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of the house. The scholars sit on mats, or cow-dung floors, and are 

 taught as much of religion as their caste admits of; also reading, 

 writing, and arithmetic; the two latter by making letters and 

 figures in sand upon the floor. Education, like every thing else 

 among the Hindoos, is extremely simple: that of the girls is 

 generally confined to domestic employments. 



Near Zinore were several monuments in memory of those de- 

 votees, so often mentioned, who bury themselves alive, in hopes of 

 expiating their sins, or of pleasing the destructive powers by such 

 a sacrifice; and under the lofty banks of the Nerbudda, as on the 

 shore of the Ganges, I was told the Hindoos sometimes drown 

 their sick and aged parents. In this respect they certainly act 

 directly contrary to our ideas of filial affection, and common hu- 

 manity ; but I am willing to hope it proceeds from a good motive. 

 Similar customs prevailed in many ancient nations. Herodotus says, 

 when one of the Massagetae becomes infirm through age, his assem- 

 bled relations put him to death ; boiling along with his body the 

 flesh of sheep, and other animals, upon which they feast. The 

 Hyperboreans, who eat no meat, but live entirely upon fruit, put 

 all those to death who attain the age of sixty years. The present 

 inhabitants of Arracan are said to accelerate the death of their 

 friends and relations when they see them afflicted by old age, or 

 an incurable disease ; with them it is an act of piety. 



From my little encampment on the banks of the Nerbudda, 

 although accustomed to such spectacles at Baroche and Surat, I 

 have been frequently astonished at the number of both sexes in the 

 river during great part of the day. From Zinore to Chandode the 

 stream is reckoned peculiarly holy ; and there not only religious 



