"
"Quite true, Mr. Scarburn; but the States have not all the fast-growing
cities of the world, wonderful as the increase has been in some of them.
Europe, Asia, and Australia are alive. The nearest approaches to a million
in India are Calcutta, 861,764, and Bombay, 821,764; but I dare say you are
all quite tired of statistics by this time."
"Not at all, Lord Tremlyn; as you present them they are quite interesting."
said Mrs. Belgrave.
"Thank you, madam," replied the speaker, bowing low, with his hand on his
heart. "Now I am going to speak of the people as other than mere numbers;
and if I wished to entangle you inextricably, I should go back about 4,000
years, and tell you about the people down to the present time. I spare you
the infliction in full. Four groups of languages are spoken among the
natives, and from these the original races that spoke them are traced out.
"I mention one as a specimen, the Kolarian language, spoken by those who
first settled in the hilly regions of the central part. The others are the
Aryan, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman, all of which you will find in
'Chambers's' in your library.
"The word Hindu is generally used in a very broad sense to cover all the
native population of Hindustan or India; but it is really applicable to a
religion, and belongs only to those of the Hindu, or the faith of the
Brahmins; but, like most others, it consists of a great number of sects.
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