he huts are scarcely big enough to hold
human creatures, nor strong enough to bear the pelting of the storm. When
you enter them you will find neither floor nor window, and very little
furniture; neither chair, nor table, nor bed--nothing but a large earthen
bottle for fetching water, a smaller one for drinking, a basket for
clothes, a few earthen pans, a few brass plates, and a mat.

A Hindoo is counted very rich who has procured a wooden bedstead to place
his mat upon, and a wooden trunk, with a lock and key, to contain his
clothes; such a man is considered to have a well-furnished house.

As you pass through the villages, you may see groups of men sitting under
the trees smoking their pipes, while children, without clothes, are
rolling in the dust, and sporting with the kids. Prowling about the
villages are hungry dogs and whining jackalls, seeking for bones and
offal; but the children are too much used to these creatures to be afraid
of them. Hovering in the air are crows and kites, ready to secure any
morsel they can see, or even to snatch the food, if they can, out of the
children's little hands.

What a confused noise do you hear as you pass along! barking, whining,
and squalling, loud laughing, and incessant chattering. It is a heathen
village, and the sweet notes of praise to God are never sung there.

Yet in every village there is a little temple with an idol, and a priest
to take the idol, to lay it down to sleep, and to offer it food, which he
eats himself.

The poor people bring the food for the idol with flowers, and place it at
the door of the temple.

APPEARANCE.--The Hindoos are pleasing in their appearance, for their
features are well-formed, their teeth are white, and their eyes have a
soft expression. The women take much pains to dress their long black
hair, which is soft as silk: they gather it up in a knot at their heads,
and crown it with flowers. They have no occasion for a needle to make
their dresses, as they are all in one piece. They wind a long strip of
white muslin (called a saree) round their bodies, and fold it over their
heads like a veil, and then they are full dressed, except their
ornaments, and with these they load themselves; glass rings of different
colors on their arms, silver rings on their fingers and toes, and gold
rings in their ears, and a gold ring in their nose.

The men wear a long strip of calico twisted closely round their bodies,
and another thrown loosely over t