. Pen and pencil sketches; being reminiscences during eighteen years' residence in Bengal. gled in the mass ofdecayed humanity which used to float down theHoogly, and through their endeavours that dreadfulunseemly exposure no longer disgusts the eye oroffends the senses. No longer do the rivers banks exhibit thoserevolting spectacles of human carcases in everystage of horrible decomposition from the Chitporeroad to Fort William; a distance which constitutesand borders the whole face of the western part ofthe city of Calcutta. For those whose poverty refuses them the accus-tomed funeral pyre, a
. Pen and pencil sketches; being reminiscences during eighteen years' residence in Bengal. gled in the mass ofdecayed humanity which used to float down theHoogly, and through their endeavours that dreadfulunseemly exposure no longer disgusts the eye oroffends the senses. No longer do the rivers banks exhibit thoserevolting spectacles of human carcases in everystage of horrible decomposition from the Chitporeroad to Fort William; a distance which constitutesand borders the whole face of the western part ofthe city of Calcutta. For those whose poverty refuses them the accus-tomed funeral pyre, an ustrina or masan has beenformed at the extreme south end of the Strand. There the dead bodies of the pauper class ofHindoos are burned, instead of being placed, asformerly, on the banks of the sacred stream, to be 44 PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES. carried away by the tide and current. This im-provement has been effected too at a much less costthan that of the ineffective police formerly employedto keep the river clear, or rather free, of thesefestering plague creating masses of BURNING BODIES BY KIVEU SIDE. The ustrina or masan just alluded to was formedduring Lord William Bentincks administration, andhe thereby conferred a blessing both on Europeansand the native community. It is open on the sidenext the river, and is sufficiently huge to meet therefuse of Deaths doings, even in his most angry THE HINDOO MA SAN. 45 seasons. Here death silence and solitude may be trulysaid to reside, and to reign supreme and undisturbed. Protected from intrusion by tbe ghastly purpose ofthe place, here, amid its awful avenues lit ujj byfuneral fires, the grim monarch sits in majesty,reigns undisturbed, and holds his last court andjurisdiction on earth; whilst the usto)\ if I may usethe Latin term for this corpse burner, flits about thepassages of this dread place in silent observation ofhis calling, and ministers to Deaths wants. With noiseless tread, the dead mens waiters hurryto and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1883
