of the day on which the swinging takes place, another act
of great cruelty is practised. Devotees throw themselves from, the top
of a high wall, or a scaffold of twenty or thirty feet in height, upon a
bed of iron spikes, or on bags of straw with knives in them. Many are
often mangled and torn. Others are quickly killed.

At night, many of the devotees sit down in the open air, and pierce the
skin of their foreheads, by inserting a small rod of iron. To this is
suspended a lamp, which is kept burning till daylight.

Sometimes bundles of thorns are collected before the temple, among which
the devotees roll themselves without any covering. These thorns are then
set on fire, when they briskly dance over the flames.

Other devotees swing before a slow fire; some stand between two fires,
as you see in this picture.

[Illustration:]

Some have their breasts, arms, and other parts stuck entirely full of
pins, about the thickness of small nails, or packing needles.

Another very cruel torture is practised. Some of the devotees make a
vow. With one hand they cover their under lip with wet earth or mud. On
this, with the other hand, they place some small grains, usually of
mustard-seed They then stretch themselves flat on their backs, exposed
to the dews of night, and the blazing and scorching sun by day. Their
vow is, that from this position they will not stir, that they will not
move nor turn, nor eat nor drink, till the seeds planted on their lips
begin to sprout. This usually takes place on the third or fourth day.
After this they arise, and then think that they are very holy.

There is a class of devotees in this country called Yogis, whose object
it is to root out every human feeling. Some live in holes and caves.
Some drag around a heavy chain attached to them. Some make the circuit
of an empire, creeping on their hands and knees. Some roll their bodies
from the shores of the Indus to the Ganges.

The Rev. Mr. Heyer, in one of his letters from India, says, that an
Indian devotee has spent more than nine years on a journey from Benares
to Cape Comorin, that is, from the 27th to the 7th degree of north
latitude. The whole journey is made by rolling on the bare ground, from
side to side. When he comes to a river, of course he cannot roll over
it. He therefore fords it, or passes over it in a boat, and then rolls
on the banks of the river just as far as the river is wide. By doing
this, he supposes that his determinat