190 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
we were soon glad to change our quarters for a lo- 
cality more agreeable, at least, if not more conve- 
nient : we therefore struck our tents, crossed the river, 
and pitched them opposite to Aurungzebe’s mosque, 
of which a detailed account has been given in a for- 
mer portion of this work. 
In the neighbourhood of this populous city, one of 
the greatest victories has been achieved over a most 
barbarous superstition recorded in the history of man- 
kind. It was here that Mr. Duncan first severed the 
root of an evil which had spread with the most devas- 
tating influence over several extensive and populous 
districts ; it was here that the savage custom of in- 
fanticide, once so prevalent among a limited, indeed, 
but very influential portion of the Hindoo population, 
was finally extinguished, and our benevolent coun- 
tryman became the saviour of thousands of infants, 
who have grown up to bless his name and to show 
the triumph of a moral administration over the bar- 
barous rites of superstition and the errors of pre- 
judice. 
The people among whom this horrible custom origi- 
nally prevailed, and among whom it even now exists, 
though practised to a comparatively trifling extent, 
are Rajpoots, who, from the difficulty of providing 
proper matches for their female children, immolate 
them upon the altar of a fierce and revolting pride. 
A Rajpoot never bestows his daughter unless upon one 
who is not merely her equal in rank, but is likewise 
able to maintain for her that social superiority which 
the parent conceives her born to claim ; and the hor- 
rors of degradation of any kind are so great among 
