[38] Hindoos are so passionately fond of their children, male or female, that they can but ill brook the idea of a segregation, even under circumstances where it is unavoidable. Hence wealthy families often keep their sons-in-law under their own roof. Sometimes this is done from vanity. Such sons-in-law generally become indolent and effeminate, destitute alike of mental activity and physical energy. They eat, drink, smoke, play and sleep. Fattening on the ample resources of their father-in-law they contract demoralizing habits, which engender vice and profligacy. The late Baboos Ramdoolal Dey, Ramruttun Roy, Prannauth Chowdry, the Tagore families, the old Rajahs of Calcutta and some of the newly fledged English made Rajahs and others, countenanced this practice, and the result is, they have left with but few exceptions a number of men singularly deficient in good moral character. These men are called _Ghar Jamayes_, or home bred sons-in-law, which is a term of reproach among all persons who have a spark of independence about them. The late Baboo Dinno Bundho Mitter, the celebrated author of "_Nil Durpun_," strongly satirises such characters in a book called "_Jamay Bareek_." While on this subject I may as well mention here that Baboo Ramdoolal Dey of Calcutta, who had risen from obscurity to great opulence, had five daughters, to each of whom he gave a marriage dowry of Rupees 50,000 in Government securities, and 10,000 Rupees for a house. Of course all his sons-in-law were first class _Koolins_, and used to live under the roof of their father-in-law. Some of their sons and grandsons are now ranked amongst the Hindoo millionaires of this great City, while most of the members of the original stock have dwindled into insignificance, strikingly illustrating the instability of fortune. [39] The use of an iron bangle or bracelet has a deep meaning, it outlasts gold and silver ones. A girl may wear gold ornaments set in precious stones to the value of ten or fifteen thousand Rupees, but an _iron_ bangle worth a pice,--a veritable insignia of _ayestreehood_ opposed to widowhood--is indispensable to a married woman for its comparatively durable quality. A young widow may wear gold bangles till her twentieth year, but she is not privileged to put on an iron bangle after the death of her husband. [40] In the early part of the British Government in Bengal, _cowries_ were the common currency of the Province in the ordinary transactions of life. People used to make their _hautbazar_ (market) with _cowries_, and a family that made a daily bazar with sixteen or eighteen _kahuns_ of cowries, equal to one rupee or so, was reckoned a very respectable family. The prices of provisions ranged nearly one-third of what they now are. Even the revenues of Government were sometimes paid in cowries in the Eastern districts, namely, Assam, Sylhet, &c.