had a very melancholy cast of countenance, had retired to a recess near the window soon after we had entered the room; upon inquiry, we learned that she was the daughter-in-law of the chatty old dame, and had just lost her second boy; who a few days before had been placed by the side of his little brother in the Temple of Silence, belonging to the family. We could scarcely believe that so young a creature had already been the mother of two children. "She is mourning over them very bad," said Merwanjee; and fearing that by prolonging our stay we might be intruding upon this sorrowing one, we made our low salaams to the burra babee; and thus ended an agreeable visit to the house of Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.

CHAPTER XI.

"I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, or pray with you." MERCHANT OF VENICE, Scene 3d, Act 1.

Bombay Jews, are they true Israelites ? Arabian and White Jews. My opposite neighbours. Stolen peeps across the street. Their habits, dress, and mode of spending their time. My favourite boy. His dress and ayeh. Scene changes, Few words about a cat and a dog. Tasso deserts me. Hospital for animals, and belief in the transmigration of souls. Tasso's unfaithfulness. Little dogs have queer fancies. Six o'clock at the Jewish family's house. Prayers and songs and sweet music. My last look at the window. Sorrow at separation from the Jewish child. Their innocent and happy life, &c., &c.

THE Jews in Bombay constitute rather a large item in the population.* Five or six thousand have settled

* The results of the census taken in May, 1849, have been pub. lished; and it appears, that in the Island of Bombay, comprising in all twenty square miles of ground-four-fifths, at least, of which are uninhabitable swamp or rock-there are in all no fewer than 566,119 inhabitants, of whom 354,090 are males, and 212,029 females. Of these, 6,936 are Brahmins, 289,995 are of other castes of Hindoos; 1,902 are Jains ; 124,155 are Mohammedans; 114,698 Parsees; 1,132 Jews; 7,456 native Christians; 1,333 Indo Britons; 5,417 Indo-Portuguese; 5,088 pure

down in the city and neighbourhood, and obtain for the most part an honest livelihood, as house-builders, carpenters, and cultivators of the soil. That a Jew should be thus employed may appear singular to many who are familiar with their history, and their known dislike to anything like manual labour; for who ever heard, among ourselves, of a Jewish farmer, or a Jewish carpenter? We are tempted, however, to doubt the purity of the race met with in all the commercial towns in India; and to suppose that they, like the Parsees, Mohammedans, and other interlopers, have degenerated, from long association with a people at total variance with anything like Christianity. The following brief account given of the Jews in Bombay, may, perhaps, throw some light on this interesting subject, and bear us out in the idea, that they are a mixed people, and not the pure race of Hebrews met with in Poland, Germany, or in the corners of the dingy second-hand shops of Holywell Street, London, where these exiles from "Vaderland" buy, sell, and get gain, and do not, so far as we are able to learn, trouble themselves much about the realization of the prophecy that will one day certainly restore them to Palestine. Let us, however, remember that our own sacred Scriptures pointedly make known to us that kindness and respect towards this ancient and peculiar people is most acceptable

Europeans; 889 Siddees, Negroes, and Africans; and 7,118 of other castes unspecified. From this census we learn, that the Europeans are less than one in a hundred of the whole population.

in the sight of God; and though the veil may still be upon their hearts, they are the chosen ones of the Almighty, for "blessing is for them that bless them, and cursing for them that curse them."

A writer, in an Indian periodical (Dynanodaya,) informs us, that "Some of the Jews in Bombay have more recently come from Arabia, and are called White Jews. Some have come from Cochin, and are called Black Jews; but by far the greater portion who have settled in this country, and to whom Mahratta is the vernacular language, are called Israelites, or Beni Israel. When their ancestors arrived here, is not certainly known. They say, it was about 1600 years ago, that the ship in which they came was wrecked, and that seven men and seven women, who escaped, settled at Nagao (some thirty miles to the south-east of Bombay). They were, at one time, generally engaged in the manufacture of oil, but at present many of them are masons, carpenters, cultivators," &c. The writer goes on to say, that when the missionaries first came out to the Island of Bombay, (thirty or forty years ago,) the Israelites were generally unable to read, and even almost wholly ignorant of their own Scriptures; that they had generally ceased to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest, and "and were, in many respects, conformed to the customs of their Hindoo and Mohammedan neighbours." It is stated, in a printed journal of the earlier missionaries, that the magistrates described them at that time as being the most drunken and troublesome

people on the island. The missionaries, it appears from the author whom I have taken the liberty of quoting, have from the first taken a deep interest in the Israelites or Jews. They early established among them schools, in which both sexes were taught to read and write. They furnished them with the Bible, translated into the vernacular language; and instructed several of them in Hebrew, so that they might be able to refer to the original Scriptures. The consequence of this was, that the Jews forsook many of those things which, on becoming acquainted with the Scriptures, they had found to be forbidden; and that they have greatly advanced in intelligence, wealth, morality, and general respectability. Such is the pleasing account given of the poor Jews in Bombay; and we cannot be surprised, that the missionaries should have first turned their earnest attention to them, when they found that this remnant of a once highly-favoured people had sunk so low as to have forgotten the God of their fathers, and to have turned to worshipping the idols of Brahminism. The dress of the Jews in Bombay differs but little from the costume worn by other Eastern people. Their robes are fuller, and of a superior texture. The men, generally speaking, attract the attention of a stranger, by their commanding figures, and thoughtful and expressive features. They have two regular synagogues in Bombay, and one at Revadunda, where they read the Scriptures in Hebrew and Mahratta. In the Fort they have two private houses, where public worship is held.