. The world's inhabitants; or, Mankind, animals, and plants; being a popular account of the races and nations of mankind, past and present, and the animals and plants inhabiting the great continents and principal islands. f castes,castes has arisen, partlythrough the intermar-riage of men of thehigher castes withwomen of the lower, towhom distinctive occu-pations have been as-signed, and partly by atendency to form tradesguilds, which was almostequally influential inEurope in the middleages, and has by nomeans died out amongourselves. Why it should have gained suchremarkable ascendencyin India
. The world's inhabitants; or, Mankind, animals, and plants; being a popular account of the races and nations of mankind, past and present, and the animals and plants inhabiting the great continents and principal islands. f castes,castes has arisen, partlythrough the intermar-riage of men of thehigher castes withwomen of the lower, towhom distinctive occu-pations have been as-signed, and partly by atendency to form tradesguilds, which was almostequally influential inEurope in the middleages, and has by nomeans died out amongourselves. Why it should have gained suchremarkable ascendencyin India we cannot maybe simply becausethe struggle for existence was so keen, that each group protected itselfas far as possible and jealously excluded others. No doubt the skillacquired by those who exclusively devoted themselves to particular crafts,and whose sons showed special and increasing aptitude for the samepursuit, aided this powerfully. The word caste was a Portuguese term,indicating the divisions or creeds they found among the Indians. TheHindu word for caste is jat, or birth, which, however, has becomeidentified with occupation ; and castes in this sense are now innumerableand constantly being KAJfUT WOMEN. i 300 THE INHABITANTS OF ASIA. Of course the vast majority of the Hindus are agriculturists, and,according to some, castes have arisen essentially out of the primitive „, , constitution of village communities. The Indian village or Hindu . , ^ ... viUage township, extending over three or four square miles of terri-commum les.^^^,^^ .^ ^^^ many respects a little republic ; and its organisationhas lasted practically for more than two thousand years, testifying to theexcellent elements it contains. If the agriculturists implements are rude,his social system is complex and very satisfactory. The community has little to do with Government, beyond paying ajoint produce-tax and obeying general laws. It elects its own headman, ViUage 01 president, who is the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectcivilization, bookyea
