A HINDOO FUNERAL. 
215 
and over which the “ golden ear” has never waved; 
might be made to teem with fruitfulness., and to bless 
the toil of a miserable and frequently starving popu- 
lation. Famine would never then spread the blight 
of her horrible devastation over populous and exten- 
sive districts; strewing the earth with gastly corpses; 
and not leaving sufficient of the living to perform the 
last offices of humanity to the dead. Thousands of 
carcasses; in every frightful stage of decay; would not 
then lie uninhumed; scattering pestilence over the 
land which famine had first filled with lamentation; 
and loading every passing breeze with the elements 
of a most summary destruction. These are not cir- 
cumstances of unusual occurrence : I was myself twice 
a witness of such scenes during the period of my resi- 
dence in the East. They were in truth fearfully sad. 
I have seen the roads strewed with the dead and the 
dying. I could make these pages the vehicle of the 
most appalling descriptions; but I forbear. To per- 
sons who have resided long in India; those scenes are 
too familiar. Alas ! that such calamities should arise 
from defective legislation; for this is the great second- 
ary cause of the evil. 
During our stay within the fort of Rhotas Gur; a 
funeral took place in a village at some short distance 
from our temporary residence; which we availed our- 
selves of the opportunity of witnessing; and; as we 
took care not to mix with the procession; there was no 
objection expressed on the part of the relatives of the 
deceased to our being present. The body; as is usual 
on these occasions; was laid upon a charpoy and cover- 
ed with a crimson palampore; over which was strewed 
