A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
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At The
Period Of My Arrival, There Were Five Persons In The House And Two
Outside.
The latter were completely wrapped up in straw and woollen
counterpanes, and I thought they were already dead.
On my asking
whether or no this was the case, my guide threw off the clothes, and
I saw the poor wretches move. I think they must have been half-
smothered under the mass of covering. Inside, on the floor, lay a
poor old woman, the death-rattle in whose throat proclaimed that her
end was fast approaching. The four bedsteads were likewise
occupied. I did not observe that the mouths and noses of these poor
creatures were stopped up with mud from the Ganges: this may,
perhaps, be the case in some other districts. Near the dying
persons were seated their relations, quietly and silently waiting to
receive their last breath. On my inquiring whether nothing was ever
given to them, I was told that if they did not die immediately, a
small draught of water from the Ganges was handed to them from time
to time, but always decreasing in quantity and at longer intervals,
for when once brought to these places, they must die at any price.
As soon as they are dead, and almost before they are cold, they are
taken to the place where they are burnt, and which is separated from
the high road by a wall. In this place I saw one corpse and one
person at the point of death, while on six funeral-piles were six
corpses with the flames flaring on high all around them.
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