194 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
utter a word ; but the feelings which convulsed his 
bosom were to be read in every line of his haggard 
and care-worn features. His fingers quivered as he 
occasionally lifted them to his brow to remove the 
moisture which had gathered there; and his whole 
body seemed to vibrate under the load of mental 
agony at that moment pressing upon his spirit with 
the weight of a mountain. 
Meanwhile^ the object of his anxiety had reached 
the spot where she was to expiate the crime of having 
forfeited the social and spiritual dignity of her tribe. 
She looked upon the bubbling fluid into which she 
was sentenced to be plunged without manifesting 
the slightest repugnance at attempting the test. 
Her eye did not blench; her lip did not quiver; nei- 
ther did her step falter as she ascended to a platform 
raised about three feet from the ground in order to 
bring her upon a level with the vessel into which she 
was to be immersed. So soon as she had reached the 
platform, she looked solemnly round upon the as- 
sembled multitude ; but observing her husband stagger 
as he saw her place her feet upon the plank; a slight 
convulsive twitching passed over her cheek for a mo- 
ment; and she remained unshaken amid the horrible 
array of death immediately before her. Having put 
up a silent prayer to Him in whom she trusted to be 
finally absorbed; a bandage was placed over her eyes, 
and she was bid to raise her arm as a signal when 
she should have completed her invocation. The mo- 
ment the bandage was fastened round her head; en- 
tirely obstructing sight; a wooden vessel; which had 
been previously sunk in the tank; was placed beside 
