To this may be added also, that necessity, the mother of all the arts, is far from being so great in India as elsewhere; for as this country supplies rice, fruits, and other natural productions in abundance, it may be readily conceived that no person can find it difficult to procure a living. Under these circumstances young people feel no inducement to study painting; and among the few who apply to that art, there is not the smallest emulation to bring it to perfection. The Indians, in general, are not very fond of painting; for in a country where every person almost goes naked, little scope is naturally left for the imagination in this respect; and therefore their desire to paint such nudities, and to represent them in their full beauty, cannot be very strong. Here and there, however, I observed, on the external walls surrounding the pagodas, several beautiful paintings, which were delineated with great freedom and correctness. This may serve as a convincing proof that the Indians are not destitute of talents sufficient to enable them to make as great progress in this art as other nations. They possess also a wonderful dexterity in imitating the paintings and drawings which are given them by the Europeans to copy. Their colours, which they prepare from the juice of certain trees, flowers, herbs and fruits, are uncommonly lively, and seldom or never fade. Their painted cottons, which were celebrated in the earliest periods, are still transported to most countries in the world, and form one of the principal articles of the Indian trade. The small figures in bas-relief, with which they ornament the sides of the triumphal cars employed to carry about the images of their gods on days of solemnity, are also of very beautiful workmanship. Some of these cars cost from twenty to thirty thousand rupees, and are drawn by sixty, eighty, and sometimes a hundred persons. They have from twelve to sixteen wheels, and are painted and ornamented with figures of all sorts. Of this kind is the car of Bacchus, in the temple _Ramanacoil_, on the boundaries of the kingdom of _Marava_. There are others of the like kind also at _Tiruvancòda_, _Cangipuri_, and _Jagarnat_. Of optics, and the art of making glass, the Indians have little or no knowledge. An Indian prince was one day reconnoitering at a distance an hostile army, which was advancing to attack him. An European missionary, whom he had in his suite, gave him a spy glass, that he might have a more distinct view of the enemy. When the prince looked through it, he firmly believed that the army was really close to him, and, under a conviction that this was actually the case, gave immediate orders for engaging. But how great was his astonishment when, by desire of the missionary, he took the glass from his eye, and found that the enemy were still at the same distance as they had before appeared; so that his orders would have been fruitless, even if he had employed cannon.