of these ropes and drag them around the temple. While they are doing this, many of the heathen, to fulfill the vows which they made while in trouble, throw themselves on the ground, roll over from side to side, and frequently much injure themselves. Some swing on great hooks, which are passed through the tender parts of their back. Sometimes they swing for half an hour or an hour. It occasionally happens that the flesh in which the hooks are fastened gives way, in which case the poor creature is dashed to the ground. When this occurs, the people hold him in the greatest abhorrence. They judge him to be a great criminal, and suppose that he has met with a violent death in consequence of the sins which he committed in a former birth.

I have repeatedly been present at these hook-swingings. I will give you a description of one which occurred while I was in Madura. It took place on the 8th of June, 1848, just twenty-nine years after I first left America for India. It should have taken place on the preceding afternoon; but one of the axle-trees of the car which was to support the machine on which the man was to be ele

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vated in the air, was broken. Nothing of course could be done until it was repaired. The carpenters and others worked with great diligence until about eleven o'clock at night, when every thing was prepared for the swinging. I expected immediately after this to witness the ceremony. It, however, did not take place until the morning. While waiting for the man who was to be swung to make his appearance, I took a pencil and made a drawing of the machine to which he was to be fastened.

You have, perhaps, often seen a well-sweep. The long beam to which he was fastened was swung in the same manner as is the well-sweep, with a single exception. In addition to its usual motion, it was made to turn horizontally.

Between six and seven o'clock in the morning, the man who was to be swung made his appearance for a few moments, and then disappeared. The hooks by which he was to be swung, as well as the iron rods with which a number of devotees were immediately to pierce their sides, were carried through the streets, and held up, that they might be seen by the people. Soon afterwards the man appeared again with the hooks in his back, and went

up to the end of the beam to which he was to be fastened. This, of course, was lowered. Notwithstanding the dense multitudes of people, I made my way to the same spot, determined to be satisfied whether or not there was any deception in the application of the hooks. There was no deception. They passed through the skin, on the sides of the backbone. To these hooks were attached yellow ropes, by which he was fastened to the beam. This being done, the men, five or six in number, who had hold of the ropes fastened to the end of the beam which rested on the ground, and which, of course, was then high in the air, drew him up until the beam lay horizontally. Then, after making him perform one circular motion around the car, they elevated him to the highest possible extent. When thus elevated, it was thought that he was forty feet from the ground. All being ready, the people seized the ropes in front of the car and began to draw it. Mr. Chandler, who was with me, accompanied it with myself through the streets, until it came to the place from which it set out. The distance of ground passed over was about half a mile, And the time in