The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-06-16
COLUMBIA, TENNEssEEs, JUNE ie,s. ls7l.s..

Houses of Parliment, was present at q
Queens ball in gorgeous apparel,
where, in his cloth Of gold tissues, neck.
laces, and strings Of Jewels, he looked
like the prince in q fairy tale. He
paid . visit to the Queen st Windsor,
who he said, "was very kind" attend
ed Q meeting of the British Association
at Liverpool, where; being asked 10
speak, esaid few woqls- much to
the satis1action Of his audience on his
intention to do all In: his power to en-
courage the cultivation Of cotton on
his return to India; went into Scotland
where he distributed the prizes at q
great volunteer festival, and made a
second little speeeh, greatly to the puf!
pose, about the good feeling growing
up between East and West, and on
the friendly relations of India to En-
gland. He ended BY . visit to the
Maharajah Daleep Singh, in Suffolk,
which he is said to have much enjoy.
ed: He seemed much pleased, alto
gether, with his treatment during his
whole stay, and was turning his steps
homeward to India tslrougn Belgium.
the Tyr0l, and Italy, the way by Paris
where he otherwise wished to have
gone, being blocked by the war, when
he was overtaken by the winter. ri ..
The snow fell, aud his followers
were extremely anx16us to carry back
box OF the strange stuff to NshoW
them at home" Even the moderate
degree Of cold in an English October
had tried the men very painfully, and
probably affected Door Rajaram him>
self: He was taken Ill at Florence
with heart complaint, from which he
had already suffering before at Inn
spruck on his journey. Nothing,
probably, could have been Of much
use in such q case; he disliked being
attended by Western physicians, and
the end was very sudden at last,
though the best doctors in Florence
We're summoned to his aid for the salts
faction of his most careful and judici-
Gus guardian, Captain West. Almost
as soon as the breath was out of the
Rajah's body, his poor attendant began
their preparations, intending at first to
burn 1t, on the Lung 'Arno, the. very
midst Of the city, as the ceremony
must be performed on the banks Of a
river. This, Of course, could not be
permitted, and with much difficulty
Sir Augustus Paget obtained permits
sion from the Italian authorities to al
low the funeral to be carried out after
midnight, at the end Of the aCascine,
two miles from the town. - 'z'7
1t was dark night; a clustering
north wind was blowing, and the
cold was biting, says an ye-witness:
the pile had been built already breast
high, and near it was fire, rouud
which group Of HindOOs We're stand
ing sadly and silently, "The Rajah
was the k;ndest and best of masters,
and these poor fellows are as grieved
at his loss as il he were their own
father" was the affectiODate tribute of
his English servant. fS
Presently came up an omnibus con-
tanning the body, which was then
brought out upon q plank. As it was
borne along, the light from two feeble
lanterns fell on the placid features of
q young and apparently corpulent
man. The turban and q richly em-
broidered robe which wrapped the
corpse were of bright scarlet; the
bracelet, necklaces and jewels around
his neck and arms were said to be of
great value, and were all afterward
consumed in the fire. The body was
then laid reverentially upon the pile.
One attendant placed betel-nut in the
mouth and hand; second piled cam
phor around It, another muttered sew
eral prayers. A Brahmin priest per
formed strange ceremonies with
white linen cloth, which he folded and
offering up prayers while
dough, to be placed along
side1the corpse, which was then care
fully fenced in with logs and planks,
sort Of box, into which were
thrown perfumes and essences; fresh
logs were piled up for about couple
of yards more; camphOr, and q mix
ture OF beeswax and turpentine, and
q quantity Of brushwood and shavings
were added, and the mass was then
kindled. The flames shot up brilliant
driven by . strong gust of wind,
throwing lurid glare on the numer-
Gus spectators, the muddy Arno, the
black clumps of trees, not yet quite
bare of leaves, and the groups of 1ndi-
ans of every different shade of color
from coal black to light brown, with
their glistening white teeth, and tur-
bans differing in shape according to
the rank of the wearers. Each had
his settled station near the funeral fire,
and stood gazing inten.ly on 1t during
the long, cold hours with q kind Of
forlOrn resignation which
was extremely touching g-many of
them weeping bitterly. At seven in
the morning the wood was all con-
the embers were extinguished
by, water from the river, the ashes
were collected and placed in a porce-
lain jar to be carried home. Every
thing used in the funeral pile was then
taken out in a boat and sunk in mid
stream, and the attendant laid fresh
earth on the spot itself, traced i'm the
form of q heart, around which were
then placed some vessels containing
rice. Then all the Hindoos knelt and
prayed with their faces to the ground
tile dismal ceremony was finished,
and the forlorn retinue departed i'm
silence, bearing with them the vase
with the ashes to be thrown into the
Ganges when they should reach their
native land. The next day they had
all left Florence. F.r.
And thus, far from his Indian, and
even bis English friends, his country,
his young wife and child, amongst
men of an alien religion, of foreign
and unsympathizing race, the poor
boy Rajah passed away. - -