77 
Most of the Hindoos burn their dead. The funeral piles of the 
rich are mingled with sandal-wood, and fed by aromatic oils; 
while the poor are consumed with humble faggots. Some put the 
bodies of their deceased friends into rivers, especially those they 
deem holy streams; and there are particular castes in Bengal, who, 
when they think the sick past recovery, expose them on the banks 
of the Ganges, fill their mouths with sacred mud, and leave them 
at high-water mark, to be carried away by the tide. 
Throughout the greater part of Hindoslan, when all hopes of 
recovery are over, the sick person is taken from the bed, and laid 
upon the earth, that he may expire on the element from which he 
was originally formed. After his death, the house is surrounded 
by widows, hired for the purpose; who make loud lamentations, 
beat their breasts in a violent manner, and affect every token of 
grief and despair. The male relations attend the corpse to the 
funeral pile; which, if possible, is always near the water, and after 
the body is consumed the ashes are sprinkled with milk and con- 
secrated water, brought from the Ganges, or some other holy 
stream; and ceremonies are performed for several days. 
Although the custom of burning tiie dead so generally prevails, 
yet in some districts, on particular occasions, the}^ are interred. 
The extraordinary custom of the widow burning herself with the 
body of her deceased husband, is never permitted under the Eng- 
lish government, and very seldom by the Mahomedans, but is 
constantly practised among the Mahrattas, and different castes of 
Hindoos, under their own princes on the continent. 
On the decease of the husband, if his widow resolves to attend 
him to the world of spirits, a funeral pile is erected, covered with 
