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 light of their prophet. Per. haps 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 : tvese are consecrated to some saint, and the person who' tends the lamp has whatever is given or left to the place. Pas sengers 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 per. sons and children to the Ganges, where they are devoured by sharks, is very affecting. These sa. crifices are of two descriptions; first, of aged per. sons 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 fronı superstitious vows made by the parents, who, seanza. shore on. The when apprehensive of not having issue, promised, in the event of their having five children, to de. vote 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, sonie 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 at, on asking the water, he an 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 uunatural as it may ap. pear, he was again seized, and committed to de. struction by his own parents !!!" How ought the recital of these dreadful customs to cherish in us a love for our own country, and gratitude for that gospel which is the glory of it! and how ought it to rouse us to the most ar. dent concern for the diffusion of gospel light where there is so much darkness! What a cold, yea, what a barbarous heart must that be which would ask, “What have Christians to do with this ?” and how criminal those who refuse to lend a helping hand to so noble a work ! FINI S. INDEX FOR THIRD VOLUME OF MISCELLANIES, BEING ALL ANECDOTES. A Blackstone Sir W., punctuality Bogue Mr., quotation from 79. Boileau's treatment of the Jesuits 304. bed 102. Bowles Mr., forbearance of 127. Boys Dr. 260. Bradford 136. Bramhall Bp. 304. Brewer Mr. punctuality of 282. East Indies 333. Borroughs Mr. quotation from 290. Burgundy, Duchess of 234. Burford, Countess of 158. Burkitt Mr. 124. с Campbell Dr. quoted 253, 305. A Cartwright W: 286. Caviller reproved 59. solution to burn it defeated 54. Charles IX, cruelty and death of 65. m Mr. Buck had not prepared an Index for his first volume of 74. Chilo 233. Elizabeth, Queen 111. Empty church, the 103. protestants, anecdote of 57. Epictetus, saying of 122. Equity 201. Erskine Mr. anecdote of 307. Fairclough Mr. S. anecdote of 289. Faith, the farmer's 105. Family expositor, the 104. Fashion 106. Fearful turned courageous 160. Females, learned 111, industrious, 114, useful 116, advice to 119. of 103. ' Fienus, quotation from 185. 295. Fool's reproof 121. Forbearance 122, 239. Fortitude 129. Frederic the Great 169. Frescobald 153. Friar and night whisper 145. Frugality 147. Gam Captain, saying of 130. Ganges, river, aged persons and Gibbon's memoirs of pious women 121. Gilpin Bernard 266. Glanvil, Sergeant 142. Gluttony 148. Goldsmith Dr. 173. Gratitude 153. Gregory the Great 181. Grierson Constantia, learning of 113. Grief 88. den 254. |