It is at this period only, when the body is subdued by the austerities which it has suffered, and the mind prepared by the religious obscurity and silence of the forest, that these girls are taught the customs and superstitions of their country: for till that grand period, they are not considered capable of understanding or practising them. At length the period of their retreat expires, and by this time the wound caused by the operation is nearly healed. They are taken back to the village at night, with the same secrecy as they were brought out: they are received by the young and old women entirely naked. In this state, forming an irregular kind of procession, and followed by persons with musical instruments, they parade through the streets by day-light. If during this ceremony a man be found looking at them, he is immediately put to death, unless he can furnish a slave. Their return from the wood is succeeded by a month of probation, during which time they are each day conducted in procession, accompanied by music and covered from head to foot, to the houses of the principal people, before which they sing and dance till the owner of each makes them a trifling present. When the month has expired they are liberated from all these ceremonies, and handed over to the men intended for their husbands. Neither the origin nor the motives of this ludicrous ceremony are known: but the women have such a veneration for it, that the most shocking of all insults is to reproach them for not having done it honour; and this reproach is even lavished on strangers, who may not have arrived amongst the tribe till after the period appointed for the operation. The other people, namely the Suzees, Bulams, Bagos, and Tommanies, are idolaters. It is impossible to form an accurate idea of their religion: they have no fixed object of adoration to which a religion that may be called natural, may be applied. Every man forms gods according to his inclination; and the ridiculous, rude, and numerous figures which they worship, are beyond all conception. The principal articles of their faith are, that there is a god who lives over their heads, governs all, and through whom every thing exists. Whatever happens to them, whether good or bad, is ordained by the deity, unless they attribute the events to magic; but this idea of an omnipresent providence is not accompanied by any return on their part, either of gratitude for its benefits, or of submission to allay its wrath by prayer.