Year: 1878

SlOuP vi PCOPlS "e'oiilh6, wv Due 'NN
lycleansing themselves. Small boys are
swimming and splashing within their
own length of body done up in cloth
and floating down stream. Further on
we come to the burning place. Seven
bodies are prepared for burning. The
first is that of an old man, very thin and
dark; then there is that of man OF
forty, lying with its feet in the stream,
a woman kneeling by it with her hand
on the pulseless heart The others are
done up in white sheets and covered
with flowers some in the water, others
higher up the bank Wood is brought
and two funeral piles are constructed,
one for the old man, the other for the
woman husband. The old mans body
is dropped into the river, a cloth is
spread over the fagots; they hoist him
on the pile, and, having rubbed him
with oil, cover him over with wood
You can barely see the end of his toes
and portions of the white sheet sticking
out. Incense is sprinkled on the pile,
and a man bearing wisp of lighted
straw passes five times round it, while
another reads paper, giving directions,
apparently. The light is applied, but it
shoulders and goes out; the bystanders
give loud advice; finally the pile is
lighted, and burns slowly but surely
The woman still kneels by the side of
her husband. Now his turn comes
She performs the office of rubbing the
naked body in the oil, and assists the
men to place him on the pile, her hand
remaining on his heart until he is COW
cred, or rather partially covered, for his
heirs seem too poor to afford sufficient
quantity of wood, and his arms and legs
stick out from the faggots. More oil is
poured on the old mans pile, and now
it fairly blazes. All this time the people
about laugh and chatter. A small boy
with very miserable dog appears and
proceeds to wash the animal alongside
of the man who is cleansing his teeth.
The ceremony of passing round the pile
is performed by the woman with the
blazing straw in her hand This done,
she leaves and takes her place among
the people seated on the overlooking
temple. Fire is put to her husband S
pile, and the fame licks the wood and
the two visible arms and legs. AT this
moment some women bring down on a
sort of stretcher made of bamboo the
bodies covered completely with sheets.
The old man blazes, and the sound of
burning flesh is family distinguishable
amid the crackle of the wood. The
flames of the dead husbands pile fairly
reach the flesh; a faint odor reaches us
in the boat, and the heat is quite per-
ceptible. Down comes another body,
but they let it fall, and it rolls down the
incline place before it reaches the water,
and is finally lifted and deposited to
soak. Meanwhile the old man and the
dead husband sizzle cheerfully. Owing
to the scarcity of the wood over the
husband, we see each limb as it is moved
or devoured by the fire. Huge blisters
appear on his leg, and the leg as well
as the wood is burning. As the fire gets
headway masses of blisters appear on the
limbs, and the hair of his head and
features of his face are consumed. A
pile is ready for one of the women, and
as she is decently clothed and has flow
ers piled on her, the outline of her body
only can be distinguished. The hus-
band slowly stretches out his right arm,
shrivelled by the heat and blistered-a
horrid sight his leg is drawn up; the
flesh being rapidly eaten away; it is
scarcely like a human member. The
two women who all this time are being
prepared for the burning are now on
their piles and ready for the fire; and
here comes another-there must have
been an unusually heavy death=rate
among the softer sex last night. With
the body brought down, a woman comes,
mourning in low mono tone of wailing
and beating her breast. Mixed with her
moaning and the cracking of the burn
ing piles are the sounds of children
splashing in the water and their laugh
ter, as they rejoice in the young life and
health and activity.


The arm of the husband, still stretch
ed out, shows long white streak. The
old mans pile is in such blaze and he
is SO we'll covered that you see nothing
of his body, nothing to tell it is any
thing more than A hoy's bonfire, On
the husbands pile bones and chafred
and blackened flesh mingle with the
burning wood. His hand, now mere
stump, slowly moves upwards, for an in
slant assumes threatening position,
shakes as though motioning some one
away, and falls off, blazing, into the
midst of the fame, to be lost. The two
women have started, and begin to burn,
but they cremate peacefully, with none
of the CHASTITY gestures or blistering of
the husband. Had not been watching
him carefully could not tell the part
of that mass. of flame and blackness
which was his head, nor scarcely tell his
arms and legs from bits of wood, His
left foot falls off and burns by itself at
the edge of the pile, and | think that
white spot must be his knee. | could
not get the sight of the blazing limbs
and head of the man out of my mind for
some hours, and every one I saw Won
dered how he or she would look in
funeral pile.


The same afternoon | saw one of the
celebrated Juggernaut cars. It was not
unlike a pulpit, with a roof and ON
wheels. tits dragged in professions still,
but the amusements of natives throwing
themselves under it is no longer allowed.
This one was of wood, but later on in
the south of India we saw them of stone ;
in either case quite capable of crushing
a man or two. We saw, too, the Well
of Fate, down which if you look and
are unable to see your shadow you are
doomed to death in six months, The
only time a shadow is visible is at noon,