Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 Part 19

All have heard of the caste system of India, but only those who have lived among the people can understand its innumerable ramifications and its remarkable effects. Every caste, down to the lowest, is endlessly sub-divided. There are Brahmans who would as soon eat, drink, and intermarry with people of low caste, as with many who like themselves boast of Brahmanical blood. In books the Sudras are described as the fourth, the low, servile caste; but in fact a vast number in Northern India, who are loosely reckoned Hindus, are far below the Sudras, and thus the Sudras acquire a relatively high place. These low-caste people, on whom the people above them look down with contempt, are in their own fas.h.i.+on as tenacious of caste as their superiors, and they, too, multiply their divisions, one cla.s.s maintaining its superiority to others. We have a large community called _Chumars_, "leather-people" as the word means, though many of them have nothing to do with leather. One of them once told me there were twelve divisions in their caste. We had near us at Ranee Khet a little colony of Dhobees, washermen, whom I visited now and then. I observed some huts were built separate from the rest, and I asked the reason. The man to whom I was speaking, for his cla.s.s an intelligent man, expressed his surprise I did not know the reason. He said, with an air of dignity, "These are of an inferior order, and it is requisite their huts should be built apart."

It has been often shown that this caste system is most baleful. It narrows the sympathies of the people, keeps them in the same groove, fetters their minds, represses individuality, and is a bar to progress.

It would be unfair, however, to say that all its consequences are pernicious. It so far benefits those bound by it that it restrains them from some forms of evil, and secures mutual helpfulness, just as the close trade guilds of our own country did, of which we have happily got rid. When the clan system was in full force among the Scotch Highlanders, there were broken men, men who had left the clan or were expelled from it, and these were notorious for their crimes. In like manner there are persons who break away from caste, and are the worst members of the community.

The patriarchal system, the system so prevalent in India, by which the people, instead of forming separate families in their separate dwellings, all form one household, to a large extent with a common purse and under a common rule, is perhaps still more fitted to fetter the mind and to obstruct progress than even caste itself. Those who have embraced Christ as their Saviour have often suffered more from their own kindred, dwelling together, than from their caste brethren.

[Sidenote: THE DISINTEGRATION OF CASTE.]

Many things tend to the disintegration of caste, such as education, the subjection of all to the same laws, the growing demands of commerce, and travelling together in railway-carriages. The attractions of the railway, notwithstanding its disregard of cla.s.s distinctions, are irresistible. Thousands of pilgrims thus make their way to distant shrines, though by travelling in this easy fas.h.i.+on they lose the merit which suffering would bring. When railways were constructed, a proposal was made by leading Hindus to have separate carriages for separate castes, but compliance with the proposal was of course out of the question; and now high Brahmans and low Chumars--who are never seen in the same temple even though they wors.h.i.+p the same G.o.ds, as the presence of a Chumar there would be deemed a profanation--may be seen packed in the same carriage in as close contact as two human beings can be. When they separate the Brahmans have recourse to l.u.s.trations, and satisfy themselves the impurity has been washed away.

In the great Presidency cities caste is no doubt greatly weakened. Many openly violate its rules, and are never called to account, but these very persons take care to maintain their caste position for certain domestic and social purposes. Leaving these cities and a small cla.s.s scattered over the country, the ma.s.s of the people seem as much bound by caste as they ever were, so far as its outward requirements are concerned, though, as I have said, there are no doubt influences widely spread which tend to its relaxation. This is the case in Northern India, at any rate.

Much has been said about the Brahmist movement. The number of its professed adherents is very small, but many of the educated cla.s.s are imbued with its spirit. Years ago branches of the Brahmist Sumaj were formed in the great cities of the North-West by young Bengalees employed in the public offices. For a time their services were kept up zealously, but soon they declined. The last time I heard about these communities most had ceased to exist, and only two or three had any sign of vitality. So far as I have learned, the Brahmists have had very few adherents from the Hindus of the North-West. At first sight Brahmism seems an advance towards the Gospel, and a preparation for its reception, but the best of our native Christians in Calcutta look on it as furnis.h.i.+ng a welcome abode to those who cannot remain Hindus, and yet for various reasons refuse to embrace Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Its avowed hostility to definite doctrine, to what is denounced as dogma, the dreamy sentimentalism characteristic of the system, the ignoring to a great extent of the terrible facts of man's depravity and guilt, and the coquetting with Vedism, do little towards bringing its adherents to the feet of Jesus. The Brahmists used at one time to taunt us with our divisions, but for a long time they have had two separate Sumajes, composed respectively of Conservatives and Liberals. In consequence of Chunder Sen's Hindu proclivities in his later years, the Liberals became divided among themselves, the majority having seceded, while a few remained his devoted followers, who are likely to settle down into a Hindu sect, tinged with Christian thought and feeling.

[Sidenote: HINDU REFORMERS.]

From time to time reformers have appeared among the Hindus. Gautam, the Sakya Saint, was one of the earliest and greatest of the cla.s.s.

Successive reformers have had a great following, but the stream has not risen above its source. From Gautam downward some fundamental principles of Hinduism have been retained, and in the end these principles have a.s.serted much of their former sway. This threatens to be the case with Brahmism. Notwithstanding its a.s.sertion of the Divine Unity, it has a strong pantheistic tinge, and already we see its effect. As it has arisen in a measure as the result of Christian teaching, and among a people to whom the Gospel is made known, it may be hoped that many, influenced by it, may travel upward to the light, instead of turning to the darkness from which they have emerged.

Increasing effort has been put forth in late years for the menial and spiritual improvement of the female portion of the population. From the commencement of missions, the wives of missionaries have bestowed much labour on the women and girls to whom they could find access. These have been well-nigh exclusively either Christians, or of the lower cla.s.s of society. Very occasionally individuals of a higher cla.s.s come under Christian teaching. A daughter of the late Rajah of Coorg, a state prisoner at Benares, was for a time under the tuition of Mrs. Kennedy.

She was brought daily to our house, sat with us at table, and was taught with our children. The Rajah wished her to be brought up as a Christian and an English lady, in the hope that he might thus be helped in getting back his kingdom. Eventually she was brought to England, was baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Queen standing sponsor, and was married to an English officer. She survived her marriage a very short time. This was altogether an exceptional case. It has been most difficult for the wives of missionaries to obtain even an occasional interview with native ladies, as I have already intimated, though their husbands have been our frequent and friendly visitors. From the Reports of Zenana Missions we learn that of late years access has been obtained to many native families which had till recently been excluded from all Christian, and, indeed, from all European influence. The lady physician is often welcome where the ordinary teacher can find no entrance. In a city like Benares--and I suppose it is the same elsewhere--except for the lady physician in her professional capacity, and only rarely even in that capacity, the door of the Zenanas in the houses of the great magnates continues shut against all who would seek to awake and guide the dormant minds there.

[Sidenote: THE POSITION OF WOMAN AMONG THE HINDUS.]

Nothing can be conceived more deplorable than the condition of the ladies of India, living, as the phrase is, behind the curtain. They are, as a rule, utterly uneducated, know nothing of books, are shut out from the world, and have no refuge from _ennui_ in such employments as needlework, knitting, and embroidery, for which the nimble fingers of the sisterhood are so well adapted. They have no society beyond the women of the household, their husbands and their children. An occasional glimpse has been got by our ladies into their state, and, as might have been expected, their minds have been found utterly childish and dwarfed.

Happily for themselves the vast majority of the women of the country are under no such bondage. Their husbands cannot afford to curtain them.

They move about freely as they do in our country, only with the hood ready to come down over the face. They are seen in the streets of Benares as they are seen in the streets of our own towns.

All have heard of the low view of woman entertained in India, and of the humiliating customs to which she is subjected; but nature a.s.serts itself there as elsewhere, and notwithstanding all the inferiority with which she is charged, she exercises a profound influence on the male portion of the community. This is recognized by the people always saying, _Ma, Bap_--Mother, Father--not _Father and Mother_, as we say. It is well known that in the large households of which I have spoken the dowager lady is the supreme ruler, often the tyrant--not the less a tyrant because in her youth she had been treated as a slave. The state of widows, many of them mere children, is sad indeed.

Shut out though we be to a large extent from native families, we have many proofs presented to us of the power of female influence, a power often most perniciously exerted, as it is the power of ignorance and superst.i.tion, a power opposed to all intellectual and spiritual progress. The devout women of India are often our most formidable enemies, as they were of Paul in Antioch in Pisidia, and no doubt in other places. Some of our converts have known from painful experience what their opposition to the Gospel is, and it cannot be doubted that many have been prevented from joining us by the pressure brought to bear on them by their mothers, wives, and sisters. Well may every friend of India pray earnestly that Zenana Missions may be crowned with success.

A returned missionary is often asked what are the prospects of missions.

From careful and trustworthy statistics we learn the number of Christians is increasing rapidly. It is right to observe that this increase has come mainly from the non-Aryan tribes, and people of low caste. We have valuable converts from the higher castes, but they are few. When we leave statistics we have recourse to impression, and that impression depends greatly on circ.u.mstances, and still more, perhaps, on the temperament of the observer. It is very difficult to gauge public opinion. When we think of all the influences at work, such as education, both primary and more advanced, Christian literature, missionary effort in many forms, railway travelling, commerce, and a Government bent on doing justice, we look forward with hope to an awaking of the Hindu mind, under which it will seek and embrace the highest good.

[Sidenote: OBSTACLES TO CONVERSION.]

The obstacles to success are most formidable, so formidable that, notwithstanding promising appearances, we should despair if we were not a.s.sured that the work is of G.o.d. The literature of our own country is strengthening the opposition to us. The unbelief of many educated natives, an unbelief springing both from repugnance to the Gospel and from dread of the sacrifices to which its acceptance would subject them, is fortified by the perusal of sceptical books and periodicals. Years ago I met a Bengalee far up in the mountains, who told me I need not speak to him about Christianity, for all reasonable people in England were abandoning it. In proof he put into my hands a letter from Professor Newman in answer to a letter he had sent to him. The Professor counselled his correspondent to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d as his conscience and reason directed him, and to keep apart from the Christian Church.

Notwithstanding these obstacles to the reception of the Gospel, there are persons to whom it has come with a Divine sanction, but who are so bound by family and social ties that they do not avow their faith.

Striking instances of this failure to act in accordance with conviction have come under my observation. I mention only one. I once had an interview with a dying young Hindu, who had been taught in a mission school and was well acquainted with the Gospel. With tears in his eyes he said all his trust for salvation was in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he knew it was his duty to avow his faith, but he could not, for if he did his relatives would one and all abandon him. He seemed to dread any one but myself hearing the confession of his faith. I have known others who have had a strong drawing to the Saviour, but they have stifled their convictions, and have become, as I remember with sadness, bitter foes of the truth. Let only the tide set in in favour of Christianity, and many, I doubt not, will be ready to flow with it.

It ought ever to be remembered that in India we have a vast population.

In the North-Western Provinces and Punjab alone there is a population twice as large as that of Great Britain and Ireland. Those of this population who may be said to be educated in a high degree are the merest handful. You travel hundreds of miles through regions full of towns, villages, and hamlets, where you find that the partially educated are very few compared with the wholly uneducated many. Even most of the shopkeepers who can keep accounts well are unable to read a book with ease, as the written and printed characters are very different. All know that their English rulers are called Christians; those who live near the great lines of road hear an occasional address from a pa.s.sing missionary, many frequenters of melas have come under the sound of the Gospel, but the vast majority have not the slightest conception of its meaning. When Christianity had spread to a considerable extent in the Roman Empire, country districts were so little affected by it that _pagani_ (villagers) became soon synonymous with "heathen," the only meaning which attaches to the word as it is now used by us. A vast work has to be done before the villagers of Northern India cease to be pagans in our sense of the word. The work of evangelization is only in its initial stage. It is yet with us the day of small things--but it is the day, not the night. The morning has dawned; over a great part of Northern India we can only see the faint streaks of the coming day, but the light will spread, the darkness will vanish, and the millions of that great country will yet be gladdened by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness.

I mention, and merely mention, help which India gives for the solution of some great questions:--

(1) _The immobility of the Eastern mind._ In manner of life, in salutations, in offerings of inferiors to superiors, in many customs, the far East, like the nearer East, continually reminds us of the East as presented in the records of antiquity--above all as presented to us in the Bible. He must be a very careless observer who has not been struck with the resemblance. The restless changing West furnishes in this respect a striking contrast to the staid, unchanging East. There has been no such immobility as to religious opinion and practice. There, as elsewhere, it holds true that man's mind never remains in one stay.

The Hindus of the present day speak of their Vedic ancestors with profound reverence, but if they were to rise from their graves and act as they did when denizens of earth--kill cows, disregard caste, drink largely of the intoxicating juice of the som plant, and wors.h.i.+p in an entirely different manner--their reverence would turn into horror and detestation. We cannot say that the modern Puranas do not rest in any degree on the Vedas; some Vedic principles are manifest in them: but in the G.o.ds they set forth for wors.h.i.+p and in the practices they enjoin, there is between them and the Vedas a marked diversity. The numerous sects which have arisen from time to time among the Hindus show that they too have had that measure of mental activity which has led to new forms of thought and practice.

[Sidenote: RETROGRESSION.]

(2) _The genesis and evolution of religion._ In the dim remote past to which the Vedas introduce us, we find the Hindus a religious, a very religious, people. There is no indication of any period when they could be called secularists. Their religious views and practices have changed, there has been an evolving process; the connection may be traced, and we see the result in the Puranic system of our day. Has this movement been forward, or backward? Has the fittest survived and the weak and useless perished? The Vedic system little deserves the praise often lavished on it, but surely it is preferable to that which has taken its place. There has been deterioration, not improvement. Has not this ever been the case in reference to religion, so far as the working of the human mind is concerned? Is not modern Buddhism a falling off from ancient Buddhism?

Does not Rabbinical Judaism belittle and dwarf Old Testament Judaism?

Does not Roman Catholic Christianity materialize New Testament Christianity? The facts of man's religious history prove incontestably that his constant tendency is towards retrogression, not towards advancement.

[Sidenote: THE BIBLE AND THE HINDU SCRIPTURES.]

(3) _Comparative religion._ On this subject elaborate treatises have been written with the object of proving that all religions have had their origin in the human mind, and have been evolved under purely human conditions. Some of the writers, prompted, we may hope, by a devout feeling, allow in vague terms an influence exerted on the evolution by Providential arrangements. Still, in the result we are not to see in any case the effect of a supernatural revelation, but in all cases an approximation in different degrees to truth, secured by the unaided working of the human mind. Does a comparison between the sacred books of the Hindus and the Bible support this view? Listen to a Sanscrit specialist like Professor Max Muller, who has spent years in the study of the Veda, and who has every conceivable motive to say everything he can on its behalf: "That the Veda is full of childish, silly, even to our mind monstrous conceptions, who would deny? But even these monstrosities are interesting and instructive. I could not even answer the question, if you were to ask it, whether the religion of the Veda was polytheistic or monotheistic. Monotheistic in the usual sense of the word it is decidedly not." The dreamy, vague teaching of the Veda has hardened into the unmistakable polytheism and pantheism of modern Hinduism. In no country in the world has mind been more active than in India; in no country have the learned had such abundant leisure, such full opportunity for quiet, sustained thought--and you see the result.

We follow with deep interest and sympathy the straining of these minds to understand themselves and the world around; as they grope after G.o.d we find they occasionally obtain a glimpse of the highest truth, but the darkness, though for the moment relieved, is not dispelled. The truth has continued to elude them. They have not arrived at the knowledge of even the first principles of a theology worthy of G.o.d, and fitted to direct, purify, and guide man. Excellent, high-toned sentiments are no doubt found in Hindu writings, but these do not alter their general character. The Bible, by its teaching regarding G.o.d and man, above all by its record of the peerless excellence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the provision made through Him for the supply of man's deepest wants, presents a marvellous contrast to the Veda, to the great epic poems of the Hindus, to their philosophical treatises and their Puranas. I know a good deal of what has been said to show that the characteristics of the Bible may be accounted for on merely human principles, but the certain facts of the case refute, to my mind, the arguments adduced. Max Muller says in one of his writings--I cannot quote his exact words--that we are not to look in the songs of the Veda for anything so advanced as we find in the Psalter. Why not? Had not the Pundits of India far more cultured minds than David and the hymnists of Israel? Their works are different, for their teaching came from different sources. One benefit I have got from my residence in India, a conviction deepened by every successive glimpse into Hindu teaching and practice: that in the Bible we have a supernatural revelation of G.o.d's will, and that in building on it we are building on a rock which cannot be shaken.

(4) _The migration of nations._ Few things in the history of the world are more surprising to us than whole nations making their way to new and remote countries. I have thought I have got a little help towards understanding these movements when I have observed large bands of people--men, women, and children--pursuing their journey, carrying with them all they deemed necessary, and lying out at night on the bare ground, with a blanket, which they had carried over their shoulder, as their only covering. They took food with them when they knew that at their halting-place it could not be procured. Very differently do our native regiments travel. They are attended by a host of camp-followers, and have a formidable amount of baggage. I once saw a party of woodmen in the hills sleeping under a tree when there was frost on the ground; and on the remark being made it was a wonder they could live, a hillman remarked, "Has not each got his blanket? What hards.h.i.+p is there?" When nations migrated they no doubt sent out scouring parties, who seized all the food on which they could lay their hands. When travelling alone in the hills I had commonly with me a tent so small that a man carried it on his head, but I must acknowledge I could not approach the simplicity of the native traveller's arrangements.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER x.x.x.

EUROPEANS IN INDIA.

The climate of India precludes the possibility of its being a sphere for European colonization. With the exception of the hill districts, the intense heat during the greater part of the year makes out-door occupation trying even to the native, and well-nigh unendurable for Europeans--a heat uncompensated by the coolness of the night, for in the North-West, at least, the stifling closeness of the night is more trying than the heat of the day. If this heat lasted for only a few days, as in Southern Australia, it might be borne, though a hindrance to work; but in India it lasts for months, and it is succeeded by months of drenching rain, during a great part of which the moisture and mugginess are as unpleasant as the previous dry heat had been.

Apart from climate, there is no room for us as colonists. In India we have not to do with rude tribes, as in America, New Zealand, and Australia, and in a measure in Southern Africa, that cannot be said to possess the land over which they and their fathers have long roamed, or of which they have cultivated a very small part. We have to do with ancient nations that have taken full possession of the land by cultivation of the soil, and by pursuit of the arts of civilized life.

We find in India no tribes wasting away before the white stranger, but a people growing in number under the security of our government. There are districts in the North-West more densely peopled than any districts in Europe occupied by an agricultural population. The emigration of coolies to the Mauritius, to Bourbon, to the coast of South America, and to the West Indian Islands, has done little to relieve the pressure.

Migration to unoccupied parts of Central India and a.s.sam has been carried out to a small extent, and it is very desirable this migration should increase. Non-Aryan tribes occupy a large part of the mountains and forests of Central and Eastern India. They have no wish for accession from the people of the plains, and still less do they wish for the entrance of Europeans. I can say nothing about the mountains of the South, but so far as I have travelled over the sub-Himalayan range in the North there is no place for Europeans in it, except for officials or employers, and managers of native labour, such as tea-planters.

While India presents no sphere for European colonization, it presents an increasingly wide field for European agency in the civil and military services, in the departments of education, commerce, manufacture--for instance, of cotton goods, railways, indigo, and tea. In these different departments Europeans are in constant intercourse with natives of every cla.s.s from the highest to the lowest. There is often much pleasant and courteous intercourse between them; but in language, habits, religion, in almost everything in which human beings can be separated from their fellows, they are so different that they remain to a great degree strangers to each other, however kindly may be their mutual feeling.

English people never call India "home," though they may have lived in it the greater part of their life. This name is always reserved for our fatherland. (I had better say that the term English, as used in India, includes all from Great Britain and Ireland, and to them also the term European is mainly, though not exclusively, applied.) I have heard persons of pure English descent, who had never been out of India, speak of England as "home." The reservation of the word to the land from which we have gone, indicates the fact that in India we are strangers, and cannot cease to be strangers. Colonists in America and other lands may make a similar reservation; but living as they do among their own people, in a country which they expect to be the home of their descendants, the term as applied to England is deprived of much of its endearing force.

[Sidenote: EUROPEAN AND NATIVE INTERCOURSE.]

In the great Presidency cities, and in a less degree in other cities throughout the country, we have a large educated cla.s.s of natives, who are well acquainted with our language and literature. They have pursued their studies in the hope of securing good situations, and this hope is in a large measure realized. They are found all over Northern India occupying responsible and well-paid positions. Many persons of this cla.s.s come daily into close intercourse with Europeans in the discharge of their duties, and have means of knowing them which no other cla.s.s possesses. The intercourse is generally courteous, in not a few cases friendly, and they talk freely with each other on a great variety of subjects. There is, however, not infrequently an underfeeling with educated natives that they are not sufficiently appreciated--that they do not get the place due to them--that they are treated as an inferior race; and there is consequently a suspiciousness fatal to cordiality. I am far from thinking that Europeans always treat educated natives with the courtesy due to them. I have known instances of marked discourtesy; but I am sure many of our people are bent on treating them with all justice and kindness, and sometimes, at least, this friendly feeling has not been reciprocated. Human nature being what it is, however much we may regret, we need not wonder at the grating between parties that have so much in common, and yet owing to that very circ.u.mstance have clas.h.i.+ng feelings and interests.

Many native gentlemen, some of the highest rank, cultivate European society, and every European who has anything of the gentleman in him treats them with the courtesy due to their position. Natives of this cla.s.s are, as a rule, most gentlemanly in their demeanour, and intercourse with them is very pleasant.

[Sidenote: THE FAITHFULNESS OF SERVANTS.]

Between Europeans and most natives with whom they have to do, there is such a difference of station there is no room for jealousy. To some Europeans they stand in the relation of agents, clerks, and labourers; to a greater number in the relation of servants. In India, as in our own country, there is a great variety in the character of both masters and servants. There, as here, there are hard, selfish, unreasonable masters and mistresses, and there are undoubtedly bad, false, dishonest servants; but I have no hesitation in giving my impression--I may say stating my belief--that native servants are generally well treated, and that this treatment draws forth no small degree of grat.i.tude and attachment. This was strikingly shown in the Mutiny period. Servants often remain for years with the same masters, render most useful and faithful service; their wages are continued in whole or in part during the temporary absence of their masters from India; on their return they are found waiting for them at the port of debarkation, and on final departure for Europe it is not unusual for old Indians to pension those who have been faithful to them. When I speak of faithfulness, I do not mean that, with the exception of very rare cases, full dependence can be placed on their truthfulness, or even on their honesty in the strict sense of the term. It is very difficult for them to resist the temptation to tell a lie, when a fault is to be screened or benefit to be obtained, and there are certain understood perquisites of which they are inclined to avail themselves in too liberal a degree; but they are at the same time very careful to guard the property of their master against all others, and are deeply concerned for the honour of his name.

As a rule natives, both servants and others, are treated with less justice and kindness by the lower cla.s.s of Europeans than by persons better educated and of a higher position. There are indeed soldiers and others who look on "n.i.g.g.e.rs," as they call all natives, with contempt, and are inclined to abuse them, so far as they are permitted, to the full bent of their rude nature. The term "n.i.g.g.e.r" is used by some who call themselves gentlemen. All I can say of such gentlemen is that I wish they would speak in a manner worthy of the name.

Of late years the position of Englishmen in India has greatly changed.

By the overland route, and by the weekly postal communication, England and India are brought near to each other in a degree which could not have been deemed possible in former days. Persons on leave for three months can now spend a month or five weeks with their friends in England, and at the end of their leave be ready to resume their duties.

Every week a stream of literature, in the shape of newspapers, periodicals, and books, is poured over every part of India, reaching the European in the most remote part of the land. Hill stations have become very accessible by rail, and to these Europeans betake themselves in great numbers for the hot months. All these things give greater force than ever to the home feeling, by strengthening home sympathies and ties. The result is our people in India are birds of pa.s.sage as they never were before, ready to return to their own land as soon as circ.u.mstances will allow them.

There are some advantages from this altered state of things. Many of the early residents became, to their own deep injury, too intimate with the people of the land. They learned their ways, and became like them in character. It was often said, when the Mutiny broke out, that the officers of native regiments had in former days maintained friendly intercourse with the Sepoys, and thus secured their attachment, and that the cessation, or at least the lessening, of this intercourse was one great cause of the outbreak. If good resulted from it in the weakening of national antipathy, in many cases evil resulted from it in the deterioration of character. Many of our countrymen at an early period formed native connections, and by doing so brought themselves down to the level of their new friends. Some became so entangled that they gave up all thought of returning to their own country. It must not be supposed that all who settled down in India for life were of this character. Some who had kept themselves aloof from all improper connection with natives became so attached to India and to the mode of living there, that they made it their permanent abode. A few of this cla.s.s remain, but their number is rapidly decreasing, and none are taking their place. The persons who have thus made India their home have often had a large circle of attached native friends.