Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/275

Rh branches of natural philosophy are also taught; and the whole course is crowned by the perusal of treatises on metaphysics deemed the highest attainment of the instructed scholar. Perhaps we shall not err widely if we suppose that the state of learning amongst the Musalmans of India resembles that which existed among the nations of Europe before the invention of printing.

Eighth.—In estimating the amount of intellectual ability and acquirement that might be brought into requisition for the promotion or improvement of education amongst the Mohammadan population, it may be remarked that the Persian teachers as a class are much superior in intelligence to the Bengali and Hindi teachers, but they are also much more frequently the retainers or dependents of single families or individual patrons, and being thus held by a sort of domestic tie they are less likely to engage in the prosecution of a general object. The Arabic teachers are so few that they can scarcely be taken into the account, and in the Bengal districts I did not find that any of them had attempted any form of literary composition. Among the few Arabic teachers of South Behar and Tirhoot the case was very different, four being authors of high repute for learning. With three of these I came into personal communication and they were evidently men of great mental activity and possessing an ardent thirst for knowledge. Various Persian and Arabic works of native learning given to me by the General Committee of Public Instruction for distribution were presented to these teachers and their pupils and they were not only thankfully but most greedily received. They had also a vague, but nevertheless a very strong desire to acquire a knowledge of European systems of learning, and I could reckon with confidence on receiving their co-operation in any measure which without offending their social or religious prejudices should have a tendency to gratify that desire.

There are four girls’ schools in the district, of which one, situated at Japat in the Culna thana, and superintended by the Reverend Mr. Alexander, is supported by the Ladies’ Society of Calcutta; a second, situated in the town of Burdwan, and superintended by the Reverend Mr. Linke, is supported by the same Society; a third, situated on the Mission premises in the neighbourhood of Burdwan, is supported and superintended by the Reverend Mr. Weitbrecht; and a fourth, situated in the neighbourhood of Cutwa in the thana of that name, and superintended by the Reverend William Carey of the Baptist Missionary Society, is supported by the Calcutta Baptist Society for promoting Native Female Education. In all these cases the wives of the Missionaries co-operate in the superintendence.