The Hindus are divided into four _castes_, or classes. These are named Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. There is a yet lower population called Pariahs. The Brahmans are the highest; they are priests or religious men; everybody must yield to them. The Kshatriyas come second, and are soldiers or warriors. The Vaisyas are the traders, or merchant class. The Sudras are the lowest, and are the people who have trades, or are laborers. The Hindus say that these different classes of men came from the body of Brahma, their great god; that the Brahmans came from his mouth; the Kshatriyas from his arm; the Vaisyas from his thigh; and the Sudras from his feet. As for the poor Pariahs, they do not seem to have come from Brahma, and no one has anything to do with them. Each of these castes was so much higher than the next one that they might not even be touched by them without being defiled and needing to be purified. People of different castes might not drink from the same vessel or eat from the same dish. One writer says: “I saw a high-caste Hindu dash an earthen jar of milk upon the ground and break it to atoms, merely because the shadow of a Pariah had fallen upon it as he passed.” Under English government many of these notions in India are passing away. The Pariah’s lot, however, is perhaps as hard as ever. Many trades are practised in India, some of them most skilfully. Whatever trade a man follows will be that of his son after him, as it was that of his father before him. Hindus are fine weavers, and some of their muslins are delicate and costly. They are glass-makers, potters, carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, brass founders, shell workers, shoemakers, barbers. These trades are carried on in the open streets; the men carry tools with them, and when they secure an order they set up their outfit and fall to work. Among pretty things sold in India are figures in clay representing all sorts of tradesmen at work. [Illustration: HINDU DANCING GIRLS AND MUSICIANS (VERNEAU).] Hindus tame and train elephants as beasts of burden. The native princes, in particular, use them. A palanquin in which the prince sits is mounted on the elephant’s back. These royal elephants are gorgeously decked out, and the palanquin is brilliant with metals and precious stones. Elephants are also employed in caravans and in the exciting tiger hunts.