m them farther particulars, it was
some moments before I could trust myself to speak. At length I asked
them when the Suttee would take place; and was answered by one of them,
that it would certainly be performed on the following day; and that he
had seen the funeral pile himself. Without any farther delay, I set out
immediately for the city, and reached it in as short a time as a jaded
horse could carry me.

"I came in sight of Benares the next morning, from a hill which
overlooks it from the east. The sun was just rising, and pouring a flood
of light ever the city, the river, and the surrounding country. Never
was contrast greater than between my present feelings, and those which
the same spectacle had formerly excited. I now sickened at the prospect,
which once would have set my heart bounding with joy. I pressed on in
desperate haste, scarcely, however, knowing what I did, being at once
overpowered with fatigue, loss of sleep, and harassing emotions. I still
had to travel a circuitous course of some two or three miles; and when I
reached the city, its crowded population was already in motion: a great
multitude of women, of the lower order, with alarm and expectation
strongly depicted in their faces, were to be seen mingling in the crowd,
and pressing on in the same direction. I would have proceeded
immediately to my father's house, but for the fear of being too late.
Alighting, therefore, from my horse, I gave him in charge to my servant,
whom I sent to inform my parents of my arrival, and to request my father
to meet me at the Suttee. I then joined the mixed multitude, which now
thronged the streets. Occupied, as my thoughts were, with the scene I
was about to witness, and with fears for its issue, they were often
interrupted with remarks made in the crowd, in which Veenah's name or
mine were mentioned--some lamenting her cruel fate, others pitying mine;
but all condemning and execrating Shunah Shoo. Fortunately I was not
recognised by any whom I saw. When we reached the spot selected for the
sacrifice, the crowd that had there assembled, was not so great as to
prevent our getting near the funeral pile; but the numbers continued to
augment, until nothing could be seen from the slight eminence on which I
stood, but one dense mass of heads, all looking one way, and expressing
the intense interest they felt. At length a murmur, like that of distant
thunder, ran through the crowd: a passage was, with some difficulty,
e