[viii] NOTE D. 



haps the most mild and gentle of the human race, the Hindoos* 

 the sacrifice of the wife on the death of the husband, and that 

 by means from which nature seems to shrink with the utmost 

 abhorrence, by burning. 



Upon my repairing to the spot, on the banks of the river 

 where the ceremony was to take place, I found the body of the 

 man on a bier; and covered with linen, already brought down 

 and laid at the edge of the river. At this time, about ten in 

 the morning, only a few people were assembled. After wait- 

 ing a considerable time the wife appeared, attended by the 

 Bramins, and music, with some few relations. The proces- 

 sion was slow and solemn; the widow moved with a steady 

 and firm step; and apparently with a perfect composure of 

 countenance, approached close to the body of her husband, 

 where for some time they halted. She then addressed those 

 who were near her with composure, and without the least tre- 



* pidation of voice or change of countenance. She held in her 

 left hand a cocoa nut, in which was a red colour mixed up, 

 and dipping in it the fore finger of her right hand, she marked 

 those near her, to whom she wished to shew the last act of at- 

 tention. As at this time I stood close to her, she observed 

 me attentively, and with the colour marked me on the fore- 

 head. She might be about twenty four or five years of age, 

 a time of life when the bloom of beauty has mostly fled the 

 cheek in India; but still she preserved a sufficient share to 

 prove that she must have been handsome : her figure was 

 small but elegantly turned ; and the form of her hands and 

 arms was particularly beautiful. Her dress was a loose robe 

 of white flowing drapery that extended from her head to 

 the feet. The place of sacrifice was higher up on the bank 

 1 of the river, a hundred yards or more from the spot where we 

 now stood. The pile was composed of dried branches, of 

 leaves and rushes, with a door on one side, and arched and co- 

 vered on the top : by the side of the door stood a man with a 



* lighted brand. From the time the woman appeared to the 

 taking up of the body to convey it into the pile, might occupy 

 a space of half an hour, which was employed in prayer with 



