Harkness, Henry: A description of a singular aboriginal race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatoor, in the Southern Peninsula of India (London, 1832)

FUNERAL SACRIFICE. 49

aid our imperfect knowledge of the rites that were here
performed, that a more than common gloom hung over
us, heightened no doubt by the silence, almost breathless,
that pervaded this sequestered vale.

At one extremity of the green was a single hut, and
near to it, a strongly walled area sufficiently spacious
to contain a large herd. At the opposite extremity
were seven posts, in a line one with another, with a
space between them of about ten or eleven feet, and
all around were strewed the bones and horns of buffaloes;
the bones were principally those of the head, having
the horns still adhering to them.

From the green, our guide conducted us by an almost
impervious path, to a recess in the adjoining wood, the
place appropriated for raising the funeral pile. At a
short distance lay a decayed bier, and from among the
ashes and charcoal which formed a little heap in the
centre, we picked up several human bones which had
passed through the fire.

It was noon day, but the number, and the ample
foliage of the trees, almost entirely excluded the light, so
that we had but an imperfect view of objects, and while
we were still contemplating the black and deadened ap-
pearance of those nearest to us, a chorus of voices, so-
lemn and mournful, and then a rush, as of a multitude
forcing their way through the wood, engrossed our whole
attention.