you enter them you will find neither floor nor window, and very little
furniture; neither chair, nor table, nor bed--nothing but a large earthen
bottle for fetching water, a smaller one for drinking, a basket for
clothes, a few earthen pans, a few brass plates, and a mat.

A Hindoo is counted very rich who has procured a wooden bedstead to place
his mat upon, and a wooden trunk, with a lock and key, to contain his
clothes; such a man is considered to have a well-furnished house.

As you pass through the villages, you may see groups of men sitting under
the trees smoking their pipes, while children, without clothes, are
rolling in the dust, and sporting with the kids. Prowling about the
villages are hungry dogs and whining jackalls, seeking for bones and
offal; but the children are too much used to these creatures to be afraid
of them. Hovering in the air are crows and kites, ready to secure any
morsel they can see, or even to snatch the food, if they can, out of the
children's little hands.

What a confused noise do you hear as you pass along! barking, whining,
and squalling, loud laughing, and incessant chattering. It is a heathen
village, and the sweet notes of praise to God are never sung there.

Yet in every village there is a little temple with an idol, and a priest
to take the idol, to lay it down to sleep, and to offer it food, which he
eats himself.

The poor people bring the food for the idol with flowers, and place it at
the door of the temple.

APPEARANCE.--The Hindoos are pleasing in their appearance, for their