Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/204

178 an abundance of vegetables, at Cheduba and Ramree, at the rate of three halfpence the pound: at Kyouk Phyoo, it was the same price; but the cantonment having been so recently formed, it was by no means so good, nor were vegetables easily to be procured, though we got a few of the best oranges I have tasted in India, and I was told they were abundant at the latter part of the year.

Though, in many respects, the people are far from being civilized, in others they surpass the most polished nations. There is rarely a person to be met with who cannot read and write; and records are kept on the palm-leaf, beautifully lacquered in japan or red, generally on a grit ground, with dark letters. Their common accounts are written with a chalk pencil, resembling talc, on folds of paper made from the bark of a tree, and then covered with lamp-black, or a smooth board, besmeared with the same substance. They have thirty-six characters in their alphabet, written from left to right; and they hold their pen or pencil as we do, the lines being as fine, and the characters as beautifully formed, as if made with a pen and ink.

Their priests appear entirely occupied in the education of the children, and in every village there are two or three. Their schools are equally open to all; and the only remuneration appears to be a sufficient quantity of food, and the erection of a house which answers as a residence, temple, and school-room; with generally a small pagoda, having a number of poles and pendants hanging from it, much after the manner represented on the common chinaware. Indeed, all their habits, as well as their persons and dress, resemble those of the western part of China. Celibacy is observed by the priests, who universally shave their heads, and wear a dirty yellow cotton dress; and before any boy can be prepared for admission as a priest, he must publicly declare his own and his parents' free consent. Should he afterwards, however, at any time of his life, repent of his resolution, it is not thought disgraceful for him to say so, and he may return to the common walks of life, and take a wife as soon as he pleases. The only foreigners now in Arracan are the servants of the East India Company, who, both civil and military, spoke of the priests (or pondis, as they are termed) as being an unpresuming, well-disposed set of men, never interfering with the concerns of others, unless applied to as arbitrators, when they exercise their judgment with impartiality. The 'Mughs,' in their manners, are perfectly free from the servile hypocrisy of their western neighbours, and equally unlike them as to probity—their words being generally to be taken; and, in dealing with you, they ask the price which they consider the article worth, and no more; though it is to be feared the intercourse which they are likely to have with the natives of Bengal will soon