100 THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 



eleven wives, along with the body of the deceased. There 

 were four ranees ( legal wives ), and seven female slaves, who, 

 animated with the superstitious hope of entering paradise with 

 their lord and husband, were ascending the funeral pile with 

 death-despising intrepidity ; they cowered round the corpse, 

 and were covered with reed mats, on which oil was poured 

 in profusion. This done, fire was set to the funeral pile, so 

 that the poor creatures became suffocated by the smoke 

 and flames before they could utter a cry. In order not to 

 give the reader a false notion of the customs and manners 

 of the Hindoos, it is necessary to observe, that no woman 

 is compelled to be burnt with her husband ; they do it by 

 their own free will, and it is a characteristic trait, that only 

 those women devote themselves to that dismal ceremony 

 whose fate had decreed them not to be mothers. Perhaps 

 they follow their husbands to the other world, in the hope 

 of obtaining there what was denied them in this sublunary 

 one. But it is not the custom for men to be burnt, either 

 with their wives or with other men ; nevertheless, the mini- 

 ster. Rajah Dhyan Sing, insisted upon being burnt with his 

 lord and his wives ; but the welfare of the country depend- 

 ing at that time solely on him, he was prevented from 

 undergoing this terrific ceremony. Runjeet Sing, a short 

 time before his death, engaged this minister to assist his 

 son, Kurrck Sing, whom he made heir to the throne, although 

 he must have been persuaded of his incapacity ; and if 

 Kurrck Sing had followed the prudent advice of his father, 

 and had not yielded to the insinuations of his tutor, 

 Sirdar Chet Sing, every thing would have proceeded in a 

 prosperous manner. 



Before I proceed in my relation of the late eventful 

 occurrences at Lahore, I must give some more details to 

 such of my readers as may wish to know the particulars 

 of that abominable ceremony of burning the living with the 

 dead, which at present occurs but rarely in places under 

 the English government, by whom it is strictly forbidden. 

 I witnessed the above-mentioned self-sacrifice, of which the 

 following are the details : — 



