by frequent repetitions, and is daily recited by the scholars in a body before they leave school-all kneeling with their heads bent to the ground, and following a leader or monitor in the pronunciation of the successive lines or couplets. . . . The only other written composition used in these schools, and that only in the way of oral dictation by the master, consists of a few of the rhyming Arithmetical Rules of Subhankar, a writer whose name is as familiar in Bengal as that of Cocker in England, without any one knowing who or what he was, or when he lived.

Stages of Instruction.

"There are four different stages in the course of Bengali instruction. The first period seldom exceeds ten days, which are employed in teaching the young scholars to form the letters of the alphabet on the ground with a small stick or slip of bamboo. The sand-board is not used in this district (Rajshahi), probably to save expense. The second period, extending from two-and-a-half to four years, is distinguished by the use of the palm leaf as a material on which writing is performed. Hitherto the mere form and sound of the letters have been taught without regard to their size and relative proportion; but the master with an iron style now writes on the palm leaf letters of a determinate size and in due proportion to one another, and the scholar is required to trace them on the same leaf with a reed pen and with charcoal-ink which easily rubs out. This process is repeated over and over again on the same leaf until the scholar no longer requires the use of the copy to guide him in the formation of the letters of a fit size and proportion, and he is consequently next made to write them on another leaf which has no copy to direct him. He is afterwards exercised in writing and pronouncing compound consonants, the syllables formed by the conjunction of vowels with consonants, and the most common names of persons. In other parts of the country, the names of castes, rivers, mountains, etc., are written as well as the names of persons; but here (Rajshahi) the

names of persons only are employed as a school exercise. The scholar is then taught to read and write, and by frequent repetition he commits to memory the Cowrie Table, the Numeration Table as far as 100, the Katha Table (a Land Measure Table), the Ser Table (a Dry Measure). There are other tables in use elsewhere which are not taught in the schools of this district (Rajshahi). The third stage of instruction extends from two to three years, which are employed in writing on the plantain leaf. In some districts the tables just mentioned are postponed to this stage, but in this district (Rajshahi) they are included in the exercises of the second stage. The first exercise taught on the plantain leaf is to initiate the scholar in the simplest forms of letter-writing, to instruct him to connect words in composition with one another, and to distinguish the written from the spoken forms of Bengali vocables. The written forms are often abbreviated in speech by the omission of a vowel or a consonant, or by the running of two syllables into one; and the scholar is taught to use in writing the full and not the abbreviated forms About the same time, the scholar is taught the rules of arithmetic, beginning with addition and subtraction, but multiplication and division are not taught as separate rules-all the arithmetical processes hereafter mentioned being effected by addition and subtraction with the aid of a multiplication table which extends to the number 20, and which is repeated aloud by the whole school once every morning, and is thus acquired, not as a separate task by each boy, but by the force of joint repetition and mutual imitation. After addition and subtraction the arithmetical rules divide themselves into two classes, agricultural and commercial, in one or both of which instruction is given more or less fully according to the capacity of the teacher and the wishes of the parents. The rules applied to agricultural accounts explain the forms of keeping debit and credit accounts; the calculation of the value of daily or monthly labour at a given monthly or annual rate; the calculation

of the area of land whose sides measure a given number of kathas or bighas; the description of the boundaries of land and the determination of its length, breadth and contents; the form of revenue accounts for a given quantity of land. There are numerous other forms of agricultural accounts, but no others appear to be taught in the schools of this district (Rajshahi). The rules of commercial accounts explain the mode of calculating the value of a given number of seers at a given price per maund; the price of a given number of quarters and chitaks at a given price per seer; the price of a tola at a given rate per chitak; the number of cowries in a given number of annas at a given number of cowries per rupee; the interest of money; and the discount chargeable on the exchange of the inferior sort of rupees. There are other forms of commercial accounts, but they are not taught in the schools. "The fourth and last stage of instruction generally includes a period of two years-often less, seldom more. The accounts briefly and superficially taught in the preceding stage are now taught more thoroughly and at greater length, and this is accompanied by the composition of business letters, petitions, grants, leases, notes of hand, etc., together with the forms of address belonging to the different grades of rank and station. When the scholars have written upon paper for about one year, they are considered qualified to engage in the unassisted perusal of Bengali works, and they often read at home such productions as the translations of the Ramayana Manasa Mangal, etc."

"This sketch of a course of Bengali instruction," Mr. Adam continues, "must be regarded rather as what is intended to be than what is, for most of the schoolmasters whom I have seen, as far as I could judge from necessarily brief and limited opportunities of observation, were unqualified to give all the instruction here described, although I have thus placed on record the amount of their pretensions. All, however, do not pretend to teach the whole of what is enumerated here, some professing to limit

themselves to agricultural, and others to include, commercial accounts. Most of them appear to have a very superficial acquaintance with both.”

"With the exception of the multiplication table, the rhyming arithmetical rules of Subhankar, and the form of address to Saraswati, all which the younger scholars learn by the mere imitation of sounds incessantly repeated by the elder boys without for a long time understanding what those sounds convey-with these exceptions the native schoolboys learn everything that they do learn, not merely by reading it, but by writing it. They read to the master or to one of the elder scholars what they have previously written, and thus the hand, the eye, and the ear are equally called into requisition. It is almost unnecessary to add that the use of monitors or elders has long prevailed in the common schools of India, and is well known in those of Bengal."

Teachers of Indigenous Elementary Schools.

In respect of teachers this is what Mr. Adam relates: "The teachers consist both of young and middle-aged menfor the most part simple-minded but poor and ignorant, and therefore, having recourse to an occupation which is suitable both to their expectations and attainments, and on which they reflect as little honour as they derive emolument from it; they do not understand the importance of the task they have undertaken; they do not appear to have made it even a subject of thought; they do not appreciate the great influence which they might exert over the minds of their pupils; and they consequently neglect the highest duties which their situation would impose, if they were better acquainted with their powers and obligations. At present they produce chiefly a mechanical effect upon the intellect of their pupils which is worked upon and chiselled out, and that in a very rough style, but which remains nearly passive in their hands, and is seldom taught or encouraged to put forward its self-acting and self-judging capacities. As to any moral influence of teachers over pupils-any

attempt to form the sentiments and habits, and to control and guide the passions and emotions-such a notion never enters their conceptions, and the formation of the moral character of the young is consequently wholly left to the influence of the casual associations amidst which they are placed, without any endeavour to modify or direct them." The Remuneration of Elementary School Teachers. Scaling of Fees.

"The remuneration of teachers," Mr. Adam goes on to say, "is derived from various sources. Two teachers have their salaries wholly, and another receives his in part, from the benevolent individuals who appear to be influenced only by philanthropic motives; a fourth is remunerated solely in the form of fees; and the remaining six are paid partly by fees and partly by perquisites. There are in general four stages in the course of instruction indicated by the nature of the materials employed for writing on, namely, the ground, the palm leaf, the plantain leaf and paper ; and at the commencement of each stage after the first a higher fee is charged. In one instance the first and second stages are merged into one; in another instance the same fee is charged for the third and fourth; and in a third, the first, second and third stages are equally charged. But the rule I have stated is observed in a majority of cases, and partially even in those exceptions. Another mode, adopted in two instances, of regulating the fees is according to the means of the parents whose children are instructed; a half or a third, or a fourth less being charged to the children of poor than to the children of rich parents in the successive stages of instruction. The perquisites of teachers vary from 4 annas to 5 rupees a monthin the former case consisting of a piece of cloth, or other occasional voluntary gift from the parents; and in the latter, or in similar cases, of food alone, or of food, washing and all personal expenses, together with occasional presents. Those who receive food as a perquisite either live in the house of one of the principal supporters of the school, or visit the houses of different parents by