worn by the rich, are covered with gold

Refore a Hindoo puts on a new garment, he plucks a few threads out of it, and offers them to different beings, that they may be propitious, and that it may wear well. The poor wear their garments till they are very filthy, and the pillow on which they sleep is never washed, notwithstanding their hair is oiled daily; their houses and garments are generally full of vermin.

A native, when he saw a picture of His Majesty George the Third in the house of the author, in a Roman habit, asked, why he wore garments like the Hindoos, and not like the English.

"The colour of the (Roman) gown is generally believed to have been white. As to attire for the head, the Romans ordinarily used none, except