220 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
prevent the horrors of death from being perceived, and 
that the sight may not frighten other women, they 
give her something in a shell, which is doubtless poi- 
son, and the ceremony concludes by twisting her 
neck, which they do with surprising dexterity.” 
On the day which followed the funeral we were 
out with our guns, when one of the party shot a large 
vulture that had perched upon the carcase of a dead 
sheep, and was certainly doing the neighbourhood a 
benefit by removing the nuisance. As soon as the 
bird was shot, it fell and turned upon its back ; but, 
struggling a good deal, two of the attendants, of which 
each person of our party had one, were ordered to 
despatch it with bamboos. This was accordingly 
done, and, after receiving several severe blows upon 
the head, it appeared to be quite dead ; one of the 
men then took it upon his shoulder, and we pursued 
our sport. We were out several hours, the vulture 
hanging all the while from the shoulder of the man 
apparently lifeless, its eyes closed and its head much 
lacerated by the shot and the strokes from the 
bamboos. Upon our return, the man who carried 
the vulture, glad to get rid of his burden, (for these 
birds will sometimes weigh as much as thirty pounds) 
flung it upon the ground with a force of itself suffi- 
cient to kill it ; but to our surprise it seemed to be 
reanimated by the shock ; for after opening its eyes, 
it suddenly turned, and was on its legs in a moment. 
Advancing a step or two, it stretched out its wings, 
rose heavily into the air, continuing to rise until 
it was entirely lost to our view in the distance. 
We were all so much astonished at thus so unex- 
