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not, there can be no doubt of the aged parents and diseased rela- 
lions being at this day frequently carried by their nearest connec- 
tion to the banks of the Ganges; where, after their mouths and 
nostrils have been stopped with the sacred mud, they are left to 
be carried away by the stream as food for alligators. It is well 
known that in some of the districts near Bengal, there are a tribe of 
people called Sheep-eaters , who seize the animal alive, and 
actually devour wool, skin, flesh, and entrails, until nothing re- 
mains but the skeleton. Lady Anstruther, who made a valuable 
collection of drawings during her residence in India, has a set of 
paintings in water-colours, done by a native, which contain the 
whole process of these extraordinary gluttons, from the first seizure 
of the unfortunate animal, until it is completely devoured. 
Herodotus further says, that in India is a set of people, who, 
entirely different from the Padaei, put no animal to death, sow no 
grain, have no fixed habitation, and live solely upon vegetables. 
These were no doubt Yogees, Senassees, and wandering Gym- 
nosophists, who live entirely in the same manner at the present 
day. The Massagetae and Nasamenes of Africa, who were al- 
lowed promiscuous marriage, and during cohabitation with an in- 
dividual, fixed a staff before the door, resemble in that respect the 
Nairs of Malabar. 
I now take leave of the pagan Malabars, who differ in so 
many respects from the northern Hindoos: the facts mentioned from 
my own knowledge, especially concerning the degraded situation 
of the Pooleah and Pariah castes, having often excited a doubt in 
the minds of my English friends, when I have related such extra- 
ordinary anecdotes, I shall not apologize for confirming them by a few 
