Genesis xv. 2. ‘And Abram said, What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?’ The anxiety of Jewish parents to obtain children was not greater than that of the Hindoos, as the reader will perceive in several parts of this work: amongst them the want of children renders all other blessings of no esteem.

Genesis xvi. 3. ‘And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.’ There are instances of Hindoo women, when barren, consenting to their husband's marrying a second wife for the sake of children. Second marriages on this account, without the consent of wives, are very common.

Genesis xviii. 4. ‘Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And he stood by them under the tree; and they did eat. Nothing is more common in this country, than to see travellers and guests eating under the shade of trees. Even feasts are never held in houses. The house of a Hindoo serves for the purposes of sleeping and cooking, and of shutting up the women; but is never considered as a sitting or a dining-room.

Genesis xxiv. 4. ‘Thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.’