Answer. That is true; and ADIBA is still surviving at Booje, the capital of Kutch; yet there are nevertheless but few exceptions, such as in this instance, to the general rule; because, from the effect of the malediction pronounced, no good ensues from their preservation; insomuch, that if any daughters of this tribe get married into other houses, the grain of such houses becomes less plentiful; nor do such women produce sons, but are the occasion of feuds arising in the families into which they are thus transplanted. Throughout all the country of Kutch, there may be six or eight houses wherein the Jarejah masters of families bring up their daughters; or otherwise the practice of killing them is general: and besides what happens within the limits of that country, the Jarejah chieftains of Murvi (written also Murbi), Goundal, or Gowndel, and Jamnagar, in the peninsula of Guzerat, do also kill their female infants.

There is an instance of VISAJI, the Kakerwalla chieftain of Kutch, having given his daughter in wedlock to GHOLAM SHAH, one of the former Mahommedan rulers of Sind, of the Kallowra tribe, an event that must have happened forty years

• This idea is perfectly natural to a Hindu; necessarily, if at all pious, taught to look on the malediction of a Brahman as the heaviest of human calamities. In the Ramayana it is decreed, that "even he who cannot be slain by the ponderous arms of INDRA, nor by those of KALI, nor by the terrible chakra of VISHNU, shall be destroyed if a Brahman curse him, as if he were consumed by fire." See Hindu Pantheon, p. 403, where the potency, or omnipotency, of the Brahmans is discussed. E. M.

f This seems the same person who is called VISAJ of Kandakra, in the note in page 24. Kakerwalla is, I imagine, a personal or family epithet, derived from accident or contingency. Kaka, in Sanskrit, and in several spoken dialects, is a crow. (Hindu Pantheon, p. 142.) Hence Kakerwalla, or Kakawalla, may mean he (or the man, or the fellow) of the crow; which, although a bird of ill omen, individuals are sometimes named after. Females in Malabar are sometimes named KAKA. E. M.

years ago, but at present this Kakerwalla family do not bring up their female infants. Those who occasionally do so, are induced to it by the consideration of thereby acquiring the merit of having sons born to them. As, for instance, when a man have a succession of female children produced in his family, he will, at the suggestion of any one, be induced to believe, that by sparing and bringing them up, sons will also be acquired to him; whence, chiefly, Jarejah's daughters are sometimes met with; of which there is, within my recollection, another instance, in the case of the 'Roee, chieftain of Kutch, by name VIJRAJI, or VEDRAJI, who has married a daughter of his to the son of ATTABYE, the Raja of Bhownager. That lady may now be about twenty, or twenty-two years of age; but I have not heard that she has yet had any male issue, but that, on the contrary, her husband and she do not agree."

Thus far SUNDERJI'S verbal account to the Governor.

The Government of Bombay having under consideration, about the period of SUNDERJI'S aforesaid narrative, the most available means of counteracting, as far as their influence extended, the barbarous practice thus ascertained to prevail in Kattywàr, as well as in Kutch; instructions were, on the 27th of May, 1805, transmitted to Major WALKER, the Resident at the Court of the Gaikawàr, in Guzerat, to which state the territory of Kattywar is tributary, "to communicate with the abovenamed SUNDERJI SIVAJI, then on his way from Bombay to Beroda, and to endeavour to prevail on him to take an

This is the same name as is written (in page 24) by Captain SETON, Roi; and Rahwa, or Rowa, in the note. According to the orthography adopted in this tract, I should spell this word Rai, or Rui, instead of Roi, or Rowee. E. M.

active part as the agent of the British Government, for effecting the abrogation in that quarter, of a system so revolting and detestable."

In pursuance of that instruction, Major WALKER addressed the Government of Bombay as follows:

To FRANCIS WARDEN, Esq. Secretary to Government,

SIR,

Bombay.

I HAVE the honor to enclose, for the information of the Honourable the Governor in Council, a translation of a letter received from SUNDERJI SIVAJI, of Kutch; communicating some particulars relative to the practice of female Infanticide among the tribe of Jarejahs; and some information on the state of affairs among the chieftains bordering on the gulph of Kutch.

The Honourable the Governor in Council will observe with regret, that so large a number of innocent children annually suffer from the prevalence of the barbarous custom of female Infanticide among the Jarejahs; but the custom seems limited to that tribe who inhabit Kutch and Kattywar, as I have not been able to trace its existence among any other people of Guzerat.

I have the honor to enclose an extract from my correspondence with SUNDERJI on the subject of this custom; but I fear the humane attempt of the Honourable the Governor in Council will not be successful, to any great extent, in restraining the superstitious and religious prejudices of a tribe so far removed from the authority of the British Government, and

F

and so little acquainted with the principles of improved society.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Baroda,

1st September, 1805.

(Signed) A. WALKER,

Resident.

Translation of a Letter from SUNDERJI SIVAJI, of Kutch, to Major WALKER, dated 13th August, 1805. Enclosed in the preceding.

"THE drowning of the daughters of the Jarejahs proceeds from this cause-in this country there is no one can marry into the tribe of Jarejah; wherefore they drown their daughters. There may be annually five or six hundred births among the Jarejahs; inasmuch as the chieftains of Murbi, Hallar, Gowndel, Wagar, Kutch, and Kalakut, are all Jarejahs, and are all related; and among relatives it is not customary for Hindus to marry-excepting relatives, there are none of their tribe-such is the custom of the Jarejahs."

From Major WALKER to SUNDERji.

"I have been favored with your letter of the 13th of August, noticing some customs of the cast of Jarejahs.

b Kulhakot, MS. the same name perhaps that we usually spell Calicut, and pronounce Kalikat, and apply to a city in Malabar. It would be deemed a pedantic affectation to apply the amended orthography to cities so well known as this, and Calcutta-it is, however, to be regretted, that the geographical orthography of India is not improved. In the instances adverted to in this note, Kalakut probably derives its name from KALA, a name of SIVA. Calicut (or as I would, if I dared, spell it Kàlikùt) from his consort, KALI.Calcutta is probably the same name; or may come from KAL, a personification of Time, or Eternity. For particulars, and pictures of which important personages, the reader is referred to their names in the Index to the Hindu Pantheon. E. M.

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I request that on this interesting subject, you will in your next letter be more particular; and detail every circumstance relative to the inhuman custom practised by the Jurejahs of putting their female children to death in their infancy.

"The prevalence of such a barbarous habit must be a subject of regret to all the friends of humanity, and is especially so to the British Government; whose views being ever directed to the promotion of the happiness of their subjects and neighbours, they cannot learn without horror, that five or six hundred innocent children are annually put to death, who, if suffered to live, would contribute so much to increase the population and happiness, and the consequent prosperity of the country in which they abide.

"This custom is the more extraordinary and reprehensible, as it is expressly forbidden by the Hindu law, and in the 'Brehma Vyvanta Purana, is called a great crime: it being written, that killing even a fœtus, is as criminal as killing a Brahman-and the same Purana condemns the perpetrator to suffer in the hell called Nerka, as many years as there are hairs on the child's body.

"It would therefore be a very acceptable service to humanity, highly gratifying to Mr. DUNCAN and the British Government, and honourable to yourself, if you exert your influence to obtain the discontinuance of such a barbarous custom.

"When the Honourable Mr. DUNCAN was in charge of the province of Benares, he put a stop to it, for it was there practised by a cast called Rajkumar; he induced them to sign

i Written in the MS. as it is commonly pronounced in the west of India, Brehma Bywant Pooran. See p. 7. E. M.