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side of her husband’s corpse; yielding her tender body, in the full 
meridian of its youth and beauty, a victim to a barbarous and 
cruelly consecrated error of deluded faith! 
“ As soon as the victim entered, she was shut from our view by 
several bundles of straw, with which the aperture was closed; and 
all the actors in this tragic scene seemed to vie with each other who 
should be most forward in hurrying it to a conclusion. In the 
same instant the air was darkened by a cloud of gulol; the cords 
being cut which sustained the roof, it immediately fell to crush the 
limbs of the yet living sacrifice; the dreadful flame was commu- 
nicated to the pile in a variety of parts; and the loud clamour of 
the trumpets assailed the ear from every quarter! when the confla- 
gration became general, and not till then, the pyre was fed for a 
time with a large quantity of ghee , or clarified butter, thrown by 
the nearest of kin; but no combustible whatever was used in prepar- 
ing the wood, of which the pile was composed. 
“ It is said to be a custom, that as the victim ascends the pile, 
she is furnished with a lighted taper: I heard some brahmins 
assert that it was the case in this instance; but I traced the whole 
progress of the ceremonial with so close and eager an attention, 
that I think I may safely contradict them. Before I left the place, 
a guard was posted over the pyre, to remain until the fire went 
out, that no accident might befal the bones of the sacrifice, some 
of which are always collected by the relations, and sent to Benares; 
where they are either preserved as sacred relics, or made an offer- 
ing to the holy stream of Gunga. 
“ The subject of this shocking, though by no means uncommon 
immolation, was Toolsebhai , the wife of Ragobah Tantea, a young 
