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No. 22. JEWELRY-FROM SPECIMENS COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR

These engravings are of the size of the objects which they represen. No. 1 is an ornament for the ear; the lobe of the ear is pierced, and the aperture gradually stretched until Some of the women it becomes sufficiently large to admit the ornament. No. 2 is a nose jewel. No. 3 is a bracelet; it is made of brass, and weighs one pound and nine ounces. deck the arms with from ten to twenty brass rings, weighing more than half a pound each.

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public assembly. It is only the higher class of females, however, who are kept thus secluded; among the common people, women are to be seen at work in the fields, or going to market with large bundles of wood, or other heavy burdens, borne upon the head.

In engraving, No. 21 you have a representation of the usual method of travelling. With but few exceptions, there are no roads; consequently, wheel carriages are seldom used. This vehicle is called a palankeen. On the sides are sliding doors or venetians. Its construction in other respects will be readily understood. The usual number of bearers is eight. Four of these carry the pa.ankeen thirty or forty rods; then the others take it upon. their shoulders; thus, alternately, they relieve each other. Beside the bearers, several other men are employed to carry the baggage and to bear lighted torches by night. The bearers and other assistants are changed once in about ten miles, or as often as stage-drivers change their horses. The traveller proceeds on his Journey from seventy to ninety miles in twenty-four hours, at an expense of about twenty-five cents per mile.

No. 24 is a Brahmin engaged in reading and explaining a poem containing some hundred thousand stanzas written on palm-leaf. It is one of many others equally voluminous, and has been handed down from generation to generation for more than three thousand years; it is written in Sanscrit, a dead language of a "wonderful construction more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." It is a portion of the Holy Vedas. In a peculiar tone of voice, he chants the sacred text, stopping at the end of each stanza to translate and explain. His hearers listen attentively to the exciting narrative, now convulsed with laughter at some dexterous exploit, and then thrilled with horror at some dreadful calamity. All the religious books of the Hindus, including the four Vedas, are called Shasters. They are so numerous that an entire human life would not be sufficient for an attentive perusal of them.

No. 23 is a celebration of the Huli festival. On this occasion, the people of all classes use the most obscene and abusive language, and, by means of large syringes, bespatter each other with

See "Specimens of the Shasters or Sacred Books of the Brahmins, consisting of Songs Legendary Tales, &c.," page 247 of this volume.

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