Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/36

BUSTEE. arithmetic, it is beneath them, and belongs to Bimneas only; and there is, perhaps, little hope of amendment in this particular.

It is stated that the Ranghur Rajpoot women are very handsome. They are for the most part secluded, and are entirely uneducated. Formerly the practice of suttee was common among them, and it was a point of honour for them to follow their husbands in death. This, however, has ceased. It is doubtful whether the practice of infanticide was ever to any great extent followed: for as long as there was no objection, there was a large demand for daughters among their Mahomedan brethren. The same grounds of interest which belong to Mahomedan Ranghurs, exist in as great, or greater degree, in regard to the Hindoo branch of the tribe; and their curious association, though of different faiths, for so many centuries, in the same villages, has perhaps nowhere a parallel.