OF HINDOUSTAN                            309

In regard to the women who actually burn themselves,
I was present at so many of those shocking exhibitions
that I could not persuade myself to attend any more, nor
is it without a feeling of horror that I revert to the subject.
I shall endeavour, nevertheless, to describe what passed
before my eyes; but I cannot hope to give you an
adequate conception of the fortitude displayed by these
infatuated victims during the whole of the frightful
tragedy : it must be seen to be believed.

When travelling from Ahmed-abad to Agra, through the
territories of Rajas, and while the caravan halted under
the shade of a banyan-tree! until the cool of the evening,
news reached us that a widow was then on the point of
burning herself with the body of her husband. I ran at
once to the spot, and going to the edge of a large and
nearly dry reservoir, observed at the bottom a deep pit
filled with wood : the body of a dead man extended there¬
on ; a woman seated upon the same pile; four or five
Brahmens setting fire to it in every part; five middle-aged
women, tolerably well dressed, holding one another by the
hand; singing and dancing round the pit; and a great
number of spectators of both sexes.

The pile, whereon large quantities of butter ^ and oil had
been thrown, was soon enveloped in flames, and I saw the
fire catch the woman's garments, which were impregnated
with scented oil, mixed with sandalwood powder and
saffron; but I could not perceive the slightest indication

1 ' Bourgade ' in the original, which I have ventured to take in this
passage as intended for Bargat, the common name in Hindostan for a
' banyan '-tree, the Ficus Indica, L. A caravan would not halt even
in a village {bourgade), especially when in a foreign territory ; in the
words of a previous translator, ' while the caravan halted in a town
under the shade.' A famous banyan-tree near the town of Hardoi in
Oudh is, or rather was, so extended (natural decay has, I believe,
almost entirely destroyed it) that 'tis said that in 1858 two regiments
of soldiers encamped under the shade of its branches. In various
other parts of India other large ' banyan '-trees may be met wdth,
quite capable of sheltering an ordinary caravan or camp.

^ Ghee, which is clarified butter; see p. 438, footnote *.