Englishmen are apt to forget, what natives always remember, that
Nepaul is now the last remaining State in India which is thoroughly Hindoo, even Travancore having been in some par- ticulars demoralised, and being governed by a family which is only Hindoo by Brahmin tolerance, and which still regulates its suc- cession through the mother alone, the sister's child ascending the throne, and not the last monarch's son. In no State except Nepaul can suttee now be practised, and accordingly the ancient rite was fully observed on the death of Jung Bahadoor. His three wives decided to perish with him, and were accordingly burned alive on a great pile of sandal-wood. The eldest sat with the head of the corpse in her lap, and all died, according to the native account, " unconcernedly ;" while the pyre was lighted by Jung Bahadoor's son, probably the son also of one of the victims. It is believed in India that drugs are employed to diminish the natural terror of the women, but the sacrifice is voluntary, except so far as the pressure of opinion and religion is concerned. The idea that it is not, appears to arise from the compulsion employed if the victim, after agreeing to die, attempts to escape the flames.
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