1 v.)r,
2 explanations op the plates
3 illBS
4 liitf
5 '“I. v
6 I’lio lithogmphi.- engraving* in this, the first volume, are faithful
7 copies of Portraits and Sketches. taken by a native at Lahore—excepting
8 only tho likentr of the Fnqueer Haridas, which I had from Captain
9 Gardner; arid though I never saw rfaridtta, .1 rely on the resombb.mie.
10 for, un showing it to so vend natives, who knevv hiti well, as also to
11 General Ventura anti Colonel Sir G. M. Wade, who wore present, at tho
12 rest 1 ration of tho Faqueor, they recognised tho likeness.
13 Defore i.-nte.iug upon the Explanations of the Plates, I shall give
14 some acoon nt of the man non and customs of the, Sikhs and Hindoos,
15 in addition to the communications already n ude.
16 Si'ih, -Sing, Singh, Khulna, are mines of.- that people known to the
17 English by the appellation Sikht. Sikh is a 'derivation from Sikhna, to
18 learn; hence, the Sikh, are disciples (pupils) of Ihtba Nanuk, the Re¬
19 former. Sing, signifies a lion, or hero: tho Sikhs conceiving themselves
20 to be a powerful race, a nation of warriors.
21 In their religious principles, they are Btfomed Minn s. Formerly,
22 tlic Sikhs inhabited the Punjab only, but, are now to be mot with in
23 various parts of Hindustan. as in Cashmere, Thibet, in the North; iu
24 tho South, at Moulton and Sciude; iu far as Calcutta, in the East; ni.d, ’
25 m (ho West, at Pishinvur and Ckbul. Notwithstanding' their .Reforma¬
26 tion, the Sikhs, like tho Hindoos, burn their dead : and were they not
27 prohibited by the English, they would burn living beings also with the
28 dead. Their ha : r, as elsewhere stated, is long.; it is wound up in n. knot,
29 plated on the fore-par of tho head, around which, beginning at the
30 knot, they wind n long and narrow muslin of fine texture, which they
31 denominate Denar, i. e. head-dress, bearing the appearance of t. helmet.
32 The move opulent add to this head-dress pieces of silk, embroidered
33 with silver aud gold; also hooks and clasps, with projecting feather-;,
34 and a variety of pearls and precious stones. They wear earrings of gold
35 tirui gems; armlets aud bracelets, and -a profusion of neck omaii>en*»—
36 as exhibited in the male end female portraits in Plates 1, ‘I, S, 4.
37 Tho Hindoos wear (heir l.air short, which may he semi below the
38 von, ?. n