The Virginia Gazette

Though the barbarous Custom among the Pagans, of burying the living Wives with their dead Husbands, in the East-Indies, has been for many Years, under Severe Penalties, prohibited by the Great Mogul, and other Mahometan Princes in that Quarter of the Globe; yet they have not been able to suppress it entirely, and the following is an Instance which lately happened. The Writer of the Letter, from which the Account is extracted, was an Eye-witness of the whole Affair at Collicuta, in Bengal (the most easterly Province of the Mogul's Dominions in India).

"The naked Body of a dead Gentoo Man was laid on a Pile of Wood, made up in a regular Form; and his Wife, not above 25 or 26 Years of Age, walked to the Pile, conducted by her Priest and Parents, her Father on one Side, and her Mother on the other. After a great Number of previous Ceremonies were performed, she walked round the Pile seven or eight Times; in a melancholy and devout Manner, conducted as before, by her Father and Mother, she then stepped upon the Pile, and quietly laid herself down by the Corpse of her Husband, about whose Neck her Hands were fastened, and her Legs tied to his; then both their Bodies were anointed with a Sort of Unguent, called Ghee; over them was strewed a Sort of yellow Dust, and they were covered with a Cloth, which was kept down by Some Pieces of Wood. At last the Father of the deceased Husband set Fire to the Pile, which ran through it like Lightning, by Means of the yellow Powder. And the Spectators were obliged to draw backward from the Heat. The whole was consumed to Ashes in about an Hour's Time."

The above Letter came home with one of the last Ships from the East-Indies; was dated from Inglee, in Bengal December 20, 1751, and the horrid Deed of Cruelty was committed about 15 Days before the Date of the Letter.