424 FLUTTERING EPISTLES
some boon or favour. A petitioner can, indeed, without fear of seeing it thrown back in his face,
A son heros, dans un bizarre ouvrage,
Donner de l ' encensoir au t ravers du visage.
The thicker the smoke of the incense the more does it natter him to whom it is offered.
In letters written by one Hindu to another, one never finds respectful assurances or compliments offered to a wife.
The mere mention of her in a letter would be considered not simply as an indiscretion, but as a gross breach of politeness, at which the husband would have every reason
to feel aggrieved.
When one Hindu has occasion to communicate to another the death of one of his relatives, the custom is to slightly burn the end of the palm-leaf on which the afflicting news is written; and this is similar to the black seal used by us in such cases. The same practice is observed as a sign of displeasure, when one has occasion to administer a severe reprimand in writing.
When a superior writes to an inferior, he puts his own name before that of the person to whom he writes. The
reverse is the case when an inferior writes to a superior.
Any breach of this token of civility on the part of an inferior would be considered a dire insult by the person to whom he owed respect. Politeness also requires that, when writing to an equal, you should place your own name last.
Having said this much on the epistolary style of the Hindus, I will now offer some notes that I have collected
on their handwriting.
Learned European scholars have made endless researches
as to the origin of the art of writing, the manner in which it was transmitted by one people to another, the different
characters used, and the various kinds of tablets and other materials employed. Many conjectures have been offered concerning the systems invented by the Chinese and the
Egyptians to transmit their ideas otherwise than verbally.
The languages of India, however, seem to have escaped the learned investigations of philologists. Nevertheless, a careful study of these languages would, if I am not mistaken.