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SUPERSTITIOUS RITES, &c.

THE following accounts will afford us an idea of the awful and miserable state of poor wretched heathens.

"As I was returning from Calcutta," says Mr. Carey," I saw the Sahamocon, or a woman burning herself with the corpse of her husband, for the first time in my life. We were near the village of Noya Serai (Rennel, in his chart of the Hoogly river, spells it Niaserai.) As it was evering, we got out of the boat to walk, when we saw a number of people assembled on the river side. I asked them for what they were met, and they told me, to burn the body of a dead man. I enquired, whether his wife would die with him. They answered, Yes;' and pointed to the woman. She was standing by the pile, which was made of large billets of wood, about two fect and a half high, four feet long, and two wide; on the top of which lay the dead body of her husband. Her nearest relation stood by her; and near her was a small basket of sweet meats, called Kivy. I asked them, whether this was the woman's choice, or whether she were brought to it by any improper influences. They answered, that it was perfectly voluntary. I talked till reasoning was of no use; and then began to exclaim, with all my might, against what they were doing; telling them that it was a shocking murder! They told me, it was a great act of holiness; and added, in a very surly manner, that, if I did not like to see it, I might go farther off; and desired me to go. I told them that I would not go; that I was determined to stay and see the murder; and that VOL. III. Ff

I should certainly bear witness of it at the tribunal of God. I exhorted the woman not to throw away her life; to fear nothing, for no evil would follow her refusing to burn. But she, in the calmest manner mounted the pile, and danced on it, with her hands extended, as if in the utmost tranquillity of spirit. Previous to her mounting the pile, the relation, whose office it was to set fire to it, led her six times round it, at two intervals; that is, thrice at each circumambulation. As she went round, she scattered the sweetmeats abovementioned among the people, who picked them up, and ate them as very holy things. This being ended, and she having mounted the pile, and danced as abovementioned (which appeared only designed to shew us her contempt of death, and to prove to us that her dying was voluntary,) she then lay down by the corpse, and put one arm under its neck, and the other over it; when a quantity of dry cocoa leaves, and other substances, were heaped over them to a considerable height, and then ghee, or melted preserved butter, poured on the top. Two bamboos were then put over them, and held fast down, and fire put to the pile, which immediately blazed very fiercely, owing to the dry and combustible materials of which it was composed. No sooner was the fire kindled, than all the people set up a great shout, Hurre Bol! Hurre Bol!' which is a common shout of joy, and an invocation of Hurree, the wife of Hur or Seeb. It was impossible to have heard the woman, had she groaned, or even cried aloud, on account of the mad noise of the people; and it was impossible for her to stir or struggle, on account of the bamboos,

of a press.

which are held down upon them like the levers We made much objection to their using these bamboos, and insisted that it was using force to prevent the woman getting up when the fire burned her; but they declared it was only done to keep the pile from falling down. We could not bear to see more, but left them; exclaiming loudly against the murder, and full of horror at what we had seen."

What a dreadful custom! yet it is said that thirty thousand of such victims perish annually in the East Indies.

"This evening," says Mr. Ward, "we went to see a man rise from his grave who had been buried a month! A great croud was collected and every one waiting with impatience to see the resurrection. Brother Carey had some conversation with one of the Musselmans, who asked, upon his denying the divine mission of Mahommed, what was to become of Musselmans and Hindoos. Brother Carey expressed his fears that they would all be lost. The man seemed as if he would have torn him to pieces. At length, when the new moon appeared, the top of the grave was opened, and the man came forth, apparently unaltered by his confinement. He bowed with his

head to the ground several times at the foot of a plantain tree, which I suppose he had planted on going into the grave, and upon which he also poured water. It was necessary that he should see the new moon immediately on coming forth from his confinement. Many cronded round him, and put out their hands for a gift, which all who asked obtained, and which, as far as I could see, consisted merely of particles of dust. Seve

ral persons brought presents, and it was probable a goat was offered in sacrifice after we were gone. This subterraneous abode was cut very deep, and divided into three or four rooms; one to sit in, another to sleep in, &c. It was covered over with mats and soil, and the only opening into it was a hole at one end, two or three inches in diameter; through which he was supplied with milk and fruits by a man who waited on him, and who had a hut by the side of the grave. This is a Musselman's custom; and they say it has an allusion to the flight of their prophet. Perhaps it would not be continued, but that it is a qualification for receiving lands or offerings to canonized saints amongst them: many persons in this country have built places like raised tombs, in a hole of the centre of which a lamp is kept burning in the night these are consecrated to some saint, and the person who tends the lamp has whatever is given or left to the place. Passengers make their salem, and throw down a few cowries as they pass. In the above cave, some ground has been left to the place, and the man could succeed to it only by burying himself a month."

The following account of sacrificing aged persons and children to the Ganges, where they are devoured by sharks, is very affecting. These sacrifices are of two descriptions; first, of aged persons of both sexes, which are voluntary; and of children which of course are involuntary. The fixed periods for the performance of those rites are at the full moons in November and January. The custom of sacrificing children arises from superstitious vows made by the parents, who,

when apprehensive of not having issue, promised, in the event of their having five children, to devote the fifth to the Ganges.

"The island of Sagar, where these inhuman rites are administered, is held to be peculiarly sacred, from its being considered as the termination of the Ganges; and the junction of that river with the sea is denominated The place of Sacrifice.

"So lately as November 1801, some European seaman belonging to the pilot service of Bengal being on shore on the island, were witnesses to this horrid ceremony. The information they gave before one of the justices of the peace for Calcutta was on oath to the following effect:

"That, on going on shore, they saw the entrails of a human body floating on the water, and at the same time a great number of the natives assembled on the beach; as near as they could guess, about 3000 that, on asking a Fakeer, why so many of the natives were put into the water, he answered, that the Head Fakeer had ordered them to go into the water to be devoured by sharks, for the prosperity of their respective families; that they saw eleven men, women, and boys, thus de-.. stroyed; and it further appeared, by other incontestible evidence, that the victims destroyed in November amounted to 39; and, moreover, that a boy of twelve years old, who had been thrown into the river, having saved himself by swimming, a Gosayne endeavoured to extend his protection to him; but, singular and unnatural as it may ap-pear, he was again seized, and committed to destruction by his own parents!!!"

How ought the recital of these dreadful customs to cherish in us a love for our own country,

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