'
When I passed this place on horseback with Lord William Bentinck, he
asked me what these tombs were, for he had never seen any of the kind
before. When I told him what they were, he said not a word; but he
must have felt a proud consciousness of the debt of gratitude which
India owes to the statesman who had the courage to put a stop to this
great evil, in spite of all the fearful obstacles which bigotry and
prejudice opposed to the measure. The seven European functionaries in
charge of the seven districts of the newly-acquired territories were
requested, during the administration of Lord Amherst in 1826, to
state whether the burning of widows could or should be prohibited;
and I believe every one of them declared that it should not. And yet,
when it was put a stop to only a few years after by Lord William, not
a complaint or murmur was heard. The replies to the Governor-
General's inquiries were, I believe, throughout India, for the most
part, opposed to the measure.[5]
On the 4th we came to Dhamoni, ten miles. The only thing remarkable
here is the magnificent fortress, which is built upon a small
projection of the Vindhya range, looking down on each side into two
enormously deep glens, through which the two branches of the Dasan
river descend over the tableland into the plains of Bundelkhand.
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