It is impossible for a person of one caste to be received into another, or to intermarry with any one belonging to it.  If a Hindoo leaves his native land or takes food from a Paria, he is turned out of his caste, and can only obtain re-admission on the payment of a very large sum.

Besides these castes, there is a fifth class—­the Parias.  The lot of these poor creatures is the most wretched that can be imagined.  They are so despised by the other four castes, that no one will hold the slightest intercourse with them.  If a Hindoo happens to touch a Paria as he is passing, he thinks himself defiled, and is obliged to bathe immediately.

The Parias are not allowed to enter any temple, and have particular places set apart for their dwellings.  They are miserably poor, and live in the most wretched huts; their food consists of all kinds of offal and even diseased cattle; they go about nearly naked, or with only a few rags at most on them, and perform the hardest and commonest work.

The four castes are subdivided into an immense number of sects, seventy of which are allowed to eat meat, while others are compelled to abstain from it altogether.  Strictly speaking, the Hindoo religion forbids the spilling of blood, and consequently the eating of meat; but the seventy sects just mentioned are an exception.  There are, too, certain religious festivals, at which animals are sacrificed.  A cow, however, is never killed.  The food of the Hindoos consists principally of rice, fruit, fish, and vegetables.  They are very moderate in their living, and have only two simple meals a day—­one in the morning and the other in the evening.  Their general drink is water or milk, varied sometimes with cocoa wine.

The Hindoos are of the middle height, slim, and delicately formed; their features are agreeable and mild; the face is oval, the nose sharply chiselled, the lip by no means thick, the eye fine and soft, and the hair smooth and black.  Their complexion varies, according to the locality, from dark to light brown; among the upper classes, some of them, especially the women, are almost white.

There are a great number of Mahomedans in India; and as they are extremely skilful and active, most trades and professions are in their hands.  They also willingly hire themselves as servants to Europeans.

Men here do that kind of work which we are accustomed to see performed by women.  They embroider with white wool, coloured silk, and gold; make ladies’ head-dresses, wash and iron, mend the linen, and even take situations as nurses for little children.  There are a few Chinese, too, here, most of whom are in the shoemaking trade.