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THE PRACTICE OF SUTTEE to the fire and press their burning lips upon those of their lords." 1 Valerius Maximus, who flourished in Italy during the first Christian century, had to recog- nize, like Cicero, the undaunted courage of the Indian women, " who, although several are married to one WOMEN AT THE VILLAGE POND. man according to the custom of their country, never- theless engage in a struggle and contest, when their husband dies, as to which of them he loved the most. The victress, jubilant with exultation and escorted by her relatives, who wear a glad countenance, throws her- self into the flames of her husband's pyre and, as if exceedingly happy, is burned along with him; while those who are defeated remain in life with sadness and grief." 2 iPropertius, 4. 12. 15-22. 1 Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri, 2. 6. 14.