articles produced by the aid of so few and such rude implements. What was said about the manufacture of cotton cloths, is equally true concerning metals. There is abundance of iron ore, and of very rich quality, in different parts of India, but no fuel, procurable where it is, to smelt it, and no power to move machinery for manufacturing it into the various articles for which it is used. Could the difficulties in the way of using these natural riches of the country be removed, India might again become as much distinguished among nations for her resources, her manufactures, her wealth, and her power, as she was in ancient times.

ARCHITECTURE.

The most remarkable structures of Hindu and Mohammedan origin still remaining, are temples, mosques, and palaces, many of them now in a dilapidated state. The temples are generally of a heavy and sombre appearance, more resembling the Egyptian than the Greek or Roman architecture. Some are entirely of hewn stone, but they are generally of brick, or stone and lime, and are stuccoed. As the temples are designed for the accommodation of the idol, and not of an assembly of worshippers, they are generally small in circumference, but are often high and surrounded with a wall, sometimes 2 or 3 walls, inclosing a considerable area of ground. The outside of the temples are frequently covered with figures descriptive of the Hindu mythology. The Hindu palaces in their construction, decorations, and the durability of materials, appear to have been inferior to those of monarchs of the same age among the nations of western Asia.

The Mohammedans introduced a new era of architecture into India. Their structures are distinguished by the frequent use of the arch and of the dome; if these were previously known in India, they were seldom if ever used. The Mohammedan emperors and their nobles came to India from or through Persia. There was much intercourse between their courts and the Mohammedan monarchs in western Asia, and they had sometimes, if not generally, Greek and Italian, or Roman artists and architects in their employment. With such aid and abundant

means it would naturally be expected that they would erect structures worthy of their age, their religion, and their name. And so they did; for their palaces, their mosques, their mausoleums, and their private dwellings, will long continue to be monuments of their magnificence, their zeal for their faith, their wealth and taste, and their respect for their dead, or desire of remembrance when dead.

The seats of English power in India, as Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, contain many fine buildings, both public and private. Of the latter, many belong to wealthy natives. These are often well furnished, and being surrounded by beautiful gardens, are delightful residences. In all places occupied by the English as permanent civil or military stations, are some good houses, which from their adaptation to the climate (which is so warm over a large part of the country that fire is never required in houses for comfort), are more comfortable than strangers on first arriving in India suppose.

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The houses of the wealthy and middle classes of the native population, excepting a small portion in the cities which have grown up under English influence, are generally badly constructed, inconvenient, and dark. In some parts of the country the houses and all their appurtenances are surrounded with a high wall, which has only one entrance and conceals all inclosed within it from view. Such cities and villages have a very gloomy appearance. This mode of building is designed to secure protection from robbers, etc. The houses of the lower classes are generally wretched, with little room, or convenience, or comfort. They often consist of bamboo-walls, thatched roofs, and earth floors. In other districts the walls are of stone and earth, with thatched or badly tiled roofs and floors of earth. They often consist of only one or two rooms with little convenience of letting in the light or letting out the smoke; while the furniture is so scant that the place appears more as though it was deserted than occupied.

Vessels of all kinds and classes are built in Bombay, Calcutta, Cochin, and some other places. The forests on the western coast of the peninsula, and on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal contain excellent timber for ships. The expense of building ships in India is much greater than in Eu

rope or America, but they are far more durable. Ships of war and ships for commerce of the largest size have been built in the dock-yard in Bombay. The work in some cases was entirely performed by the natives. These ships are said to be equal in their materials and workmanship to any that belong to the royal navy or to the commercial marine, equal to any that carry the British flag. Steam-ships have also been built in Bombay, but the heavy machinery used in them was brought from Europe.

MUSIC.

Music appears to have been formerly reduced to scientific principles, and to have been more cultivated in India, than it now is. The native martial music, so far as they had any, has been changed with the government of the country and discipline of the army for European music, as the drum, fife, etc. Their religion furnishes but little occasion for the use of music. A few large temples have a company of musicians, who play a while nights and mornings. Operas are unknown, and theatrical amusements are of a meagre character. Marriages are almost the only occasions when usage requires musical performance and entertainments. The Hindus have many different kinds of instruments, as drums, trumpets, horns, cymbals, hautboys, fiddles, etc., but the musicians are generally men of low caste, who have little skill and less taste. A company of musicians at marriages commonly consists of 6 or 8, and sometimes of as many as 15 or 20 performers. The larger the company, the greater the noise and apparently the confusion of sounds. Singing is one of the accomplishments of women of loose morals, and some such have acquired much celebrity for their musical talents. The singing and dancing of this class of persons are the favorite amusements of the wealthy and at the courts of the native princes. The writers of popular songs have sometimes acquired much celebrity by their skill and taste in singing them. People when at work in company often beguile the time by singing, one singing a couplet and the rest adding a chorus. These songs have little meaning in them and are often very obscene. Still the Hindus have a natural fondness for music.

Singing has been introduced into the worship of the assemblies of native Christians. The hymns are in the native languages, but they are generally adapted to European tunes. This part of worship is performed with much propriety. The native Christians also show their fondness for music by often singing these hymns by themselves, in their families and in their social meetings.

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.

The Hindus appear never to have excelled in painting. In this art they are inferior to the Chinese and to the Persians. Some of their colors are durable, as may be seen on the walls of some of the cave-temples of Adjunta, probably made in the 5th or 6th century. The walls of their temples often contain paintings of their gods, heroes, battles, etc., as described in their sacred books, so that the worshippers see on all sides illustrations of their sacred history and objects of adoration. The walls of private houses often contain similar paintings. I once saw a large royal palace, reported to have cost nearly $1,000,000, in which the walls of the rooms and halls were covered with paintings of the incarnations of Vishnu and other actions and events contained in the Purans. The paintings of this character have much influence in communicating a knowledge of their popular superstitions. This art is made subservient to what they believe to be truth and piety. Some years ago missionaries began to insert cuts and illustrations more frequently in religious and educational books, and the native taste was soon manifested by their increased estimation of such works and demand for them. The native press has since commenced the same course, and by such means greatly increased the sale and circulation of their publications. But in painting portraits, natural scenery, etc., the Hindus are inferior to the Chinese.

More attention appears to have been paid to sculpture than to painting. The cave-temples contain statues in great numbers and variety, some single and others in large groups. These figures are generally a part of the rock in which the excavations are made, and some of them are of colossal size. Many of these figures and groups are bold and spirited in their design, but

they do not exhibit the human form in good proportions, nor are its parts well developed. Such statuary appears much better at a distance and in their partially lighted temples than on near inspection. Marble idols for their temples and for worship in their houses are common among the wealthy. In works of this kind the Hindus are far inferior to the Greeks and Romans, or to the modern nations of Europe. Their skill however is still sufficient to entitle them to a place in the rank of civilized nations.

ASTRONOMY.

There is much obscurity in the early history of astronomy in India. Their system, so far as any has come down to the present time, has been examined by some of the ablest astronomers and mathematicians of Europe, as Bailly, Playfair, Maskelyne, and Bentley, and there was much difference among them respecting various things in it. The general opinion now is, that though all the pretensions of Hindu astronomy cannot be allowed, yet that in astronomical science, they were once in advance of any other nation, and that the Greeks were indebted to India for much of their knowledge on this subject. The names of the Hindu astronomers, the time when they lived, and the places where their observations were made, cannot be certainly ascertained; only their works, and these not in any regular system or connected order, have come down to the present time. The modern astronomers in India know how to use these tables and rules in making their almanacs and calculating eclipses, but they are ignorant of the principles upon which these tables and rules are made. They generally say that these tables are the work of men who were divinely assisted to make them, and I have often heard the common people say that the original authors of such tables and rules must have been inspired, for how could they, unless inspired, have made tables by which the astronomers can foretell such future events as eclipses.

These ancient astronomical works show that the writers had correct views of the solar system. But the mythological opinions, for system it cannot be called, have continued to be the popular creed to the present time. The popular notion of eclipses is, that a great monster, called Ketu, then attempts to