1 POPULATION, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 91
2 territory of another chief, it is often difficult to
3 obtain their restitution; but the solicitations of a
4 punchayt, and the more forcible argument of
5 reprisals, are in the end efficacious ; and the
6 unfortunate woman, if she do not in a fit of des-
7 peration take opium, or cast herself into a well,
8 is necessitated to submit to the law of the land,
9 which she will again violate on the first oppor-
10 tune occasion. Sense of shame or feelings of
11 honour have no place in the breast of a Jat, and
12 the same may be said of men of other low tribes.
13 They will make strenuous exertions for recovery
14 of their wives after they have absconded, and will •
15 take them back as often as they can get them,
16 bickering even for the children the women may
17 have had by her paramour, as some recompense
18 for her temporary absence and for the expense and
19 trouble they have incurred in the search for her.
20 "There exists no prohibition against the Suttee.
21 In all cases they are understood to be willing
22 victims, and much real or pretended dissuasion is
23 exercised by the public functionaries, and by
24 friends and relations, to divert the miserable
25 creature from her destructive intentions. That
26 affection and duty have not always place in this
27 class of felo de se, which would explain and ex-
28 tenuate such a deed, and convert the offspring of
29 superstition into a noble act of self-devotion, is
30 obvious from the frequency of Suttee, and from