128 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
which had at first excited my displeasure, that he 
would compel me to he charitable against my will. 
I passed him and retired to rest, but heard his voice 
frequently during the night saluting my ears with 
the most blasphemous imprecations. Several times 
I ordered the hamauls to remove him, but he invariably 
returned ; and in the morning he was on his legs, 
supporting himself by the bamboo fence, railing upon 
me with undiminished energy. This continued the 
whole of the second day, but towards evening I could 
no longer endure the thought of forcing this desperate 
man to an act of revenge which might cost him his 
life ; I therefore flung him a couple of rupees, with 
which he instantly retired, taunting me with his tri- 
umph, until his voice was lost in the distance. 
It is these wretched fanatics who exert such a 
baneful influence upon the Hindoo population, caus- 
ing most of those terrible acts of religious frenzy, 
and those fearful sacrifices at the shrine of a san- 
guinary superstition, which so frequently degrade the 
civil and social institutions of this still degenerate 
country. They are the promoters of the many fright- 
ful penances which in this idolatrous land perpetu- 
ally bring before the eye objects so dreadfully muti- 
lated that the mind is subdued to pity, while the 
hea*rt sickens with disgust. By the fanatical influence 
exercised by such reputed saints, the poor widow 
abandons her home and her offspring, and commits 
herself to the flames, upon the body perhaps of a 
husband old and licentious in life, foul and loathsome 
in death ; nor does it appear that this odious practice 
is abating ; on the contrary, we are informed upon 
