it back upon itself with a large stock of materials for thought. A higher intellectual cultivation, however, is not all that is required. That to be beneficial to the individual and to society must be accompanied by the cultivation of the moral sentiments and habits. Here the native system presents a perfect blank. The hand, the eye, and the ear are employed; the memory is a good deal exercised; the judgment is not wholly neglected; and the religious sentiment is early and perseveringly cherished....But the passions and affections are allowed to grow up wild without any thought of pruning their luxuriances or directing their exercise to good purposes. Hence, I am inclined to believe, the infrequency in native society of enlarged views of moral and social obligations, and hence the corresponding radical defect of the native character which appears to be that of a narrow and contracted selfishness, naturally arising from the fact that the young mind is seldom, if ever, taught to look for the means of its own happiness and improvement in the indulgence of benevolent feelings and the performances of benevolent acts to those who are beyond a certain pale.* The radical defect of the system of elementary instruction seems to explain the radical defect of the native character; and if I have rightly estimated cause and effect, it follows that no material improvement of the native character can be expected, and no improvement whatever of the system of elementary instruction will be sufficient, without a large infusion into it of moral instruction that shall always connect in the mind of the person with the knowledge which he acquires, some useful purpose to which it may be and ought to be applied, not necessarily productive of personal gain or advantage to himself."

* Whatever may have been the relationship between the various castes in the time of Mr. Adam, there is now a distinctly widespread sympathy--witness the relief work done by schoolboys and their parents in the recent floods in Bengal, and the establishment and endowment of Charity Hospitals, or Orphanages, or Homes for the Destitute in many Districts.

Mr. Adam's Recommendations.

Only a bare outline can be given of the measures by which Mr. Adam proposed to improve the condition of elementary schools. Having premised that it would probably be admitted that any scheme which is intended for the promotion of public instruction should be simple in its details and thereby easy of execution; cheap and thereby capable of extensive or general application; not alarming to the prejudices of the people, but calculated on the contrary to create good feelings towards their rulers; not tending to supersede or repress self-exertion, but rather to stimulate and encourage it, and at the same time give Government the lead in the adoption and direction of measures for the future moulding and development of native character, native society, and native institutions ;having premised all this, Mr. Adam centred his recommendations on the improvement of vernacular elementary instruction by improving the existing schools and schoolmasters, through affording them encouragement. He urged that to improve indigenous schools, the first step to be taken was to put the schoolmasters under the supervision of an Inspector co-operating with the Local Committee. The gurus should be publicly and periodically examined, and encouraged by rewards corresponding in value to the progress made by the pupils. He advised that there should be in each district one Anglo-Vernacular School into which promising boys might be received from the elementary schools around, and which should serve as a Normal School for the training of teachers. For the support of these improved teachers small jagirs of land should be assigned in each village. Government should undertake the preparation and distribution of a series of vernacular school books. Such were Mr. Adam's main proposals, and he desired to see them given a trial in one or more selected districts, which latter should first be surveyed in respect of population, the existing means of education, the condition of existing schools, and the attendance in them of scholars,

Discipline in Indigenous Elementary Schools.

In the course of his Report Mr. Adam incidentally states that the teachers being little respected and poorly rewarded there was but small encouragement for persons of character, talent and learning to engage in school-mastering. Even pupils seem at times to have shared in setting their teacher at naught. A writer in the Calcutta Review * supplies the human touch to school life in a patshala. He relates :-"In preparing the gurumahashay's hukka, it is a common trick for the boys to mix the tobacco with chillies and other pungent ingredients; so that when he smokes, he is made to cough violently, while the whole school is convulsed with laughter. Or, beneath the mat on which he sits, may be strewn thorns or sharp prickles, which soon display their effects in the contortions of the crest-fallen and discomforted master. Or, at night he is waylaid by his pupils, who from their concealed position in a tree, or thicket, or behind a wall, pelt him with pebbles, bricks or stones. Or, once more, they rehearse doggerel songs in which they implore the gods, and more particularly Kali, to remove him by death-vowing in the event of the prayer being heard, to offer her presents of sugar and cocoanuts.'

Truancy.

The same writer informs us "the boys have cunning plans for escaping from school. To throw boiled rice on domestic vessels ceremonially defiles them. Hence, when a boy is bent on a day's release from school, he peremptorily disobeys his admonishing mother, saying, 'No; if you insist on my going to school, I shall throw about the boiled rice '-a threat which usually gives him the victory. If a person of different caste, or unbathed, or with his shoes on his feet, touch the boiled rice or pot of another, it is polluted. Hence, when a boy effects his escape from school, he often hastens to some kitchen, touches the boiled rice or the pots in which it has been boiled, and thus becomes himself polluted; and, until he bathes, no one can

touch or seize him without being polluted too. A temporary impunity is thus secured. At other times the boy finds his way to filthy and unclean places, where he remains for hours or a whole day, defying the master and his emissaries to touch him-knowing full well that they cannot do so without partaking of his own contracted pollution. So determined are boys to evade the tortuous system of discipline, that in making good their escape, they often wade or swim through tanks, or along the current of running drains, with a large earthen pot inverted over their heads, so that the suspicion of passers-by, or of those in pursuit, is not even excited-seeing that nothing appears on the surface but a floating pot. Or, they run off and climb into the loftiest neighbouring tree, where they laugh to scorn the efforts of their assailants to dislodge them."

Common Forms of Punishment.

Reprehensible as was such behaviour on the part of scholars, perhaps it was in retaliation for the punishments they commonly received from the guru. Lal Behari Day, in his interesting book, Bengal Peasant Life, gives us a peep into village school life, and mentions some of the punishments generally recognized and expected. To these may be added the following which were within the daily experience of every boy :

"A boy is made to bend forward with his face toward the ground. A heavy brick is then placed on his back and another on his neck. And should he let either of them fall within the prescribed period of half an hour or so, he is punished with the cane.

"A boy is condemned to stand for half an hour or an hour on one foot; and should he shake or quiver, or let down the uplifted leg before the time, he is severely punished.

"A boy is made to sit on the floor in an exceedingly constrained position with one leg turned up behind his neck. He is made to sit with his feet resting on two bricks and with his head bent down between his legs, with his

hands twisted round each leg so as painfully to catch his

ears.

"A boy is made to hang for a few minutes, with his head downwards, from the branch of a neighbouring tree. "His hands and feet are bound with cords; to these members so bound, a rope is fastened, and the boy is then hoisted up by means of a pulley attached to the beams or rafters of the school.

"Nettles, dipped in water, are applied to the body, which becomes irritated and swollen. The pain is excruciating, and often lasts for a whole day. But however great the itching and the pain, the sufferer is not allowed to rub or touch the skin for relief, under the dread of flagellation in addition.

"The boy is put into a sack along with some nettles, or a cat, or some other noisome creature, and then rolled along the ground.

"The fingers of both hands are interlaced across each other with a stick between them, and two sticks from without are drawn close together and tied.

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'The boy is made to measure so many cubits along the ground, by marking off each with the tip of his nose. "Four boys are made to seize another, two holding the arms and two the feet. They then alternately swing him and throw him violently on the ground.

"The boy is constrained to pull his own ears; and if he fail to extend them sufficiently, he is visited with sorer chastisement.

"Two boys are made to seize another by the ears, and, with these organs well out-stretched, he is made to run along for the amusement of the bystanders.

"Two boys, when both have given offence, are made to knock their heads several times against each other.

The boy who comes first to school in the morning receives one stroke of the cane on the palm of his hand; the next receives two strokes, and so each in succession, as he arrives, receives a number of strokes equal to the