Island of Ceylon. Ship-building has been carried on for some years at Moulmein; the vessels constructed there in former years, however, did not bear a high character, as it was reported of them that they contained too much wood and too little iron, that they were badly finished, and generally defective in their construction; but these objections can no longer be made against those which have latterly left the stocks, as they have, in most instances, been laid down and built under the superintendence of experienced builders. There are frequently from ten to fourteen vessels, of from 250 to 600 tons, in the course of completion; and Government has lately ordered a steamer of 700 tons to be laid down. The price of labour, contrasted with the price of provisions, is enormously high. A Chinese carpenter receives Rs. 35 a month, a common one Rs. 22. 8. A shipwright earns Rs. 15 a month, which is no more than the wages of a common labourer. A basket of table rice costs Rs. 1. 4.; a basket of the second sort of rice, one rupee. Pine apples average eighty for the rupee; cucumbers, two hundred; melons, twenty; and jack-fruit from eight to ten. Butchers' meat, ghee, coco-nut oil, and sea-fish are all excessively dear; but as the Taliens seldom eat any thing else than rice, agapyee, river-fish, fruit, and vegetables, they can afford to lay by more than half their earnings. Provisions being so cheap and abundant, and labour in such great demand, one naturally expects to find the condition of the common people superior to that of the natives of India, and such is really the case: the labourers are not only all in comfortable circumstances, but many of them, besides having good dwellings of their own, can afford to clothe themselves and their families in silk garments; indigent people are seldom if ever seen, and such a thing as a beggar is only to be met with in the thoroughfares leading to the great temples at the time of the periodical festivals. These festivals, which occur four times in the year, are attended by the whole population of the town; the men and women clad in the gaudy silks of Burmah; the latter with a profusion of gold ornaments upon their persons, clearly indicating the happy condition of the people, who are thus enabled to gratify their national passion for wearing gold to its fullest extent; indeed, it may be said of the inhabitants of Moulmein, and the provinces generally, that they are incomparably better off than any others in the Company's dominions; and I am happy to add, that they are quite sensible of the fact, for they call the country Nat-pyee-glay, or the 'little paradise.' There are two good bazars at Moulmein; they are built under piazzas, which protect the people from the sultry heat of the sun and the heavy rains which prevail on this coast during six months of the year. They have raised floors, and are portioned off into stalls, which the occupiers hire from Government for a trifling sum. The supply of fish is good, the vegetables are numerous and fine, and the fruits superior to those of Hindoostan. Rice, venison, agapyee, flowers, and other articles of daily convenience, are also sold; and a brisk trade is carried on by the natives of India in English cutlery, cloths, drugs, and spices: poultry is scarce throughout the whole country, and therefore bears a very high price. The various articles occupy separate divisions, the most attractive of which is that containing vegetables. The climate and soil are highly favourable to the propagation of herbs, and as the Taliens eat of almost every green thing that grows, we here see, intermixed with vegetables of every known description, the leaves and flowers of all the trees of the forest. The stalls in the bazars are always kept by women, as the men deem it a feminine employment to sit in the shade and vend articles of food. Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.32.No.128. 2 N The women of Moulmein are short in person, and inclined to corpulency; they have flat faces, low foreheads, and thick lips, and are fairer than the women of Burmah. Their manners are pleasing, and they have sometimes a graceful carriage. As wives (excepting where they have been demoralized by their propinquity to Europeans), they are thrifty and faithful; as mothers, careless and unfeeling. They are artful and mercenary, vain of their persons, and prodigal in the display of their charms; as they do not reach puberty at so early an age as the females of Hindoostan, they are not united in marriage till the seventeenth or eighteenth year; and before they are twenty, many of them have had two husbands, the first having left them to their fate, after having squandered away their dowries. The position of Moulmein, upon the very edge of the Burman frontier, offers an encouragement to the Taliens to abandon their families whenever they feel inclined to follow the bent of their improvident and unstable desires, as a person has only to cross the Salwein river to place himself beyond the reach of the law. One material cause of the prosperous condition of the population of the Tenasserim provinces is, the perfect equality that exists throughout all classes; the degrading and pernicious distinctions which are perpetuated in Burmah, between the Loo-kaung and the Loo-yok, have been very wisely put an end to by our Government; we accordingly see no professional beggars nor pagodahslaves, nor are people afflicted with leprosy driven out of the towns and villages, and compelled to beg their bread. Having alluded to these castes, it may be proper to describe them here, especially as no correct account of them has yet appeared. There are four classes of Loo-yok, or inferior people, in Burmah, viz. the beggars by birth, the lepers, the pagodah-slaves, and the Ooparadza, or people whose duty it is to superintend the burning of the dead. These four classes cannot intermarry with each other, nor can they enter the superior grade, as persons of the latter class, who may form a connection with members of the inferior one, immediately lose their birthright, and become absorbed into the inferior order. This is called tsau-tou-nouk-young-pu-thee. Each of the four classes has a head or chief, who performs all the functions of a magistrate, and from among these is chosen a superior, who presides over the whole, under the title of Lay-tsou-ook, or prince of the four inferior grades. Some of the females of these degraded classes are very beautiful, and receive the covert addresses of men of rank; they live separated from the mass of the people, in villages of their own, and in the suburbs of great towns; they are blessed with the same comforts of life as the other inhabitants; they must, however, follow certain occupations, to which they are restricted. The beggars must subsist upon alms, and only follow any other employment when these fail. The pagodahslaves must live in the vicinity of temples, clean the courts, and collect the offerings of wax candles, banners, money, trays, boxes, &c., and dispose of them for the benefit of the chief, who is expected to yield half of his revenue to the king; and the Ooparadza must attend all funerals, and superintend the burning and burial of the dead. The advantages resulting from equal rights are every where visible at Moulmein; the people are all engaged in following the employments most conducive to their own comfort; the high price of labour, also, enables them to live with ease, and is an encouragement to population, as it not only invites settlers from Burmah, but renders children a source of riches to their parents. The civil establishment of the provinces consists of a commissioner, deputy commissioner, two assistants, and a police magistrate. The first and the two last reside at Moulmein, the second resides at Tavoy, and the junior assistant at Mergui. The military force has been increased to two Queen's regiments, two regiments of native infantry, a company of European artillery, and a corps of Talien light infantry. The 62d regiment of Foot, and one of the Sepoy corps, are quartered in the cantonment, which occupies the interior of a large quadrangular fort, whose walls are of the most substantial order, and still in good preservation, notwithstanding their high antiquity. The town occupies the space between the walls and the shore of the rivers on the north and west sides, and to the east runs a range of hills dotted with pagodahs. The great temple, which stands immediately behind the wall, has been repaired and beautified since the place came into our possession, and now forms a striking object from the river; its elevation is not so great as that of the Shoey Dagown at Rangoon, nor are its proportions so just. It is more than probable that the present edifice was rebuilt about the year 1527, as a large bell, which is suspended within the court, commemorates the expendi ture of 160,000 pieces of silver, by King Khaymama, for religious purposes. The year in the Pegu country is divided into three seasons, of four months each, viz. the rainy, the cold, and the hot. The first commences at Wazolu-byee, or full moon of June; but the wet monsoon usually sets in on the 1st of May, and continues with brief intervals of dry weather till the end of October. The sun during the hot season is very powerful, but its heat is tempered by a cool wind, which prevails from ten or eleven in the forenoon. The public offices, barracks, hospitals, and houses of the officers, are all constructed of teak, and covered with a thatch of the neepah leaf, a small palm growing in great abundance in various situations within the provinces, but especially at Tavoy. The use of timber has hitherto been popular, in consequence of the difficulty of procuring well-burnt bricks at a moderate price; but since the disastrous fire of 1837, the proprietors of land in the great street between the court-house and the cantonment have been required to rebuild their shops and warehouses of burnt bricks; and very many substantial houses have been erected. • Frequent allusions having been made to the timber of Moulmein, it may be proper to detail the qualities of the teak usually to be found in the market. The western branch of the Attaran is called the Wenyan, the eastern branch the Dzamee. The timber growing on the banks of the former stream is worm-eaten, coarse-grained, and red in colour. The Dzamee teak is strait, soft, and light-coloured. That produced in the forests called Tshiet-kyee, Kyoon-kyoung, and Motteekul, is all of the same quality. The timber of the Thoung-yeen river, brought down the Salwein, is long, red, hard, and knotty. That from Kaulon, on the Burman side of the river, hard, knotty, and much worm-eaten. Dazyoin produces also hard, knotty, reddish timber. Illoinbyoung, a branch of the lower Gyne, produces moderately-sized, hard, light-coloured timber. Kyouktsarut, a western branch of the Salwein, produces worm-eaten, hard, red timber. HINDU CRITICISM. THE following specimen of Hindu criticism appears in a Bengali journal. It is a review of M. de Tassy's History of Hindustani Literature. As a literary curiosity, we give the original: its style and manner denote that the writer is conversant with our organs of criticism. Sunbad Sowdamini. Wednesday, 11th December 1839. With pleasure, we announce the publication of the first volume of a valuable French work, সম্পাদ সৌদামিনী। বুধবার ১১ ডিসেম্বর ১৮৩৯ সাল। হিদুস্থানীয় বিখ্যাতি মহানূভব দিগের গুণ বর্ণিত ফ্রেঞ্চ ভাষা ভা containing biographical accounts of most of the renowned personages of Hindustan. This useful compilation has ষিত যন্ত্রাঙ্কিত এক তত্তমগ্রন্থের আদিখণ্ড বিষয়ে আমরা সানন্দে প্রভতিক করিতেছি। এই উপাদেয় গ্রন্থ পারিস নগর been published by Profesor Gar- বাসী গুণরাশী মানসিওঁর গার্সিন cin de Tassy, of Paris, under the auspices of the Oriental Translation Committee of Great In speaking of this volume, we are happy to state, that it does much credit to the author, তি টাসী সাহেব কর্তৃক রচিন্তানন্তর সেট ব্রিটন ও০ আইর লণ্ডের ও০রিয়ান্টল ত্রান্সলেসন কমিঢ়ী নামক সমিতির আনুকূল্যেমূদ্রিত হইয়াছে। এই পুস্তকের বিবরণ আমরা আহ্লাদ পরঃসর প্রচার করিতেছি for the indefatigable exertions (য কথিত গ্রন্থ কৰ্ত্তা অশ্রান্ত ক্লেশ with which he has carried on his inquiries in the remote corners of Hindustan, and the un abated zeal with which it seems দ্বারা হিন্দুস্থানের অতি দূর দেশ পর্যন্তের অনুসন্ধান এবং অভ্রান্ত he has prosecuted his plan. In উৎ সাহ সহকারে এতদ্ব্যাপার return, we have now to acknowledge our obligations, and tender him our sincere thanks for his bringing our respected countrymen to the notice of the people of France, a kingdom very nearly allied to our British rulers. সুসম্পন্ন করণে অতি প্ৰশস হই যাচ্ছেন এডৎপরিবর্তে আমরা এক্ষণে অস্মৎ কৃতজ্ঞতা স্বীকার এবং অস্মদাদির ইরাজ রাজাদিগের অভিসন্নিহিত সম্রাজ ফ্রান্স রাজ্যের জনগণের নিকট আমারদিগের প্রধানলোকের চরিত্র লিখনে সংগ্রহকার প্রতিধন বাদ করি । OFFICERS PREACHING TO SEPOYS. TO THE EDITOR. SIR-I rely upon your kindness and candour for the insertion of the following communication, which I have received from India, in reply to a report in your Journal for April 1838. The letters referred to in it arrived in course. For obvious reasons, I do not give the name of the writer. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, JOHN POYNDer. Bombay, 1st March 1840. MY DEAR SIR:-The steady support you have for years given to the cause of Christianity and of truth, in connexion with the British possessions in the East, at once supplies both inducement to trespass upon you and my apology for so doing, in reference to a speech attributed to the Hon. H. Lindsay in the Court of Proprietors, on the 21st March 1838, as reported in the Asiatic Journal for April 1838, in which Mr. Lindsay is made to declare, that he knew, from undoubted authority, that officers of the East-India Company's service had, upon parade, after the military exercises were concluded, taken upon themselves to address the sepoys, and to preach to them in disparagement of their religion." This speech has beaten the rounds of the local papers, and has excited unmingled astonishment and regret. It refers to a class of officers, happily a numerous and still increasing body, in the Indian army, who form its brightest ornament, and whose devotion to the service, integrity, and zeal, have never been impeached, and upon whose tried fidelity and disregard of all personal considerations, in circumstances of trial and difficulty, our Indian Governments have had too frequent proofs, to allow of such an insinuation as that implied in Mr. Lindsay's speech to pass current for a moment. I shall not attempt to describe what I know to have been the feelings of such persons in this army, on such an attempt to bring their fair reputation into discredit. You, my dear Sir, will readily understand their position-banished from their native land, in nine cases out of ten for life-when unable to defend themselves, to find one of their honourable masters stand forth to attack them, when their voice and their plea of defence cannot gain admittance. This you may understand, and you have not been insensible to the claims of the injured; but I question if the generous mind itself is in the position to understand the feeling of gratitude and of admiration excited by your endeavour to wipe off the foul stigma that was so wantonly cast upon the absent. Neither will I offend against delicacy by dwelling upon our obligations to you, both in the particular instance referred to, and in the noble way in which, upon every occasion, you have exposed yourself to that suspicion which you have so frequently and so effectually removed from the injured in this country. I am fully sensible of what is due to discipline, and how unmilitary a proceeding this for a soldier to appeal for protection in any other way than that laid down by the Act which governs him; but, cautious as I feel on this head, and every way anxious to uphold instead of weakening authority by agitation, I have felt too deeply in the present question to remain silent. You will, my dear Sir, I am assured, at once recognise the propriety of avoiding any reference to my name. I have addressed some of the oldest and most respectable public officers, all of them either the commanding officers or the staff of the principal military stations of the presidency, as to any knowledge they may have of the circumstance alluded to by Mr. Lindsay. The following copy of a letter from an adjutant-general of the army, to my address, speaks the language of all, and I transcribe it, to show how utterly unfounded the accusation is. Colonel writes: I never heard, either privately or publicly, of any circumstance occurring upon the parade of any regiment or body of troops belonging to this army, that could afford even the shadow of a ground for such an assertion |