These All Sit Cross-Legged, Some With One Thing In Their Hands, And Others With Other Things; And By Break Of Day Or Before, Numbers Of Men And Women Come Out Of The Town To These Places, And Wash In The Ganges.

On mounds of earth made for the purpose, there are divers old men who sit praying, and who give the people three or four straws, which they hold between their fingers when they bathe in the Ganges; and some sit to mark them in the forehead:

And the devotees have each a cloth with a small quantity of rice, barley, or money, which they give to these old men when they have washed. They then go to one or other of the idols, where they present their sacrifices. When they have finished their washings oblations and charities, the old men say certain prayers by which they are all sanctified.

In divers places there stand a kind of images, called _Ada_ in their language, having four hands with claws; and they have sundry carved stones on which they pour water, and lay thereon some rice, wheat, barley and other things. Likewise they have a great place built of stone, like a well, with steps to go down, in which the water is very foul and stinking, through the great quantity of flowers which are continually thrown into the water: Yet there are always many people in that water, for they say that it purifies them from their sins, because, as they allege, God washed himself in that place. They even gather up the sand or mud from the bottom, which they esteem holy. They never pray but in the water, in which they wash themselves over head, laving up the water in both hands, and turning themselves about, they drink a little of the water three times, and then go to the idols which stand in the houses already mentioned. Some take of the water, with which they wash a place of their own length, and then lie down stretched out, rising and lying down, and kissing the ground twenty or thirty times, yet keeping their right foot all the time in the same place. Some make their ceremonies with fifteen or sixteen pots, little and great, ringing a little bell when they make their mixtures, ten or twelve times. They make a circle of water round about their pots and pray, divers sitting by them, and one in particular who reaches the pots to them; and they say certain words many times over the pots, and when they have done, they go to their idols, before which they strew their sacrifices, which they think very holy, and mark many of those who sit by in the foreheads, which they esteem highly. There sometimes come fifty or even an hundred together, to wash at this well, and to sacrifice to these idols.

In some of these idol houses, there are people who stand by them in warm weather, fanning them as if to cool them; and when they see any company coming, they ring a little bell which hangs beside them, when many give them alms, particularly those who come out of the country. Many of these idols are black and have brazen claws very long, and some ride upon peacocks, or on very ill-favoured fowls, having long hawks bills, some like one thing and some like another, but none have good faces. Among the rest, there is one held in great veneration, as they allege be gives them all things, both food and raiment, and one always sits beside this idol with a fan, as if to cool him. Here some are burned to ashes, and some only scorched in the fire and thrown into the river, where the dogs and foxes come presently and eat them. Here the wives are burned along with the bodies of their deceased husbands, and if they will not, their heads are shaven and they are not afterwards esteemed.

The people go all naked, except a small cloth about their middles. The women have their necks, arms, and ears decorated with rings of silver, copper, and tin, and with round hoops of ivory, adorned with amber stones and many agates, and have their foreheads marked with a great red spot, whence a stroke of red goes up the crown, and one to each side. In their winter, which is in May, the men wear quilted gowns of cotton, like to our counterpanes, and quilted caps like our grocers large mortars, with a slit to look out at, tied beneath their ears. When a man or woman is sick and like to die, they are laid all night before the idols, either to help their sickness or make an end of them. If they do not mend that night, the friends come and sit up with them, and cry for some time, after which they take them to the side of the river, laying them on a raft of reeds, and so let them float down the river.

When they are married the man and woman come to the water side, where there is an old bramin or priest, a cow and calf, or a cow with calf. Then the man and woman, together with the cow and calf, go into the river, giving the old bramin a piece of cloth four yards long, and a basket cross bound, in which are sundry things. The bramin lays the cloth on the back of the cow, after which he takes hold of the end of the cows tail, and says certain words. The woman has a brass or copper pot full of water; the man takes hold of the bramin with one hand, and the woman with the other, all having hold of the cow by the tail, on which they pour water from the pot, so that it runs on all their hands. They then lave up water with their hands, and the bramin ties the man and woman together by their clothes[408]. When this is done, they go round about the cow and calf, and then give some alms to the poor, who are always present, and to the bramin or priest they give the cow and calf, after which they go to several of the idols, where they offer money, lying down flat on the ground before the idol, and kissing the earth several times, after which they go away.

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