an enquiry." He was granted a consolidated allowance of Rs. 1,000 a month for all his expenses, excluding the cost of travelling, for which he was to submit bills for the actual charges incurred under that head. His instructions were to present his reports to the General Committee of Public Instruction, who advised him that "the information obtained should be complete as far as it goes, clear and specific in its details, and depending upon actual observation or undoubted authority, rather than that you should hurry over a large space in a short time to be able to give only a crude and imperfect account of the state of education within that space. With a view to ultimate measures, it is just as necessary to know the extent of the ignorance that prevails where education is wholly or almost wholly neglected, as to know the extent of the acquirements made where some attention is paid to it." Mr. Adam's Plan of Operation in Towns. 66 Mr. Adam thus outlined his plan of operation according as he was surveying the state of education in towns or in villages :-" Taking up my residence in one of the towns or seats of learning, I would, with the aid of my Pandit and Maulvi and by friendly communication with the responsible inhabitants and learned men of the place, make an enumeration or list of the various institutions for the promotion of education; classify them according to the denominations of which they may consist, whether Hindus, Muhammadans, or Christians: public, private, and charitable; examine each institution of each class with the consent of the parties concerned, and make a memorandum on the spot of the number of pupils; the nature and the extent of the course of instruction in science and learning; the resources of the institution, whether public or private; if public, whether they appear to be efficiently and legitimately applied; the estimation in which the institution is held by the community to which it belongs, and the possibility or means of raising the character and enlarging the usefulness of any single institution or of a whole class. Having exhausted the institutions of one class, I would proceed to another, and from that to a third, repeating the same process in each, until I had obtained a complete knowledge of the state of education in the whole town and neighbourhood. The memoranda thus taken down on the spot and at the instant, the fruits of my personal knowledge and direct observation, would supply the materials from which a full and methodical report would be furnished to Government. 66 Mr. Adam's Plan of Operation in Villages. 'A somewhat different mode must be employed in investigating the state of education in a district where common schools and schools of learning are indiscriminately scattered over a large surface. In that case, fixing my principal residence at the head station of the zilla, I would diverge from it in all directions to the extreme bounds of the district, passing one, two, three or more days at one place, according as objects of investigation of the kind connected with the immediate duty presented themselves, and entering freely into communication with parents, teachers and pandits on that subject, examining schools both common and learned, and, as in the former case, making my memoranda at the time for future guidance in preparing the report. After having completed the range of one district I would proceed to another, until I had in this manner gone over the whole country assigned to my investigation." During the years 1835, 1836, 1837 and part of 1838, Mr. Adam made an educational survey of Midnapore, Orissa, Hooghly, Burdwan, Jessore, Nadia, Dacca, Bakarganj, Chittagong, Tippera, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Murshidabad, Birbhum, the 24-Parganas, Rajshahi, Rungpur, Dinajpur, Purnia, Tirhoot, South Bihar and of the towns of Calcutta, Chinsurah, Dacca, Burdwan and Murshidabad. Points of Enquiry. Mr. Adam focussed his enquiry into the state of education upon the following points :-(1) The state of school instruction; (2) the state of domestic instruction; (3) the state of adult education, i.e., of persons above the age of 14 years. 66 Classes of Schools Surveyed. He recognized (a) elementary indigenous schools; (b) elementary schools not indigenous, and (c) indigenous schools of learning. By "elementary indigenous schools" he meant "those schools in which instruction in the elements of knowledge is communicated, and which have been originated and are supported by the natives themselves." Among elementary schools not indigenous" he included those schools which had been established, and were being supported by planters or religious and philanthropic societies, and in which indigenous methods of teaching had been improved upon by the adaptation in them of European methods and means. The "indigenous schools of learning" were of course Sanskrit Tols, Persian Schools and Arabic Madrassahs. He subdivided indigenous schools into "communal schools," i.e., schools in the accepted sense of the word, and "domestic schools," i.e., schools conducted by a private tutor for the benefit of the children of an individual family. "Forms" used to tabulate Information collected. Mr. Adam devised certain "forms" for the convenient tabulation of the information he gathered regarding the several types of schools-one "form" for Bengali or Hindi schools, another for Sanskrit schools, a third for Persian or Arabic schools, and so on, each taking note (with appropriate modifications) of the following details :"(1) Name of the town or village in which the school is situated; (2) description of the place employed as a school-house; (3) name, religion, caste and age of the teacher; (4) the sources of his receipts; (5) the extent of his instruction; (6) the number of scholars present and absent, their religion and caste; (7) the age at which each entered school, his present age, the probable age at which he would leave school; (8) the progress he had made in the course of instruction; (9) the books, if any, read in the school, and the works, if any, written by the teacher." 99 To ascertain the condition of "domestic instruction another "form was prepared providing for the following details :-(1) The number of families in each town or village; (2) the name, religion, caste and principal occupation and the habit of each family; (3) the number of persons in each family, male and female, above 14 years of age; (4) the number, male and female, between 14 and 5, and the number, male and female, below 5; (5) the number of families in each town or village giving domestic instruction to their children, and the number of children in each family receiving domestic instruction; (6) the number of persons of adult age in each family who had received a learned education; and knew something more than mere reading and writing-whether Bengali, Hindi, Persian or English, or any two or more of these; (7) the number who could merely read and write, and the number who could barely decipher or write their own names. Mr. Adam experiences Difficulties. 66 The best laid out plans may go awry. Mr. Adam tells us of his difficulties. Having prepared the necessary 'forms' my first purpose was to visit every village in person, and ascertain its exact condition by actual inspection and enquiry in direct communication with the inhabitants. This course I found liable to several objections. The sudden appearance of a European in a village ever inspires terror, which it is always difficult, and sometimes impossible, to subdue. The most influential, or the best informed, inhabitant was sometimes absent, and it required much labour to enable others to comprehend the object of my visit. Under the most favourable circumstances the time consumed in explanations for the satisfaction of the villagers, caused such delays as would have ultimately constituted a serious obstacle to the efficiency and economy of the investigation." Mr. Adam uses Waqifkars. In these circumstances Mr. Adam employed Waqifkars, or agents of intelligence, "whom I send beforehand into the surrounding villages to explain to the inhabitants the nature and objects of my enquiry, and thus to prepare them for my arrival. These agents were furnished with written 'forms' which were fully explained to them, and which they were required in like manner to explain to those to whom they were sent. The effect of this arrangement was good, for I often found the inhabitants fully prepared to understand my object, and to give me the information I sought." After his Pandit and Maulvi had been under his supervision for several months, they became still more helpful, for Mr. Adam, with a view to expediting the conclusion of his investigations, let them collect the information needed by him. Courses of Studies in Indigenous Elementary Schools. In his Report of 1835 Mr. Adam gives the following account of the courses of studies in the indigenous elementary schools of Rajshahi-schools which in no way differed from their fellows in other parts of Bengal:-"Not only are printed books not used in these schools, but even manuscript books are unknown. All that the scholars learn is from the oral dictation of the master; and although what is so communicated must have a firm seat in the memory of the teacher, and will probably find an equally firm seat in the memory of the scholar, yet instruction conveyed solely by such means must have very limited scope. The principal writing composition which they learn in this way is the Saraswati Bandana,* or Salutation to the Goddess of Learning, which is committed to memory সৰ্বস্বতী বন্দনা। রাগিনী—ভৈরবী। যা কুন্দে তুষারহারধবলা যা শ্বেতপদ্মাসনা, |