help himself with food, women of distinction among the Hindoos contended for the honour of feeding this holy person wherever he appeared.

Other Fanatics.---A set of very extraordinary Hindoo fanatics are to be met with in different parts of the country: particular villages are appropriated for the ceremony of swinging, where the swingers assemble at stated seasons. In thecentre of an area, surrounded by numerous spectators, is erected a pole, from twenty to thirty feet in height, on which is placed a long horizontal beam, with a rope run over a pulley at the extremity; to this rope they fix an iron hook, which being drawn through the integuments of the devoted swinger, he is suspended aloft in the air, amidst the acclamations of the multitude; the longer he is capable of this painful exertion, and the more violently he swings himself round, the greater the merit; from the flesh giving way, the performer sometimes falls from this towering height, and breaks a limb; if he escape that accident, from the usual temperance of the Hindoos, the wound soon heals: this penance is generally voluntary, in performance of a religious vow, or inflicted for the expiation of sins committed, either by himself, or some of his family. It will be seen how exactly this account agrees with the instances before given from Mr. Ward

The Pooleahs and Pariars.---The degraded Pooleahs are an abject and unfortunate race, who, by cruel laws and tyrannical customs, are reduced to a wretched state; while the monkeys are adored as sylvan deities, and in some parts of Malabar, have temples and daily sacrifices. I have often, says Forbes, lamented the treatment of the poor Pooleahs, and the cruel difference made by human laws between them and the pampered Brahmins. Banished from society, they have neither houses nor lands, but retire to solitary places, hide themselves in ditches, and climb into umbrageous trees for shelter; they are not permitted to breathe the same air with the other castes, nor to travel on a public road: if by accident they should be there, and perceive a Brahmin or Nair at a distance, they must instantly make a loud howling, to warn him from approaching until they have retired, or climbed up the nearest tree. If a Nair accidentally meets a Pooleah on the highway, he cuts him down with as little ceremon say others destroy a noxious animal; even the lowest of other

castes will have no communication with a Pooleah. Hunger sometimes compels them to approach the villages, to exchange baskets, fruit, or such commodities as they may have for a little grain having called aloud to the peasants, they tell their wants, leave their barter on the ground, and retiring to a distance, trust to the honesty of the villagers to place a measure of corn equal in value to the barter, which the Pooleahs afterwards take away. Constant poverty and accumulated misery have entirely debased the human form, and given a squalid and savage appearance to these unhappy beings.

Yet, debased and oppressed as the Pooleahs are, there exists throughout India, a caste called Pariars, still more abject and wretched. If a Pooleah, by any accident, touches a Pariar, he must perform a variety of ceremonies, and go through many ablutions, before he can be cleansed from the impurity With such ideas of defilement, no marriages are contracted between the Pooleahs and Pariars, nor do they eat together, although the only difference in their epicurean banquet is, that the Pooleahs eat of all animal food, except beef, and sometimes of that which dies of itself; the Pariars not only feast upon dead carcases, but eat beef and carrion of every kind. The Brahmins of Malabar have thought proper to place Christians in the same rank with the Pariars.

Burning of a widow.---The following account of the burning of a Gentoo woman, on the funeral-pile of her deceased husband, is taken from the Voyages of Stavorinus, who was an eye-witness to the ceremony.

We

found," says M. Stavorinus, "the body of the deceased lying upon a couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel-leaves. The woman, who was to be the victim, sat upon the couch with her face turned to that of the deceased She was richly adorned, and held a little green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from the body. She seemed like. one buried in the most profound meditation, yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of

music.

"The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, between which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible; upon this was put a quantity

of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease: this was done alternately, till the pile was five feet in heighth, and the whole was then strewed with rosin finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole was ready for the reception of the victim.

"The widow was now admonished by a priest, that it was time to begin the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and besought her to supplicate favours for them when she joined her husband in the presence of Ram, or their highest god; and above all, that she would salute their deceased friends, whom she might meet in the celestial mansions, in their names.

"In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she divested herself of all her ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some parched rice.

"She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she threw rice among the by-standers, who gathered it up with great eagerness. The last time she went round, she placed a little earthern burning lamp to each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms, a piece of white cotton was spread over them both, they were bound together with two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid upon them. In the last place, her nearest relation, to whom, on the banks of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such, that the shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been heard.'

From an official document it appears, that in the year 1815, between 400 and 500 widows, of the province of