In this calculation the windings and turnings of the roads have been taken into account; for none of them proceed in a straight line. The post, called in the Malabar language Angela[83], travels indeed along the high road, in the interior part of the country, which is the shortest and straightest; but the Europeans dare not use it, lest the Brahmans should be polluted by them. For this reason the Europeans must pass along the sea-coast, which is inhabited only by fishermen, and people of the lowest casts. Hence it happens, that few Europeans have the least knowledge respecting the interior part of the country, though they talk a great deal of their travels in India. The European missionaries, however, besides other privileges and advantages, have a right to employ umbrellas of as large a size as those used by the Indian princes; and by means of this privilege they may go over the whole interior part of the country; only they must take care not to approach too near to a temple where a festival is celebrated in honour of any deity.