as they have many superstitious opinions on those subjects which are
closely connected with their systems of idolatry." The Bengali
Bible was the result of fifteen years' sweet toil, in which Marshman
read the Greek and Carey the Bengali; every one of their colleagues
examined the proof sheets, and Carey finally wrote with his own pen
the whole of the five octavo volumes. In the forty years of his
missionary career Carey prepared and saw through the press five
editions of the Old Testament and eight editions of the New in
Bengali.

The Sanskrit version was translated from the original, and written
out by the toiling scholar himself. Sir William Jones is said to
have been able to secure his first pundit's help only by paying him
Rs. 500 a month, or £700 a year. Carey engaged and trained his many
pundits at a twentieth of that sum. He well knew that the Brahmans
would scorn a book in the language of the common people. "What,"
said one who was offered the Hindi version, "even if the books
should contain divine knowledge, they are nothing to us. The
knowledge of God contained in them is to us as milk in a vessel of
dog's skin, utterly polluted." But, writes the annalist of Biblical
Translations in India, Carey's Sanskrit version was cordially
received by the Brahmans. Destroyed in the fire in 1812, the Old
Testament historical books were again translated, and appeared in
1815. In 1827 the aged saint had strength to bring out the first
volume of a thorough revision, and to leave the manuscript of the
second volume, on his death, as a legacy to his successors, Yates
and Wenger. Against Vedas and Upanishads, Brahmanas and Epics, he
set the Sanskrit Bible.

The whole number of completely translated and published versions of