condition, and for discharging the same duties; but those of each
cast are from their infancy formed for what they are to be during
their whole lives. A future Brahman, for example, is obliged, from
his earliest years, to employ himself in reading and writing, and to
be present at the presentation of offerings; to calculate eclipses
of the sun and moon; to study the laws and religious practices; to
cast nativities; in short, to learn every thing, which, according to
the injunction of the _Vèda_, or sacred books of the Indians, it is
necessary he should know. The _Vayshya_, on the other hand, instruct
youth in agriculture; the _Kshetria_, in the science of government
and the military arts; the _Shudra_, in mechanics; the _Mucaver_, in
fishing; the _Ciàna_, in gardening; and the _Bànyen_, in commerce.
By this establishment the knowledge of a great many things necessary
for the public good is not only widely diffused, but transmitted
to posterity; who are thereby enabled still farther to improve
them, and bring them nearer to perfection. In the time of Alexander
the Great, the Indians had acquired such skill in the mechanical
arts, that Nearchus, the commander of his fleet, was much amazed
at the dexterity with which they imitated the accoutrements of
the Grecian soldiers. I once found myself in a similar situation.
Having intrusted to an Indian artist a lamp made in Portugal, the
workmanship of which was exceedingly pretty, Some days after he
brought me another so like my own that I could Scarcely distinguish
any difference. It, however, cannot be denied, that the arts and
sciences in India have greatly declined since foreign conquerors
expelled the native kings; by which several provinces have been laid
entirely waste, and the casts confounded with each other. Before
that period, the different kingdoms were in a flourishing condition;
the laws were respected, and justice and civil order prevailed: but,