THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. ig; 



ascertain whether they are still living ; when death ensues, 

 they purchase a sufficiency of wood to make a funeral-pile, 

 and commit the body to the flam es ; when their means do 

 not afford the expense of doing this, they merely burn a por- 

 tion of the face, and then push the body into the sacred river. 

 When a patient, thus situated, happens to recover, he 

 considers that he has, as it were, acquired a new life, and 

 thenceforth all his former relations and friends are treated 

 as strangers ; he never returns to the dwelling in which he 

 had formerly resided, but wanders down the Ganges, until he 

 arrives at Santipore, near Calcutta, where he settles himself ; 

 and it is a curious fact, that nearly the whole population of 

 Santipore is composed of such persons. These people never 

 again hold any communication with those who had been 

 nearest and dearest to th^^m ; and they contract marriages 

 amongst themselves only. This town or colony, the only one, 

 perhaps, of its kind in the world, may be called the " Colony 

 of Convalescents." The Ganges teems with crocodiles, and 

 wild geese are found in great abundance. 



When I arrived at Calcutta, I found that one of the 

 finest merchant vessels, called the " Prince of Wales," be- 

 longing to Messieurs Green and Compy. was [about to sail 

 for England. I made arrangements for my passage home- 

 ward, and after a v/eek's stay only in Calcutta, went on 

 board. This short stay at the capital of Bengal, prevented 

 my observing any of the operations of the celebrated Dr. 

 James Esdaile ( now in Scotland ) whose cases of amputa- 

 tion, &c,, performed without pain, and without the use of 

 chloroform, &c., while the patient was under mesmeric in- 

 fluence, were then attracting considerable attention. The 

 Lelhi Gazette of India observed—" Though Dr. Esdaile's 

 performances are not yet countenanced by the faculty, let us 

 hope that he possesses moral courage sufficient to prosecute 

 his measures." 



We enjoyed the most delightful weather during the 



voyage ; the only annoyance teing the frequent calms, 



which caused us to be two months in reaching the Cape of 



Good Hope. In the beginning of April we reached Cape 



28 



