wife and thy children be preserved!" happiness ever be thy portion!"

"May riches and

In the beginning of the Hindoo new year, when friends meet for the first time, they bless each other. "Valen, may your fields give abundance of rice, your trees be covered with fruit, your wells and tanks be full of water, and your cows give rivers of milk!" "Ah! Tamban, we have met on the first day of the new year. In the next ten moons, may your wife have twins!" "May you never want sons

"Venace, may your dhonies never want freight! May Varuna (the god of the sea) ever protect them! and may you and your children's children derive an abundance of riches from them!" "Do I meet my friend the merchant? This year may your servants be faithful! When you buy things, may they be cheap; and when you sell them, may they be dear!"

"Have I the pleasure of meeting with our divine doctor? The gods grant your fortunate hand may administer health to thousands; and may your house be full of riches!"

Thus do they bless each other, and rejoice together, on any other great festive occasion.

CHAP. XXXII.

It is a present sent unto my lord Esau.-Verse 18.

Whenever a favour has to be solicited, peace to be made, or an interview desired, a present is always sent to prepare the way. Thus may the servants be seen with trays of fruit, or cakes, on their heads, covered with white cloth, going to the house of the man who can grant the boon. Should there be something very important at stake, then a diamond, or a ruby, or some valuable jewel, will be sent by a confidential

person.

On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau.-Verse 19.

I almost think I hear Jacob telling his servants what they were to say to Esau. He would repeat it many times over,

and then ask, "What did I say?" until he had completely schooled them into the story. They would be most attentive; and, at every interval, some of the most officious would be repeating the tale. The head-servant, however, would be specially charged with the delivery of the message.

When they went into the presence of Esau, they would be very particular in placing much stress on Jacob's saying, "The present is sent unto my lord!" and this would touch his feelings. Servants who see the earnestness of their master, imitate him in this when they stand before the person to whom they are sent. They repeat a number of little things respecting him; his great sorrow for his offence, his weeping, his throwing himself into the dust, and his fearful expressions. Should the occasion, however, be of a pleasing nature, they mention his great joy, and his anxiety for an interview.

The dependents of Esau, also, would hear the story, and every-now-and-then" be making exclamations at the humility of Jacob, and the value of his present. They would also put their hands together in a supplicating posture, for Esau to attend to the request. He, feeling himself thus acknowledged as lord, seeing the servants of his brother before him, and knowing that all his people had witnessed the scene, would consider himself greatly honoured.

In this way many a culprit in the East gains a pardon, when nothing else could purchase it. Should the offender be too poor to send a present, he simply despatches his wife and children to plead for him; and they seldom plead in vain.

CHAP. XXXIII.

And bowed himself to the ground seven times.-Verse 3. There is something very touching, and, to an Eastern mind, very natural, in this action of Jacob's. His arrangements, also, may be seen to the life, at this day. His wives and children were placed behind him: they would be in a separate group, in order that Esau might the more easily see them. He would then walk forward, and cast himself on the

earth, and rise again, till he had bowed "seven times;"* after which, (as he would walk a short distance every time he arose,) he would be near to his brother. Esau could not bear it any longer, and ran to meet him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and wept. Then came the handmaids and their children, (I think I see them,) and bowed themselves before Esau; the wives, also, according to their age, and their children, prostrated themselves before him. With the looks of the little ones, joined to those of the mothers, Esau could not restrain the emotions of nature.

Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand.-Verse 10.

Not to receive a present, is at once to show that the thing desired will not be granted. Hence, nothing can be more repulsive, nothing more distressing, than to return the gifts to the giver. Jacob evidently laboured under this impression, and therefore pressed his brother to receive the gifts, if he had found favour in his sight.

I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure.-Verse 14. In the Hebrew, "according to the foot of the work, according to the foot of the children."

People having taken a journey, say, "We came to this place according to the walking of our feet." "It was done according to the foot of the children;" which means, they did not come in a palankeen, or any other vehicle, but on foot. From this it appears, that the females and the children performed their journey on foot, and that according to their strength.

• People in great distress begin to bow to the earth when they are at a considerable distance from the man whom they wish to appease. But the regular mode of paying respects is as follows :-To a king, a father, or an elder brother, bow once; before a priest, the temple, or the gods, three times.

They have sixteen different ways of showing respect:-1. To give a seat; 2. Water for the hands; 3. Water for the feet; 4. Water of young cocoa-nuts, milk, perfumed waters; 5. To pour water on a person, that is, to bathe him ; 6. To assist in putting on his clothes; 7. To put on the triple or sacred cord; 8. To perfume a person; 9. To adorn with garlands; 10. To give rice coloured with saffron; 11. To offer sweet incense; 12. To give a lamp or a light; 13. To give camphor; 14. A heave-offering of rice; 15. Betle leaves; 16. To worship by mantherams, "charms," and flowers.

Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me.-Verse 15.

As Esau had received valuable gifts from his brother, he wished to make some present in return; and having accepted cattle, it would not have looked well to give the same kind as that which he had received. He therefore offered some of his people, (who were no doubt born in his house,) as a kind of recompence for what he had received, and as a proof of his attachment.

CHAP. XXXIV.

Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.-Verse 30.

So said Jacob to Simeon and Levi. Of a man who has lost his honour, whose fame is entirely gone, it is said, “Ah! he has lost his smell where is the sweet smell of former years?" "Alas!" says an old man, "my smell is for ever gone."

CHAP. XXXV.

Be clean, and change your garments.-Verse 2.

The household of Jacob had strange gods among them; and he ordered them to put them away, and to make themselves clean, and to change their garments, in token of their purity. When people have been to any unholy place, on returning they always wash their persons, and change their garments. No man can go to the temple, wearing a dirty cloth: he must either put on a clean one; or go himself to a tank and wash it, if it be soiled; or he must put on one which is quite new. Near the temples, men may be often seen washing their clothes, in order to prepare themselves for some religious ceremony. See also Exodus xix. 10.

They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears.-Verse 4.

This, no doubt, refers to the representation of their gods on their fingers, and ear-rings, which were worn, not merely

as ornaments, but as charms to guard them from their enemies.

The rings of the Hindoos have a figure of one of their gods, or some symbol of their power, engraved on them, for a similar purpose.

CHAP. XXXVI.

Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house.-Verse 6. The margin has, for persons, "souls." Has a man gone to a distant place? it is said, “Viravan, and all the souls of his house, have gone to the far country.' Have you heard that the old man and thirty souls have gone on a pilgrimage?" "Sir, I can never get rich, because I have fifteen souls who daily look to me for their rice."

CHAP. XXXVII.

He made him a coat of many colours.-Verse 3. The margin has, instead of colours, "pieces."

It is probable the coat was patch-work of different colours. For beautiful or favourite children, precisely the same thing is done at this day. Crimson, and purple, and other colours, are often tastefully sewed together. Sometimes the children of the Mahometans have their jackets embroidered with gold and silk of various colours.

When a child is clothed in a garment of many colours, it is believed that neither evil tongues nor evil spirits will injure him, because the attention is diverted, from the beauty of the person, to that of the garment. Children seldom wear them after they are eight years of age; though it must have been the custom, amongst the ancients to whom reference is made in the Bible, to wear them longer, as we read of Tamar having a garment of divers colours upon her for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled." (2 Sam. xiii. 18.)

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People who are too poor to give a beautiful or favourite child a jacket of that description, put a black spot on its forehead, to defend it from evil.