The Hindoo women, in general, treat their husbands with great respect; and very few are ever known to violate the marriage bed. They begin to bear children at twelve years of age, and sometimes younger; but they seldom have any after they are thirty; and frequently before that time they lose their bloom, and begin to fade. With respect to the funerals of the Hindoos, some of them bury the body, and others burn it. The ceremony of burning is performed in the following manner:--Having washed and dressed the corpse, the relations and friends carry it on a bier to a small distance from the town. This is usually done the next day; but if a person die in the morning, his body is always burnt the same evening; for, in this country, a corpse will not keep long. The funeral pile is usually made near some river or tank; and if he be a person of rank, great quantities of fragrant wood are mixed with the fuel. As soon as the corpse is placed upon the pile, and some prayers muttered by the attending Brahmin, the fire is applied at one of the corners, when it soon blazes up, and consumes the body to ashes. The horrid practice of widows burning themselves along with the corpse of their deceased husbands is losing ground very fast in India; and there is scarcely ever an instance of it now known in our settlements; and, as far as I could learn, when performed at all, it is chiefly confined to the Brahmin cast. _Religion, &c._--The religion of the Hindoos is all contained in the sacred books called Vedas. These books are supposed to have been the work, not of the supreme God himself, but of an inferior deity called Brimha. They inform us that Brahma, the supreme god, having created the world by the word of his mouth, formed a female deity, named Bawaney, who brought forth three male deities, named Brimha, Vishnu, and Seeva. They say that Brimha was endowed with the power of creating all things, Vishnu with that of cherishing them, and Seeva the power of restraining them. They say also, that Brahma himself endowed mankind with passions and understanding to regulate them; while Brimha created the inferior beings, and afterwards employed himself in writing the Vedas, and gave these to the Brahmins to be explained. These Brahmins are allowed to be the most honourable tribe amongst the Hindoos, and are alone appointed to officiate in the priesthood, like the Levites among the Jews. They alone are allowed to read the Vedas or sacred books; and to them are committed the instruction of the people. There are several orders of these Brahmins: those who mix in society are not unfrequently of depraved morals; and we need not wonder that it should be the case, when they are taught by their religion that the water of the Ganges will effectually wash away all their sins. Those Brahmins who live secluded from society, are men of very weak minds, or enthusiasts, who give themselves up to indolence and superstition. The Chehteree, or second caste, is next in