Such instances of partiality on the part of enlightened Christians towards heathenism, we do not see in the present day. In the early times of the British settlement in India, there was a strong mania for exploring the untrodden field of Braminical learning, and the unfathomable antiquity in which it was imbedded. The philosophical theories of the _Munees_ and _Rishis_, their sublime conceptions concerning the origin of the world and the unity of God, their utter indifference to worldly concerns and sensual gratifications, their living in sequestered _ashrums_, the practice of religious austerities, the subjugation of passions, and above all, their pure, devotional spirit, lent an enchantment to their teachings, which was, in the highest degree, fascinating. It was not an ordinary phenomenon in the annals of the human intellect that Europeans, possessing all the advantages of modern civilization, should go so far as to entertain a sort of religious veneration for a system of polytheism, which even the natives of the country now-a-days denounce as puerile and absurd. Deeper researches have, however, subsequently dissipated the delusion, and thrown on the subject a great body of light, which the progress of Western knowledge is daily increasing. FOOTNOTES: [135] Such as _Bore_, _Komurpatta_, _Nimfull_, _Neyboofull_, _Ghoomur_ round the waist, _Tabeej_, _Bajoo_, _Balla_, _Jasum_, _Taga_, &c. on the hands, pearl and gold necklaces of various sorts and gold mohurs or sovereigns strung together in the shape of a necklace. NOTE D. THE BAMACHAREE FOLLOWERS OF KALI.