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THE TRAVELS OF


way, however, is to burn the corpſe on a funeral pile erected for that purpoſe near the water ſide; the neareſt relation in tattered apparel, which is, in their opinion, the expreſſive garb of ſorrow, ſets fire to it, and ſhews every ſymptom of frantic grief on the occaſion: the body being ſoon conſumed; the aſhes are collected and thrown into the river. The aſhes of the great are placed in an urn, which is carried with ſome degree of ceremony by a Bramin, and caſt into the Ganges, to whoſe waters they attribute a peculiar ſanctity.

LETTER