[15] In the Hindoo poems it has been shrewdly accounted for why Vogiroth had no bones in him. I am well acquainted with it, but think it not of much consequence to detail. Again, there is another thing to be considered, the adaptedness of the expression to the taste of a Christian reader. Every nation has its peculiar taste in regard to the idiom and expression of thought; what is decent with one is immodest with others. I see some expressions in the Bible which are not permitted to be used to the English or American people. The Oriental nations understand their peculiar meaning when they use those phrases. [16] This is one of the leading features of Hindoo piety. In order to secure the blessing of a god or goddess, it is essentially needful to withdraw ourselves from the world, and take a vow to spend a certain portion, or the whole of our life in the wilderness; to abstain from food, drink, and recreation, and gradually to bring ourselves to that state in which we do not live by “bread alone,” but by “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We read in the lives of the Hindoo sages the process they had used to subdue their bodies, by continual fasts and self-torture. In the early part of their hermit life, they used to take a little food once a day, then once in two, and after a while one meal at the end of the week. In warm weather their seat was surrounded by a blazing fire made on purpose, and in winter they used to immerse their bodies in water, and pray. [17] Kasa, a copper vessel used by the Hindoos in their religious services, to put water in, which they sprinkle on their heads and upon the idols also. [18] When I speak of the low castes, I hope the reader will not feel sensitive, for I know the very classes of men who are high in Christian countries are low in India. A great many men engaged in shoemaking business move about as the “_upper ten_,” and are high caste in this country, while among the Hindoos such persons, notwithstanding their opulence (which begets high caste here), are lowest indeed. [19] There are a great many anecdotes of deeds of valor and of generosity attributed to this king. He is said to have destroyed the Khitrias three hundred times. I should think it was the same Por-oosh who had fought with the Macedonian hero on the frontier of India. [20] Hoylas, the paradise of Shiba, is said to be a golden mountain, similar to the Olympus of the Grecian deities. There is a mountain of the above name in Thibet. [21] The rice is made in a peculiar way, and called “authup.” The usual way of bringing out rice from the husk is, first to boil, then dry and thrash it. But this is not boiled at all, only dried and thrashed. Hence the particular care taken in preparing this kind of rice increases its price to some degree.