HINDOOS. 
143 
the remaining earth is thrown with haste upon her, and these children 
and relations mount the grave, and tran}ple upon the head of the ex- 
piring victim !” 
“D ye British mothers! ye British wddows ! to whom shall these 
desolate beings look ? In whose ears shall these thousands of orphans 
cry, losing father and mother in one day, — if not to you ? Where shall 
we go ? In what corner of this miserable world, full of the habitations 
of cruelty, shall we find female society like this — widows and orphans 
like these? Seventy-five millions in this state of ignorance I Say, 
how long, ye who never saw a tear, but ye wiped it away — a wound, but 
ye attempted tohealit — a human sufierer, but ye poured consolation into 
his heart— how long shall these fires burn — ^these graves be opened? 
The appeal, my fair countrywomen, is to you — to every female in Britain. 
Government may do much to put an end to these immolations ; but 
without the communication of knowledge, these fires can never be 
wholly quenched, nor can your sex in India ever rise to that state to 
which Divine Providence has destined them. 
“ Don’t despair — the victims are numerous ; but on that account 
shall the life-boat not venture to leave the shore? There can hardly 
be a misery connected with human existence, which the piety and the 
zeal of British females, under the blessing of Providence, is not able 
to remove ; and if this dreadful case be properly felt in every town of 
the united kingdom, these immolations must shortly cease for ever. 
“ Schools must be commenced — knowledge must be communicated ; 
and then the Hindoo female will be behind none of her sex in the 
charms which adorn the female character, in no 'mental elevation to 
which the highest rank of British females have attained. Other 
triumphs of humanity may have been gained by our Howards, our Clark- 
sons, our Wilberforces j but this emancipation of the females and 
widows of British India must be the work of the British fair.” 
Modern Manners of the ETiiioriANs. 
Mr. Bruce gives an ample description of the manners of the 
Abyssinians, who in some respects are barbarous beyond measure. 
The continual state of war in which they are engaged, no doubt, con- 
tributes to confirm them in their barbarity. That again, according 
to Mr. Bruce, arises from an error in their regulations concerning 
the regal succession. The crown was indeed hereditary in the time of 
Solomon, but it now depends on the minister to choOse the particular 
person who ik to enjoy it; and as it is always his inclination to have 
the government in his own hands, he never fails to choose an infant, 
who is seldom suffered to live after he comes to the years of matu- 
rity. Thus perpetual wars and commotions take place. 
All authors indeed agree that the devastations committed by the 
armies of this country are excessive, insomuch, that after a long 
encampment is removed, nothing is to be seen, all around the place 
where it was, but bare earth. When an army marches through the 
country, says Mr. Bruce, “ an inconceivable number of birds and 
beasts of prey, especially the former, follow it from the first day of 
its march to its return ; increasing always in proportion as it advances 
