capturing no less than five-and-twenty of the gang, whom I then marched in person to Saugur; and as the rainy season had commenced before we could set out to cross the Nerbuddah on our return; my immediate "chief" and good friend: Captain Bertram, kindly permitted me to remain at Saugur until the termination of the monsoon, when, as soon as the intervening jungles might be traversed with safety, he directed me to occupy a district between Houssungabad and Baitool.

66

Woe! woe for Azla takes her seat

Upon the funeral pile !

Calmly she took her seat,

Calmly the whole terrific pomp survey'd ;

As on her lap the while

The lifeless head of Arvalan was laid."

SOUTHEY.

WISHING to behold the actual condition of the native Mahratta states, and that part of Mālwah which had been the scene of such extraordinary political convulsions, and the arena of the struggles of Scindia and Holkar; the hotbed which fostered and gave birth to those marauding plunderers called Pindarries, who so long devastated this large and beautiful portion of Hindostan ; as likewise the more recent scene of our own conquering arms--being most anxious to visit so interesting a part of India, in the vicinity of the locality where I

then was, I obtained leave, after the cessation of the rains, to send the main body of my party by the direct road to Houssungabad ; while, in light marching order, and accompanied by old Seyud Ishmael, I should make a rapid excursion through Mālwah, and visit in my projected circuit, the cities of Seronge, Oujein, Indore, and Mhow.

This would, no doubt, have proved a most interesting tour, but I was unable to accomplish it, in consequence of the occurrence of unforeseen circumstances, which could not be controlled; and that I shall now as briefly as possible relate.

We had not proceeded further than a place called Koorhye-a small Pathan dependency-when that dreadful scourge, the cholera, made its appearance with unusual violence, causing fearful ravages at Saugur, and amidst the surrounding population of the district where it stands.

To such an extent did this frightful malady then rage, that we deemed it most prudent to return to our former station, and remain there, within reach of medical aid, till the violence of its first outbreak, should at least have, in some measure, passed away.

With this intention, I began to retrace my steps; halting and pitching the camp on the first day of our retrograde march, in the neighbourhood of a vast Hindoo pagoda; from whose mysterious precincts, sounds of lamentation and of grief now issued forth for the destroying demon before whom we fled, had already headed us in our flight, and cast the deadly shadow of his wing over the sacred confines of this venerable pile.

The presiding divinity of the place was powerless, and unable to avert the impending scourge: priests and priestesses; the subtle and crafty Brahmin; with the frail, and often lovely victims of his lust-were all rapidly succumbing beneath the hand of Death. Crowds of affrighted ryots, hurrying with propitiatory offerings to their idols' shrine, participated in the common fate, and its approaches were crowded with the dying and the dead.

These melancholy sounds of wailing, continued during the greater part of the day, and were succeeded towards evening, by what appeared to be the gloomy silence of despair.

For a while, within the sacred precincts, all was hushed and still as death, when, suddenly the massive portals were opened wide, and

thence a solemn procession issued forth, which, with slow steps, moved on towards a neighbouring eminence in sight.

Actuated by curiosity, I followed in its wake; and learnt that one of the officiating Brahmins of the pagoda, having the night before, been carried off by the prevailing epidemic, his body was about to be consigned to the flames; and that his wife, who was said to be young and beautiful, would, at the same time, be sacrificed on her husband's funereal pile, to join him in the realms of bliss!

I had never yet had the opportunity of beholding the horrible rites of a suttee; and, prompted by some morbid feeling of interest and curiosity, mechanically followed the moving crowd.

These harrowing scenes have been so often described by far abler pens, that I shall not attempt, here to portray, what impressed me at the time with sensations of the most unmitigated horror and disgust.

There stood a young and lovely girl, of not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age; who, after distributing her ornaments and jewels to those around, was conducted by the Brahmins towards that fatal pile on which