attempt something yet more lascivious, if peradventure the god would move. The "child perfected the praise" of his idol with such ardent expression and gesture, that the god was pleased, and the multitude emitting a sensual yell of delight, urged the car along. After a few minutes it stopped again. An aged minister of the idol then stood up, and with a long rod in his hand, which he moved with indecent action, completed the variety of this disgusting exhibition. I felt a consciousness of doing wrong in witnessing it. I was also somewhat appalled at the magnitude and horror of the spectacle; I felt like a guilty person, on whom all eyes were fixed, and I was about to withdraw. But a scene of a different kind was now to be presented. The characteristics of Moloch's worship are obscenity and blood. We have seen the former. Now comes the blood."

"After the tower had proceeded some way, a pilgrim announced that he was ready to offer himself a sacrifice to the idol. He laid himself down in the road before the tower as it was moving along, lying on his face, with his arms stretched forwards. The multitude passed round him, leaving the space clear, and he was crushed to death by the wheels of the tower. A shout of joy was raised to the god. He is said to smile when the libation of the blood is made. The people threw cowries, or small money, on the body of the victim, in approbation of the deed. He was left to view a considerable time, and was then carried by the Hurries to the Golgotha, where I have just been viewing his remains. How much I wished that the Proprietors of India Stock could have attended the wheels of Jugger naut, and seen this peculiar source of their revenue."

Juggernaut, 20th June,

"Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
"Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears." MILTON

The horrid solemnities still continue. Yesterday a woman devoted herself to the idol. She laid herself down on the road in an oblique direction, so that the wheel did not kill her instantaneously, as is generally

the case; but she died in a few hours. This morning as I passed the Place of Skulls, nothing remained of her but her bones."

"And this, thought I, is the worship of the Brahmins of Hindoostan! And their worship in its sublimest degree! What then shall we think of their private manners, and their moral principles! For it is equally true of India as of Europe. If you you would know the state of the people, look at the state of the temple."

"I was surprised to see the Brahmins with their heads uncovered in the open plain falling down in the midst of the Sooders before "the horrid shape," and mingling so complacently with "that polluted cast." But this proved what I had before heard, that so great a god is this, that the dignity of high cast disappears before him. This great king recognizes no distinction of rank among his subjects. All men are equal in his presence."

"Juggernaut, 21st June.

"The idolatrous processions continue for some days longer, but my spirits are so exhausted by the constant view of these enormities, that I mean to hasten away from this place sooner than I at first intended. I beheld another distressing scene this morning at the Place of Skulls; a poor woman lying dead, or nearly dead, and her two children by her, looking at the dogs and vultures which were near. The people passed by without noticing the children. I asked them where was their home. They said, "they had no home but where their mother was." O, there is no pity at Juggernaut! no mercy, no tenderness of heart in Moloch's kingdom! Those who support his kingdom, err, I trust, from ignorance. "They know not what they do."

"As to the number of worshippers assembled here at this time, no accurate calculation can be made. The natives themselves, when speaking of numbers at particular festivals, usually say that a lack of people (100,000) would not be missed. I asked a Brahmin how many he supposed were present at the most nu

"How can I

merous festival he had ever witnessed. tell," said he, "how many grains there are in a handful of sand?"

"The languages spoken here are various, as there are Hindoos from every country in India: but the two chief languages in use by those who are resident, are the Orissa and the Telinga. The border of the Telinga Country is only a few miles distant from the Tower of Juggernaut."

"Chilka Lake, 24th June. "I felt my mind relieved and happy when I had passed beyond the confines of Juggernaut. I certainly was not prepared for the scene. But no one can know what it is who has not seen it. From an eminence* on the pleasant banks of the Chilka Lake (where no human bones are seen), I had a view of the lofty tower of Juggernaut far remote; and while I viewed it, its abominations came to mind. It was on the morning of the Sabbath. Ruminating long on the wide and extended empire of Moloch in the heathen world, I cherished in my thoughts the design of some "Christian Institution," which being fostered by Britain, my Christian country, might gradually undermine this baleful idolatry, and put out the memory of it forever."

Annual Expenses of the Idol JUGGERNAUT, presented to the English Government.

[Extracted from the Official Accounts.]

1. Expenses attending the table of the idol
2. Ditto of his dress or wearing apparel
3. Ditto of the wages of his servants
4. Ditto of contingent expenses at the differ-

ent seasons of pilgrimage

Rupees. 1. sterling.

36,115 or 4,514

5. Ditto of his elephants and horses
6. Ditto of his rutt or annual state carriage

Rupees 69,616 1.8702

Manickpatam.

"In item third, "wages of his servants," are included the wages of the courtezans, who are kept for the service of the temple.

"Item sixth. What is here called in the official account "the state carriage," is the same as the car or tower. Mr. Hunter informed me that the three "state carriages" were decorated this year (in June 1806) with upwards of l. 200 sterling worth of English broadcloth and baize.

"Of the rites celebrated in the interior of Juggernaut called the Daily Service, I can say nothing of my own knowledge, not having been within the Temple."*

JUGGERNAUT IN BENGAL.

LEST it should be supposed that the rites of Juggernaut are confined to the Temple in Orissa, or that the Hindoos there practise a more criminal superstition than they do in other places, it may be proper to

The Temple of Juggernaut is under the immediate control of the English Government, who levy a tax on pilgrims as a source of revenue. See "A Regulation (by the Bengal Government) for levying a Tax from Pilgrims resorting to the Temple of Juggernaut, and for the Superintendance and Management of the Temple. Passed April 3, 1806."

The province of Orissa first became subject to the British Empire under the administration of the Marquis Wellesley, who permitted the pilgrims at first to visit Juggernaut without paying tribute. It was proposed to his Lordship, soon after, to pass the above Regulation for the management of the Temple, and levying the tax; but he did not approve of it, and actually left the Government without giving his sanction to the approbrious law. When the measure was discussed by the succeeding Government, it was resisted by George Udny, Esq. one of the Members of the Supreme Council, who recorded his solemn dissent on the proceedings of Government, for transmission to England. The other members considered Juggernaut to be a legitimate source of revenue, on the principle, I believe, that money from other temples in Hindostan had long been brought into the treasury. It is just that I should state that these gentlemen (though their opinion on this subject will differ so much from that of their countrymen at home) are men of the most honorable principles and of unimpeached integrity. Nor would any one of them, I believe (for I have the honor to know them) do any thing which he thought injurious to the honor or religion of his country. But the truth is this, that those persons who go to India in early youth, and witness the Hindoo customs all their life, seeing little at the same time of the Christian Religion to counteract the effect, are disposed to view them with complacency, and are sometimes in danger of at length considering them even as proper or necessary.

notice the effects of the same idolatry in Bengal. The English nation will not expect to hear that the blood of Juggernaut is known at Calcutta: but, alas, it is shed at the very doors of the English, almost under the eye of the Supreme Government. Moloch has many a tower in the province of Bengal, that fair and fertile province which has been called "The Garden of Nations." Close to Ishera, a beautiful villa on the river's side, about eight miles from Calcutta, once the residence of Governor Hastings, and within view of the present Governor-General's country-house, there is a temple of this idol which is often stained with human blood. At the festival of the Rutt Jattra in May 1807, the Author visited it, on his return from the South of India, having heard that its rites were similar to those of Juggernaut.

"Juggernaut's Temple, near Ishera, on the Ganges: "Rutt Juttra, May, 1807.

"The tower here is drawn along, like that at Juggernaut, by cables. The number of worshippers at this festival is computed to be about a hundred thousand. The tower is covered with indecent emblems, which were freshly painted for the occasion, and were the objects of sensual gaze by both sexes. One of the victims of this year was a well made young man, of healthy appearance and comely aspect. He had a garland of flowers round his neck, and his long black hair was dishevelled. He danced for a while before the idol, singing in an enthusiastic strain, and then rushing suddenly to the wheels, he shed his blood under the tower of obscenity. I was not at the spot at the time, my attention having been engaged by a more pleasing scene.

"On the other side, on a rising ground by the side of a Tank, stood the Christian Missionaries, and around them a crowd of people listening to their preaching. The town of Serampore, where the Protestant Mission