[186] This difficulty has been removed by recent legislation.--ED. [187] "An ass is sometimes sacrificed by religious mendicants, as an atonement for some fault by which they had forfeited their rank as devotees."--_Account of the Hindoos._ As the code of the ancient laws of Hindostan is not in the hands of every one, I shall here transcribe from the work the account of the Gentoo Institution of the _Aswamedha_ or the _Assummeed Jugg_,[188] that the reader may compare it with the Gipsy sacrifice of horses; for which, owing to its length, I must crave his indulgence. It is under the chapter of evidence, and is as follows: "An _Assummeed Jugg_ is when a person, having commenced a Jugg, writes various articles upon a scroll of paper on a horse's neck, and dismisses the horse, sending, along with the horse, a stout and valiant person, equipped with the best necessaries and accoutrements, to accompany the horse day and night, whithersoever he shall choose to go; and if any creature, either man, genius or dragon, should seize the horse, that man opposes such attempt, and, having gained the victory, upon a battle, again gives the horse his freedom. If any one in this world, or in heaven, or beneath the earth, would seize this horse, and the horse of himself comes to the house of the celebrator of the _Jugg_, upon killing that horse, he must throw the flesh of him upon the fire of the _Juk_, and utter the prayers of his Deity; such a _Jugg_ is called a _Jugg Assummeed_, and the merit of it, as a religious work, is infinite." _Page 127._ [188] Jugg, in Hindostanee, is a word which signifies a religious ceremony; hence the well-known temple Juggernaut.