ore us facts which we were not aware of.
It seems that the landlords of the poor and other men of property
insist upon certain of their tenants and dependants engaging in these
practices, and that they expect and compel by actual force multitudes
every year to join the companies of sunyassees in parading the streets,
piercing their sides, tongues, etc. To avoid this compulsion, many
poor young men leave their houses and hide themselves; but they are
sure of being beaten if caught, or of having their huts pulled down.
The influence and power of the rich have a great effect on the
multitude in most of the idolatrous festivals. When the lands and
riches of the country were in few hands, this influence carried all
before it. It is still very widely felt, in compelling dependants to
assist at public shows, and to contribute towards the expense of
splendid ceremonies."

The Ghat murders, caused by the carrying of the dying to the Ganges or
a sacred river, and their treatment there, continue to this day,
although Lord Lawrence attempted to interfere. Ward estimated the
number of sick whose death is hastened on the banks of the Ganges alone
at five hundred a year, in his anxiety to "use no unfair means of
rendering even idolatry detestable," but he admits that, in the opinion
of others, this estimate is far below the truth. We believe, from our
own recent experience, that still it fails to give any just idea of the
destruction of parents by children in the name of religion.

One class who had been the special objects of Christ's healing power
and divine sympathy was specially interesting to Carey in proportion to
their misery and abandonment by their own people--lepers. When at
Cutwa in 1812, where his son was stationed as missionary, he saw the
burning of a leper, which he thus described:--"A pit about ten cubits
in depth was dug and a fire placed at the bottom of it. The poor man
rolled himself into it; but instantly, on feeling the fire, begged to
be taken out, and struggled hard for that purpose. His mother and
sister, however, thrust him in again; and thus a man, who to all
appearance might have survived several years, was cruelly burned to
death. I find that the practice is not uncommon in these parts.
Taught that a violent end purifies the body and ensures transmigration
into a healthy new existence, while natural death by disease results in
four successive births, and a fifth as a leper again, the leper, like