urned, I went to reside with a friend at
Royaporum, south of Black Town, and soon afterwards I was engaged as
an examiner in the accountant-general's office. After I had been a
short time in this employ, I received an order to prepare for my
departure for Nagpore, in the service of his highness the Rajah. On my
return from the Fort St. George, I was greatly surprised at seeing an
old man standing with his bare feet upon two pieces of wood in the
form of a pair of pattens, with pointed pegs uppermost; he stood in
that position for several days, with the blood running in torrents,
and several of those who passed by gave him what their circumstances
could well afford. A few days after I was invited to witness an Hindoo
ceremony. We took our station at the top of a rich Persian's house,
opposite a spacious esplanade and contiguous to a large pagoda; in the
centre of the esplanade was fixed a capstern, with a pole about sixty
feet long, which was fixed so as to be occasionally raised or
lowered. Shortly after our arrival, a native, decorated with flowers,
proceeded slowly towards the pagoda with tom-toms, and all kinds of
Asiatic music; after he had prostrated himself in the pagoda, the
Brahmin, a kind of priest, struck his side with a leather thong till
it swelled to a considerable size, and then forced a butcher's hook
through his side; he then composedly walked to the machine, and
suffered himself to be fastened to a rope and suspended in the air
with no other support than the butcher's hook; he went at least three
times round a circle of about one hundred feet, and he kept his arms
continually in motion during the whole time, fencing and throwing
flowers among the bye standers, which were immediately picked up by
them and kept as a religious relic. This ceremony is performed yearly
for the purpose of those who have lost their cast, and may regain it
by voluntarily undergoing this treatment. Eleven of them went through
this torturing ceremony.

I now began to put myself in readiness for my departure. On the
morning of the 8th I dispatched my baggage and tents, together with a
guard of eight peons (native police), which my friends had obtained
for me, through their interest with the superintendent of the police.
By the time I had taken leave of all my friends, and thanked them for
their disinterested protection to a distressed seaman, I proceeded on
my route (after receiving several more marks of their favours, Mr.
C----