Page:Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1836.pdf/6

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Of the custom represented in the engraving, Mrs. Belnos gives the following interesting description:—"Hindoos of high caste burn their dead; but if unable to do so from poverty, are forced to throw them into the Ganges, after having performed the ceremony of burning the mouth with a wisp of straw. The expenses attending the burning of the dead are too great for any but the rich. When the infant of a poor Hindoo dies, the wretched mother takes it up in her arms, and carries it to the river, on the bank of which she lays it for some time on a piece of mat, or on the sands; she stands weeping over the body a little while, then retires a few paces back, where she sits down watching for the turn of the tide to wash away the body, and to prevent the birds of prey and Pariah dogs from approaching it; at intervals she breaks forth in loud lamentations (something resembling a chant, which is often heard at a great distance) in the following words:—"Oh! my child! who has taken thee, my child! I nourished thee and reared thee, and now where art thou gone! take me with thee, Oh! my child, my child! thou play'dst around me like a gold top, my child! the like of thy face I have never seen, my child! let fire devour the eyes of men, my child. The infant continually called me mah, mah, (mother, mother;) the infant used to say mah, let me sit upon thy lap! my child his father never stayed at home since he was born, my child! my child! but bore him continually in his arms for men to admire. What has become now of that admiration! Evil befall the eyes of men! Oh! my life, say mah again, my child, my child! My arms and my lap feel empty, who will fill them again? Oh! my sweet burden, my eye-sight has become darkened, now that thou hast vanished from before it!"