| Description | Reports on inspection of schools around Tranquebar; number of pupils has decreased to about 830 as, of 200 sepoys stationed in the district only 50 are left, and also the Roman Catholics have opened some schools; about one third of the pupils "are Christian children; rest are heathen and a few Roman Catholics; the heathen schools are better for learning and diligence than the Christian ones, for the Christian ones are of the pariah caste and can see no point in education for their children"; at all schools the days' lessons are begun and ended with prayers, the heathen ones in verse as the heathen are accustomed to sing their prayers and everything they read; at Tirumaleirasenpattanam the schoolmaster did not wish to read the New Testament in school; he told S. the origin of the use of the word Sawamy, the tale of how God appeared on earth as a man; Christianity is in general in a low state, very little more than outward form and ceremony; helps Danish missionaries with preaching; asks for copies of tract 'Advice to youth'. |