He Is Reduced To The
State You Now See, Having Left The World; And The Arbiter Of Life And Death
Hath Withdrawn His Soul.
Count not, therefore, O man!
Upon the uncertain
hopes of this life." This or a similar proclamation is continued for three
days; after which the body is embalmed with sandal wood, camphor, and
saffron, and is then burned, and the ashes are scattered to the winds. When
they burn the body of a king, it is usual for his wives to jump into the
fire and burn along with him; but this they are not constrained to do. The
same custom of burning the bodies of the dead prevails over all the Indies.
In the Indies there are men who devote themselves to live in the woods and
mountains, professing to despise what other men most value, abstaining from
every thing but such wild herbs and fruits as are to be found in the woods,
and they affix an iron buckle to their genitals in such a manner as to
interdict all commerce with woman. Some of these go quite naked, or have
only the skin of a leopard thrown over them, and keep perpetually standing
with their faces to the sun. I formerly saw one in that posture; and on my
return to the Indies, sixteen years afterwards, I found him in the very
same attitude, it being astonishing that he had not lost his sight by the
heat and glare of the sun. In all these kingdoms the sovereign power
resides in the royal family, without ever departing from it, and the heirs
of the family follow each other in regular succession.
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