"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 those infatuated victims during the whole of the frightful tragedy; it must be seen to be believed. When travelling from Ahmedabad to Agra, through the territories of rajahs, and while the caravan halted in a town under the shade 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 thereon; a woman seated upon the same pile; four or five Brahmins 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 sandarach and saffron powder; but I could not perceive the slightest indication of pain, or even uneasiness in the victim; and it was said, that she pronounced with emphasis the words five, two; to signify that this being the fifth time she had burned herself with the same husband, there wanted only two more similar

sacrifices to render her perfect, according to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; as if a certain reminiscence, or prophetic spirit, had been imparted to her at that moment of her dissolution.-But this was only the commencement of the infernal tragedy. I thought that the singing and dancing of the five women were nothing more than some unmeaning ceremony; great, therefore, was my astonishment, when I saw that the flames having ignited the clothes of one of these females, she cast herself head-foremost into the pit. The horrid example was followed by another woman, as soon as the flames caught her person. The three women, who remained, then took hold of each other by the hand, resuming the dance with perfect composure; and after a short lapse of time, they also precipitated themselves, one after the other, into the fire. I soon learnt the meaning of these multiplied sacrifices. The five women were slaves, and having witnessed the deep affliction of their mistress, in consequence of the illness of her husband, whom she promised not to survive, they were so moved with compassion that they entered into an engagement to perish by the same flames that consumed their beloved mistress.

"As I was leaving Surat for Persia, I witnessed the devotion and burning of another widow; several Englishmen and Dutchmen, and Mr. Chardin, of Paris, were present. She was of the middle age, and by no means uncomely. I do not expect, with my limited powers of expression, to convey a full idea of the brutish boldness, or ferocious gaiety, depicted on this woman's countenance; of her undaunted step; of the freedom from all perturbation with which she conversed, and permitted herself to be washed; of the look of confidence, or rather of insensibility, which she cast upon us; of her easy air, free from dejection; of her lofty carriage, void of embarrassment, when she was examining her little cabin, composed of dry

and thick millet straw, with an intermixture of small wood; when she entered into that cabin, sat down upon the funeral pile, placed her deceased husband's head in her lap, took up a torch, and with her own hand lighted the fire within, while I know not how many Brahmins 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 vivid, that it seems only a few days since the horrid reality passed before my eyes, and with pain I persuade myself that it was any thing but a frightful dream.

"At Lahose I saw a most beautiful young widow sacrificed, who could not, I think, have been more than twelve years of age. The poor little creature appeared more dead than alive when she approached the dreadful pit. The agony of her mind cannot be described. She trembled, and wept bitterly; but. three or four of the Brahmins, assisted by an old woman, who held her under the arm, forced the unwilling victim toward the fatal spot, seated her on the wood, tied her hands and feet, lest she should run away, and in that situation the innocent creature was burnt alive."

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

as himself, were of a contrary opinion; a church was accordingly erected on his plan. The roof was supported by two rows of cast-iron pillars, and the space was open to the top. Arches were formed from pillar to pillar, and from each pillar to the side walls. This was considered very handsome, light, and elegant. It was my lot to be appointed as the incumbent of the church, and I soon found from practice that I could not be distinctly heard, though I had been heard for years, without complaint, in a church with a flat roof nearly double the size of the new church. Like your correspondent, I studied various plans for remedying this evil; and I succeeded to a great extent by making a back to the pulpit, and by putting over it a sounding-board, the centre of which is over the preacher's head. The pulpit is placed before the communion table, and there are gallaries on the north and south sides, and also at the west end of the church. The entrance into the pulpit is from the east. Two handsome pillars, in the same style as the rest, were placed on each side the entrance door, from which the sounding-board projected. The remedy was complete: it afforded great ease to the speaker and to the hearers, besides being an ornament to the church. Placing the desk and pulpit separately, and at an equal altitude, may shew that praying and. preaching are of equal importance (as Herbert says), but in point of practical utility the plan is exceptionable. The pulpit being a back to the desk, and a pillar being a back to the pulpit, with a sounding-board over it, as in the old churches, will be found, I conceive, much better than any other way of placing them. C. C.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

however, any longer detain the reader from the extracts, which will be found at full length in the last Quarterly Review, I will select a few of them; only pre mising, that had the quotations been made in another journal, of opposite sentiments to those of the Quarterly, with a view to condemn the taste, the style, and the whole phraseology of the work, instead of being made with the view of recommending the book, I should have perfectly approved of the selection, as very much to the purpose, and been spared the painful astonishment I felt, at finding that the editor of so useful a publication should have allowed his pages to be degraded by the trash and flippancy of an inexperienced young man.

A "fair specimen" of the author's method of description (I quote the words of the Reviewer), is produced in the shape of a gaudy account of the landing of the two Bishops in Carlisle Bay, which is " prettily" described as "sleeping like an infant, and countenanced like the sky in a June morning :the ships of war were dressed, and their yards manned, and salutes fired; this was pretty and common; but such a sight as the careenage presented, very few have ever witnessed." Then follows an almost tremendous account of the passionate excitement, and unmeasured enthusiasm, produced on the minds of the slaves, in consequence of the advent of the new bishops: indeed, so powerful was its effect upon our author's nerves (weakened, no doubt, by ill health), that he says, "it made me tremble, till I was somewhat restored by a chorus of Negro girls, 'De bissop is come, de bissop is come he is coming to marry us, coming to marry us; coming to marry us all!!!'"'

Now this may be all very "pretty" (and very "common") to read, in a book designed, as that pamphlet probably was, to create a little amusement and laughter for half

an hour; but, when we come to have it cried up, by no less an authority than the Quarterly Review, as one of the beneficial results produced by our Episcopal mission to the West Indies; as, in fact (for this is what the reviewer implies), "furnishing data of unquestionable truth, whereon_the public mind might proceed to form an opinion as to the real state of things in those colonies;" and as the work of one, whose evidence, connected as he is with the Bishops, is unprecedented in point of importance and accuracy; this surely is a little too much to be admitted by any reader of common information.

Next comes an account of a visit of the episcopal party to Trinidad. How delightful must this excursion have been; garnished by the best hospitality which the islands could produce; mingled with sweets extracted from the severe labours of the unhappy slaves; and illuminated by the smiles of the planters, whose conviviality and good humour must no doubt have produced a favourable impression on these prosperous missionaries! Alas! how different has been the fate of many of their predecessors, not only out of the Establishment, but in it; who have, nevertheless, erected a monument of Christianity, even in the hearts of the enslaved Negroes, which persecution will never be able to overthrow! If West - Indian society be such as it seems to have presented itself to these favoured visitants, where, I would ask, are the men who condemned to the dungeon and the grave one faithful missionary; who thrust out others from their coasts; and who could equally raze to the ground a Methodist meeting-house, or expel a clergyman of the very Establishment which they profess now to hail in the persons of its dignitaries, because, "faithful found among the faithless," he had dared, in the face of a hostile tribunal, to proclaim the simple truth in support of an innocent and injured missionary?