o be unswervingly faithful to her
lord while he lives; and no matter how cruelly he may have treated her,
she is loaded with contumely, reproach, and scorn, if she refuses to lay
herself upon the funeral pile, and in the flames pass into another state
of being, to do honor to him who through life had been an unrelenting
tyrant. Knowing the obloquy which attaches itself to the widow who
recoils from such a fearful death-bed, and ignorant, too, of the "better
way," the unfortunate creature generally yields to the pressure brought
to bear upon her, and terminates a miserable life by an awful death; her
horrid shrieks, while burning, mingling with the clamor of sounds
raised to drown them by the heartless throng of spectators, and yet
sometimes rising with distressing distinctness above them. When the wife
of a Hindoo dies, does he sacrifice himself upon a funeral pile, in
order to honor her in another state of existence? By no means. His
precious body can not be committed to the flames; they are too hot for
his manly courage. He burns her corpse with what are termed appropriate
offerings; and, if so disposed, adds a new wife to his household, thus
soothing his sorrow.

In Australia, the practice of early betrothal is nearly universal among
the natives; men of distinction having several wives at the same time,
and these varying in age from the little child to the woman of mature
years. But while polygamy prevails to a fearful extent among the men of
the wealthier class, many of the men of the humbler ranks remain
unmarried, because they are unable to raise the purchase-money which
secures them their domestic drudge. In the western part of Australia,
especially before the benefits of civilization began to be felt in the
island, it was the practice to betroth the daughters to some individual,
immediately upon their birth; and should the man, or male child to whom
the infant girl was betrothed, die before she arrived at maturity, she
became the property of the heirs of her betrothed husband, though she
might never have seen either this reputed husband, or the person who, as
his representative, claimed her as his wife by virtue of the betrothal.
In New Zealand, if the spouse of a female child dies before she is taken
to his home, she is never allowed to marry any one else. By this custom
young children become the widows of little boys or old men, according to
the whims of their fathers. Another horrible practice of the Australia