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HINDOO HOUSE-NATIVE SCHOOL.

a tiger, with an enormous tail, and held in a chain by his keeper; others had given themselves a darker hue than that which nature had bestowed, by means of oil and lampblack, and performed a dance, keeping time and making a sort of accompaniment, by striking together the small clubs they grasped in each hand: other parties had a still more grotesque appearance, having as their principal character, a man dressed to an unusual size in swathes of hay or oakum, giving him a shaggy and terrific appearance. But the most imposing scene was a splendid illumination, of a large house and garden on the Mount road, belonging to a rich Mahommedan, a relation to the Nabob: I was taken to see it, about ten o'clock at night, and introduced to the inner court of the house, where I found a large assemblage of Natives, and a party of ladies and gentlemen, partaking of refreshments, and waiting for an oration about to be delivered in Hindostanee or Arabic. Whatever the intention of the feast might be, I never, on this, or on any future occasion, saw any thing indicative of religious feeling connected with it.

It was in Madras I first entered a Hindoo's house. They are generally of a quadrangular form, having a door to the front, but no windows: in the inside is a square court open to the sky, in which their domestic concerns are usually transacted. The accompanying plate is a representation of the interior of a habitation of this kind, and displays the females of the family, employed in carrying, beating, and winnowing the rice grain, to free it from the husk.

I was much interested by the native school in our Mission Garden, where I saw their mode of writing with an iron style on the ola, or palmyra leaf, and heard both male and female native children repeat their lessons, in the Tamul language, with an ease which I then could not but envy.

PREACHING-TAMUL.

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During my short stay in Madras, at this first visit, I several gimes addressed the native congregations, by means of the interpreter; but more frequently preached to the English congregations, at St. Thomas's Mount, Royapettah, and Black Town, consisting of some Europeans, but chiefly of Indo Britons, or descendants of Europeans, born in India. We commenced a week evening English service, in John Pereira's, another crowded part of Madras, where a house-full of people assembled; but the strength of the Missionaries, did not allow of its regular continuance. Our chapel in Black Town was small, and very much crowded; liberal subscriptions towards erecting a larger one, on the same premises, since completed, were already commenced. A Missionary Auxiliary Society had been formed, and had been the means of bringing some contributions into the funds of the Parent Society in England.

I employed a Moonshee or teacher, to assist me in gaining a knowledge of the Tamul* language. Tamul is, I conceive, more extensively spoken than any other language, in the south of India: it is used by the natives of the north of Ceylon; and by the population of the Eastern side of Continental India, from Cape Comorin, the southern point, to some distance to the north of Madras, amounting to many millions. It is one of that peculiar family of the Indian languages, that disclaims the Sanscrit as its origin, though many terms from the latter have been introduced into it; and whilst it has many words and idioms in common with the cognate dialects of the Malayalim, Teloogoo, and Cannada, it differs from them essentially in its letters and sounds, and in its own peculiar and extensive literature

*It is sometimes written Tamil; but the true sound of the word, is, I think, more correctly conveyed in the mode I have adopted, and which was used by Beschi, and others of equal authority. The first syllable, should be pronounced as the first syllable in the word tamper; and the second, as the first syllable in the word ultra.

both ancient and modern. As a refined and cultivated language, used by so large a portion of the human race, its character is worthy of the attention of the linguist; the curious stores it opens to him, will amply repay his toil: but to the Missionary to the natives of that part of India, its acquisition is absolutely necessary. The Old and New Testaments were translated into Tamul, more than a century ago, by Ziegenbalg, and his coadjutors, of the Danish Mission of Tranquebar. Another translation was made, about forty years since, by Fabricius and others. A still more idiomatic translation, by the Rev. C. Rhenius, of Palamcottah, is now in progress, and passes under the revision of a sub-committee of Translations of the Bible Society in Madras; concerning which, I can say from my own knowledge, that its style is both clear and elegant, and is perhaps not excelled by any modern translation of the Holy Scriptures.

When in London, after considerable trouble, I found a copy of a Tamul grammar, in Latin, by Ziegenbalg. I soon made myself master of the characters, of the declensions of the nouns and conjugations of the verbs, contained in it, and of its vocabulary and phrases; but found, when I recommenced my studies in Madras, that I had formed an erroneous idea of the pronunciation of the letters, for want of a living instructer; for many of the sounds in the Tamul language, are such as cannot be conveyed correctly, either by the letters of our own language or the most elaborate description. My teacher was a very stout native, whose conceit and bad English afforded me no small amusement. However, he rendered me considerable assistance, and attended me regularly at six o'clock in the morning.

But I did not, at this time, remain long in Madras. The Rev. T. H. Squance, of the Wesleyan Mission, who had recently removed from the north of Ceylon, to Negapatam, on the coast of Coromandel, one hundred and eighty miles