only gone there to assure myself of the truth of such sacrifices being made, I went away towards the fort. After I was gone about five hundred yards, they sent some one to tell me they would burn immediately; on which I returned, and found the woman had been moved from where she was sitting to the river, where the Bramins were bathing her. On taking her out of the water, they put some money in her hand, which she dipped in the river, and divided among the Bramins: she had then a yellow cloth rolled partially round her. They put some red color, about the size of a sixpence, on the centre of her forehead, and rubbed something that appeared to me to be clay. She was then led to the pile, round which she walked three times as the sun goes: she then mounted it at the north-east corner, without any assist ance; and sat herself down on the right side of her husband, who had been previously laid upon the pile. She then unscrewed the pins which fastened the jewels or silver rings on her arms: after she had taken them off, she shut them, and screwed in the pins again, and gave one to each of two women who were standing: she unscrewed the ear-rings, and other toys, with great composure, and divided them among the women who were with her. There seemed to be some little squabble about the distribution of her jewels which she settled with great precision; and then, falling gently backwards, pulled a fold of the yellow cloth over her face, turned her breast towards her husbands side, and laid her right arm over his breast; and in this posture she remained without moving.

"Just before she lay down, the Bramins put some rice in her lap, and also some in the mouth and on the long grey beard of her husband: they then sprinkled some water on the head, breast and feet of both, and tied them gently together round the middle with a slender bit of rope they then raised, as it were, a little wall of wood lengthways on two sides of the pile, so as to raise it above the level of the bodies; and then put cross pieces, so as to prevent the billets of wood from pressing on them they then poured on the pile, above where the woman lay, a potful of something that appeared to

me to be oil; after this they heaped on more wood, to the height of about four feet above where the bodies were built in; so that all I now saw was a stack of fire-wood.

"One of the Bramins, I observed, stood at the end of the pile next the woman's head was calling to her through the interstices of the wood, and laughed several times during the conversation. Lastly, they overspread the pile with wet straw, and tied it on with ropes.

"A Bramin then took a handful of straw, which he set on fire at the little heap of burning cakes of cowdung; and, standing to windward of the pile, he let the wind drive the flame from the straw till it catched the pile. Fortunately, at this instant, the wind rose much higher than it had been any part of the day; and in an instant the flames pervaded the whole pile, and it burnt with great fury. I listened a few seconds, but could not distinguish any shrieks, which might perhaps be owing to my being then to windward. In a few

minutes, the pile became a heap of ashes.

"During the whole time of this process, which lasted from first to last above two hours before we lost sight of the woman by her being built up in the middle of the pile, I kept my eyes almost constantly upon her; and I declare to God that I could not perceive, either in her countenance or limbs, the least trace of either horror, fear, or even hesitation: her countenance was perfectly composed and placid; and she was not, I am positive, either intoxicated or stupified. From several circumstances, I thought the Bramins exulted in this hellish sacrifice, and did not seem at all displeased that Europeans should be witnesses of it.”

From Tanjore I proceeded to Negapatnam, which had been taken from the Dutch by the Company's troops, and where Mr. Cochran, an old friend of mine, was Chief.

The communication by land between Negapatnam and Madras being interrupted by the enemy's troops, I embarked in a vessel, and proceeded thither by seaMajor Johnston, of the Engineers, being also a passen

ger.

E e

LETTER LXI.

HITHERTO ITHERTO every step of my journey has been marked by occurrences so unexpected, and accidents so extraordinary, that I should feel some repugnance to relate them, lest my veracity should be called in question, were they not attested by so many living persons of respectability, and by written documents of authority on record. Were one to consider them merely as the offspring of fiction, they would perhaps have interest enough to catch the attention; but, viewing them as facts, they borrow, from their number and rapid succession, as well as from their singularity, so much of the complexion of imaginary adventure, that the combination cannot, I think, fail to interest your mind as well as your feelings.

Arrived at Negapatnam, within a short run of Madras, it is natural for you to suppose that adventure was at an end, and that fortune, fatigued by the incessant exertion of her caprice, might have left me to proceed the short residue of my way without further molestation. It fell out otherwise: she had marked me as her game, and resolved to worry me to the last moment; for, as we approached Madras, we were chased by a French frigate, and taken near Fort St. George,

This appeared to me the greatest misfortune I had yet met with, and likely to be the most fatal in its consequences. In order to explain this, I must recur to certain circumstances, which though I was informed of them since my release from Hydernagur, I did not relate to you, because they were no way connected with my narrative till now.

Monsieur Suffrein, the French Admiral, having a number of British prisoners, in his possession, whom he found extremely inconvenient to support, made a proposal for an exchange which, from some failure in the

conveyance, or ambiguity in the terms of the correspondence, was neglected.

The motives or accidents which gave rise to this neglect have never been completely developed; and perhaps the Admiral himself, Sir Edward Hughes, and Lord Macartney, were the only persons who knew the bottom of that transaction. In such cases, however, the ignorance of fact is generally supplied by conjecture; and men have presumed to censure unequivocally on the mere hypothetical suggestions of their own imaginations. Candor, however in such a case, where it could not speak with certainty, would speak with caution. An Historian, particularly, should steer clear of party rancor, and not suffer the prejudice or malignity which misled himself, to go down to mislead posterity. Where positive proof is wanting, if we are obliged to decide, we must judge by analogy and inference; and in the case now before us, we have little but the characters of the persons concerned to guide us in our decision.

Of the horrid catastrophe which succeeded the neglect of exchanging prisoners, it is hardly possible that any one but Monsieur Suffrein himself could have had a conception. To suppose, that, under such an impression, our leading men would have hesitated to prevent it, would be to suppose their intellects weak, and their hearts corrupt and inhuman. I fancy it will be difficult to fasten on Lord Macartney either the one or the other; for he was wise and humane: those whom the disappointment of unreasonable expectations, or the malevolence of party, have induced to suspect his Lordship's heart, have been forced by his conduct to revere his talents; and the breath of calumny has never touched the humanity of Sir Edward Hughes. Whatever there motives, therefore, may have been reason, conscience, and candor, must acquit them of the consequences. It should be recollected, too, that Monsieur Suffrein's character was a very probable security, in the mind of men of sense and honor, against any act of horrid inhumani ty: his conduct as an officer had made a new era in the Naval History of France: his talents and courage might be compared, without disadvantage, to those of the best

of our British Admirals; and he had exhibited marks of uncommon generosity to those whom the chance of war had thrown into his hands. It would therefore have been something more than prescience to have presupposed what actually happened; and I declare most solemnly, that the inference I draw from the whole information I have had on the subject is, that, calamitous tho' the event was, it attaches no positive guilt on any of the parties concerned. The fact is plainly this: The French Admiral having no place on the coast where he could secure his prisoners, and grieving, as he himself subsequently wrote to Mr. Hastings, to see the unhappy men, who had been six or seven months at sea, dying of the scurvy, delivered over the prisoners, to the number of above three hundred, to Hyder. Their fate afterwards was such as it would harrow up your soul to Lear related.

Take the whole of the circumstances into one glance, and see what my feelings must have been on finding myself once more a prisoner. Hyder Alli, who was, when compared with the worst despots of the European world, a monster, must yet be considered, when put in comparison with his successor Tippoo, mild and merciful. Hyder, from policy and hypocrisy, shewed some lenity to the pris oners who fell into his hands. Instances are known where British captives have broke through the crowd that surrounded him, into his presence for protection-when he has hypocritically feigned anger, threatened the persons who had treated them ill, reprobated severity, and sent them off satisfied for the present. Tippoo, on the contrary, was so perfectly savage, that cruelty seemed to be, not only the internal habit of his soul, but the guide of all his actions, the moving principal of his policy, the rule of his public conduct, and the source of his private gratification. Like the tyger which, Buffon tells us, kills the whole flock before he begins to feed, every appetite of his yielded to the more urgent calls of barbarity; and while one drop of blood remained unspilled, one agony uninflicted, one tear unshed, the natural appetites of Tippoo stood suspended, and the luxuries of life courted his enjoyment in vain. Like the hyena which Thomson