263 



abyss, the wife voluntarily followed: the husband was deliberately 

 drowning himself, when he suddenly recollected, that, living under 

 the English government, the disappearance of a family without 

 any apparent cause, might involve his neighbours in trouble; he 

 therefore determined to return once more to his habitation before 

 his final departure, and inform them of the truth: he accordingly 

 did so. The Hindoos received the intelligence very calmly, and 

 some of them, probably, applauded his conduct; but a Mahome- 

 dan, among the number of his auditors, said the communication 

 was so extraordinary, that as they did live under the English govern- 

 ment, whose laws and customs so essentially differed from the Hin- 

 doo system, it might be difficult to convince them of the truth, 

 and therefore the enthusiast must accompany him before a magis- 

 trate, and relate the story himself. With this he reluctantly com- 

 plied, and they repaired together to the acting magistrate in the 

 town of Bombay; who thought it an affair of such importance, 

 that he placed the man under a guard, and the next morning con- 

 vened a bench of justices, who committed him for trial at the 

 ensuing sessions, where he was found guilty of murder, condemned, 

 and executed. The only circumstance which caused him distress, 

 was the procrastination of his change in the metempsychosis, and 

 not being permitted to accomplish his exit in the manner he had 

 intended. 



I will not introduce any further anecdotes of this kind from 

 my own knowledge: but in confirmation of such extraordinary 

 facts, and at the same time to shew the cruelty which the brah- 

 mins frequently commit, I shall insert two or three instances com- 



