OF HINDOUSTAN                         313

lap, took up a torch, and with her own hand lighted the
fire within, while I know not how many Brahmens were
busily engaged in kindling it without. Well indeed may I
despair of representing this whole scene with proper and
genuine feeling, such as I experienced at the spectacle
itself, or of painting it in colours sufficiently vivid. My
recollection of it indeed is so distinct that it seems only a
few days since the horrid reality passed before my eyes,
and with pain I persuade myself that it was anything but
a frightful dream.

It is true, however, that I have known some of these
unhappy widows shrink at the sight of the piled wood; so
as to leave no doubt on my mind that they would willingly
have recanted, if recantation had been permitted by the
merciless Brahmens; but those demons excite or astound
the affrighted victims, and even thrust them into the fire.
I was present when a poor young woman, who had fallen
back five or six paces from the pit, was thus driven for¬
ward ; and I saw another of these wretched beings
struggling to leave the funeral pile when the fire increased
around her person, but she was prevented from escaping
by the long poles of the diabolical executioners.

But sometimes the devoted widows elude the vigilance
of the murderous priests. I have been often in the com¬
pany of a fair Idolater, who contrived to save her life by
throwing herself upon the protection of the scavengers,^
who assemble on these occasions in considerable numbers,
when they learn that the intended victim is young and
handsome, that her relations are of little note, and that
she is to be accompanied by only a few of her acquaint¬
ance. Yet the woman whose courage fails at the sight of
the horrid apparatus of death, and who avails herself of
the presence of these men to avoid the impending sacrifice,
cannot hope to pass her days in happiness, or to be treated
with respect or affection.    Never again can she live with

^ Sweepers, halal-khors, who frequent burning ghats (places for
cremation) for various purposes at the present day.