Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/390

330 For this purpose, in addition to the ordinary attainments of a learned Musalman, I would require that the candidate for the office of cazy shall have passed successfully through examinations in the four Arabic text-books prepared under the orders of Government for the use of Mohammadan schools of learning; and that he shall have instructed six pupils in each of those books in such a manner as will have enabled them also to pass through similar examinations. The office of cazy would thus be raised from one of insignificance, uselessness, and sometimes positive injury to the community, to one of great importance and direct utility. Amongst the most disaffected portion of the population, the proposed measure would raise up a body of instructed men existing solely by the will of Government, capable of appreciating and explaining its measures, and exercising a powerful and undisputed influence over the whole Musalman population of their jurisdiction. Without additional expense, it would furnish Government with a ready-made body of examiners of the Urdu teachers and scholars of the district. The effect would be an increased feeling of satisfaction and attachment to the Government, in addition to all the other advantages that may be expected from the growth of intelligence and information, of public principle, and of private morality in a community.

The preceding arrangements will gradually and effectually provide for the promotion of vernacular instruction and the preservation of learning amongst the Hindu and Mohammadan divisions of the population; but within the limits of the British territories in India there are numerous and widely-spread tribes who acknowledge no affinity of race or of language, no sympathy in manners or in religion, with either. A scheme of national instruction that should leave them out of view would be essentially defective.

The Santhals, a tribe of this description, are found in considerable numbers in the Beerbhoom district, and came there under my personal observation. In one thana I found 786 Santhal families containing 4,261 persons, being considerably more numerous than the Musalmans of the same thana; and they are found in still greater number in the north and west of the district. They are also found in the Bhaugulpore district, in the jungle mehals or West Burdwan, and in the Midnapore district; but in greatest abundance in Coochung, Bamanbati, and Dolbhoom in Ramghur on the western and southern frontier of Bengal. The