establishments, (1) on the coasts of Malabar in Bombay, (2) in Bengal at Calcutta, (3) on the Coromandel coast at Madras, (4) of Sumatra at Bancola. Each of these establishments is totally independent of the others, and has to receive orders only immediately from the direction in London; they are nevertheless obliged to aid each other in case of need. When I was in Bombay and the news of troubles in Bengal arrived, troops were at once sent there, without waiting for orders from England. The English judge here their subjects, no matter of what nation or religion they may be, according to their proper laws, and that without advocates, or such judges as have studied those laws.

The Government of Bombay is composed of the person of the Governor or President and twelve councillors, all of whom are merchants, except the Major, who has the third voice in the council;* the other civil officers of the Company are either first merchants, or sub-merchants, or factors, or writers. They are usually promoted according to seniority from the post of writer as far as that of councillor, but if the President returns to England, or dies, it is only that councillor who has most friends at the direction in London who succeeds him. Sometimes they are transferred, as was the case with Mr. Spencer, a man of great penetration and much integrity, who was councillor of Bombay when I arrived, but was before my departure sent to be the Governor of Bengal.

The President is obliged always to dwell on the island; the councillors have here also partly their duties, such as that of treasurer, inspector of magazines, book-keeper, &c., or they are the directors of commerce in other colonies which depend from this government; in my time there was one at Surat, one at

* Since my departure everything has greatly changed there. As the English have made great conquests since that time, they have also considerably augmented their land as well as their sea forces. At present their first officer in Bombay is a Brigadier, and whereas formerly the opinion of the Major was demanded only on military affairs, the Brigadier has now the third voice in every case; and the President of the Marine, who had formerly no voice at all in the council, has now the fourth voice. In course of time also the Governor of Bombay will no more be selected from the merchants, but will always have to be a military man.

Tellichery and one at Anyengo, in which places the Company has castles and a strong garrison. There was also a councillor in Bosrah, and when the English drove away the Malvans in 1765 (shortly after my departure), they sent a councillor there immediately. Soon afterwards however they restored this territory to the Indians for a considerable sum; on the other hand they have since my departure made the conquest of the great town of Broach, north of Surat, which has its own Nabob and where the Dutch had since more than 100 years maintained a considerable counting-house; there also a councillor from Bombay is at present established. Moreover, the English possess on this coast various small establishments where they send first merchants, sub-merchants, or factors, such are three places in Sind, namely to Tatta, a great town and residence of the lord of the country, to Lar Bunder and to Shah Bunder; further to Abushehr in the Persian gulf, to Cambay, to Onore, to Kalikut and to Fort Victoria. The last-mentioned place is situated on a large river which goes far into the interior of the country as far as Puna, the residence of the Maratha chief; the English have taken it in exchange for some villages given to the latter opposite to Gueri, a fort taken by them from the famous pirate Angria. They hoped in this manner to open a considerable trade with the Maratha country, but as this project has as yet not succeeded, all the profit they derive from this place is a great deal of cattle, because there are many Muhammadans in these countries, whereas around Bombay there are only pagans who neither slaughter animals nor sell them to be slaughtered. Writers, merchants, and even councillors are sometimes transferred and obtain lucrative posts according to seniority. In this manner they become perfectly acquainted with the trade of every place, which is the more useful to them when they are afterwards summoned to the council of Bombay to have the inspection of the whole.

(To be continued.)

INDIAN RELIGIOUS LIFE.

IN the middle of February Professor Monier Williams delivered a lecture at the London Institution on "Indian Religious Life," and at the same time introduced Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma (of Balliol College, Oxford), as the first real Indian Sanskrit scholar who has ever visited this country.

We take the following report from Allen's Indian Mail: -"A crowded and attentive audience assembled on Monday, at the London Institution, to listen to Professor Monier Williams's lecture on this subject. He began by stating that the principal feature of religious life in Vedic times was the adoration of fire and the sun. Fire had a triple existencefirst in the sun, secondly on the hearth, and thirdly in the air as lightning. Thus it typified the creative principle, the fostering powers, and the destructive force. The sun was worshipped in a triune form, as the morning, mid-day, and evening orb. The marriage of the householder was attested by fire. He had a domestic sanctuary with three symbolic fire hearths, whence daily his prayers and offerings were borne upwards in the ascending flames. Fortnightly and quarterly especial family services were solemnised, of which confessions of sin and hymns of praise and supplication formed the chief part. The primitive Vedism was succeeded by Brahmanism, which introduced an elaborate sacrificial system, based on the doctrine that all nature was a manifestation of one spiritual essence-Brahma. This degenerated into polytheistic idolatry. The lecturer then sketched the rise and progress of the Buddhistic reformation, taught by

Gautama. In the seventh and eighth centuries the teachers Kumárila and Sankara restored the predominance of Brahmanism. The Vaishnavist teachings in the twelfth century were then briefly referred to. The later theistic movements, headed by Kabira and Nánaka, in the sixteenth century, were due to imitations of Islam, while the more recent growth of the Brahmo churches sprang from Christian influences. The professor described how the foundations of Hinduism had been shaken and the old sacrificial system uprooted. But the dogma of transmigration remained deeply rooted in the Hindu mind. The fear of degradation and misery in a future existence caused the modern Brahmana to submit to an intolerable burden of ceremonial in order to be delivered from repeated existences, and to be reunited to the divine Brahma. The lecturer then described various religious rites and places of pilgrimage, especially Benares.

"He, in conclusion, introduced to the audience Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma, to recite and expound Vedic hymns and ceremonials. The Pandit, who is described as a theistic follower of one of the Vedic reformers, after a few well spoken words of apology and explanation of the disabilities incurred by his having come to England as a student, chanted the first Vedic hymn. He then exemplified the variations of recital, and argued that they were needful for the preservation of the sacred text by oral tradition. He claimed the gratitude of philologists to the Pandits who had thus scrupulously conserved the ancient Vedas. The ceremonial forms of daily worship were next expounded, and the doctrine of transmigration defended from the Brahmanistic point of view. The Pandit was listened to with well deserved attention and approval. We wonder if it would be possible to arrange for Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma to give an exposition of the tenets professed by his co-religionists. His brief rationalistic

explanations of the ancient creed and ceremonial commanded intense attention from his hearers, who would doubtless gladly embrace an opportunity of listening to a more elaborate discourse with fuller details."

PROVERBS IN THE ZENANA.

Rev. James Long contributes the following further specimens of proverbs which convey moral lessons, in continuation of his article in our February number, and he continues to request additions to his collection.

BUSYBODIES.

Solomon compares such to one taking a fierce dog by the ear: it is difficult to hold him, and should he let him go the dog will fly at him before he can get beyond his reach. The Telugus give Solomon's proverb in another form, "Like a snake in a monkey's paw," ie., Jacko finds it difficult to hold him and dangerous to let him go. An old English proverb says, "He that is intermeddling with all things may go shoe the goslings." The Persians call a babbler, "a dog without a tail." Bengali proverb, "I bind him and he shrieks out, I loose him and he wants to fight with me." Turkish proverb, "One rushing between two camels is kicked by both." "To live in peace one must be blind, deaf and mute." Persian proverb, "Whoever pats scorpions with the hand of compassion receives punishment."

BAD COMPANY.

The improving effect of good company is expressed by the Bengalis, "Blackness leaves the coal when fire enters"; or the Talmud, "Near to the perfumer is fragrance."

Persian proverb, "One scabby goat infects the flock." Urdu proverb, "No twisting a rope of sand." The wicked have little. sympathy. "Is the bullock's sore tender to the crow?" Telugu proverb, "Among 100 crows what can one cuckoo do?" The good