Thirty-five years in the East. Adventures, discoveries, experiements, and historical sketches, relating to the Punjab and Cashmere; in connection with medicine, botany, pharmacy, etc. Together with an original materia medica; and a medical vocabulary, in four European and five eastern languages:

· 1852 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2for a couple of years, and then of returning to Europe, I shall

3publish a Supplement to this work, in order to supply the

4deficiencies, and therein state any occurrences of interest which

5may happen.

6Having passed the months of July and August in Cashmere,

7I left that beautiful country, on my way to Europe, in the

8month of September, taking with me a quantity of Cashmerean

9produce. After calling at Lahore, where I staid till the end

10of October, I passed the Sutlej, and went, via Ferozepore,

11Loodiana, Umballa, Saharunpore, and Rajpore, again to the

12hills, viz. to Mussoorie, in order to visit my two daughters,

13whom I had placed at an educational institution there, which

14is under the direction of some French ladies. I spent three

15days at that place, and then continued my journey, passing

16from Meerut to Goormuckteesur, on the Ganges; where I

17had previously engaged a small vessel to convey me to

18Calcutta. The voyage down the Ganges was an exceedingly

19pleasant one, in many respects, and lasted two months. Among

20the incidents which excited my attention on the river, the

21relation of which may interest the reader, was that, as we

22approached Bengal, I observed, on both banks of the Ganges,

23a gradually increasing number of cane-mats, coverlets, drinking

24vessels, &c. and also many sick persons lying upon mats, &c.

25On inquiring the cause, I found that it was the custom of the

26country, among the poorer classes, that when a patient was

27supposed to be past all hope of recovery, his relations con-

28veyed him to the banks of the Ganges, so that he might

29die in the vicinity of the sacred river. The relations or

30friends of the patients, visit the spot, to ascertain whether

31they are still living; when death ensues, they purchase a

32sufficiency of wood to make a funeral-pile, and commit the

33body to the flames; when their means do not afford the

34expense of doing this, they merely burn a portion of the

35face, and then push the body into the sacred river. When a

36patient, thus situated, happens to recover, he considers that

37he has, as it were, acquired a new life, and thenceforth all