There are a few Jews, Chinese, Portuguese, French, Armenians, Nestorians, and others in the country, but of these we make no account here.
The vastness of this wonderful country may be further illustrated by the amazing number of languages spoken throughout its wide extent; and these are living languages, separate and distinct from each other, so that even the characters of their alphabets have no more similarity than the Greek letter has to the Roman. Nor do I include dialects of tongues, or languages of limited and local use, but those which are well known and extensively employed. Of such there are not less than twenty-three spoken in the various provinces of India. They are
1. The Urdu, (the Hindustanee proper,) the French of India, the language of the Mohammedans, of trade, etc.; spoken in Oude and Rohilcund, the Doab, and by traders generally; 2. The Bengalee, spoken in Bengal and eastward; 3. The Hindee, used in Oude, Rohilcund, Rajpootana, Bundlecund, and Malwa by the agricultural Hindoos, etc.; 4. The Punjabee, in the great Indus valley; 5. The Pushtoo, in Peshawar and the far West; 6. The Sindhee, in the Cis-Sutlej States and Sinde; 7. The Guzerattee, in Guzerat, and by the Parsees; 8. The Cutchee, in Cutch ; 9. The Cashmerian, in Cashmere; 10. The Nepaulese, in Nepaul ; 11. The Bhote, in Bootan ; 12. The Assamese, in Assam; 13, 14. The Burmese and Karen, in Burmah and Pegu; 15. The Singhalese, in Ceylon; 16. The Malayalim, in Travencore and Cochin; 17. The Tamul, from Madras to Cape Comorin; 18. The Canarese, in Mysore and Coorg; 19. The Teloogoo, in Hydrabad, and thence to the East Shore; 20. The Oorya, in Orissa; 21. The Cole and Gond, in Berar; 22. The Mahratta, in Bombay, Nagpore, and Gwalior; and 23. The Khassiya, in the North-east. Add the English, and there are twenty-four living languages extensively spoken in India to-day! Nor is this all: the great classics of the leading tongaes, the ancient and venerable Pali, the Sanscrit, the Persian, and the Arabic are studied and used by the scholarship of India, because they hold in their charge the venerable treasures of their volumi-
