having thirty days. Half the month, when the moon shines, is called Oojeeala-pakh, and the other half, which is dark, they call Andhera-pakh, and these distinctions they recognize in writing and dating their letters. They reckon their era from the reign of Bikurmaditt, one of their greatest and best kings, the present year of their era being 1934. The Mohammedans date their era from the Hejira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca, which took place in A. D. 622; this is therefore their 1249th year.
I saw a very primitive method of measuring time, or ascertaining the “ghuree,” in India. It was a small brass cup, with a hole in the bottom, immersed in a pan of water, and watched by a servant. When the cup sinks from the quantity of water its perforation has admitted the ghuree is completed, and the cup is again placed empty on the top of the water to measure the succeeding ghuree. Great attention is, of course, required to preserve any moderate degree of correctness by this imperfect mode of marking the progress of the day and night, and establishments are purposely entertained for it when considered as a necessary appendage of rank. In most other cases, the superior convenience and certainty of our clocks and watches are making considerable strides in superseding the Hindustanee ghuree.
A brief glimpse at the wonderful Mythology, Geography, and Astronomy of these people will be expected here, as also some notice of their venerable Vedas and their voluminous literature. Their “Sacred Books” gravely teach as follows:
“The worlds above this earth are peopled with gods and goddesses, demi-gods and genii—the sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters, of Brahma and other superior deities. All the superior gods have separate heavens for themselves. The inferior deities dwell chiefly in the heaven of Indra, the god of the firmament. There they congregate to the number of three hundred and thirty millions. The gods are divided and subdivided into classes or hierarchies, which vary through every conceivable gradation of rank and power. They are of all colors: some black, some white, some red, some blue, and so through all the blending shades of the
