It is the existence of such customs which renders the operations of the Thugs so practicable. They often wait at or near serais or towns where travellers usually rest, and some of the gang enter the serais, and the towns and villages, to ascertain if any travellers are there, or if any persons are about to take a journey. The Sothaees, or inveiglers, then proceed to induce the travellers to accompany them, on pretence of affording protection; or if the travellers be numerous, the Thugs will, by small parties, ask permission to join them, alleging the same reason. "Skilled in the art of deception, they enter into conversation, and insinuate themselves by obsequious attentions into the confidence of travellers of all descriptions, to learn from them whence they come; whither, and for what purpose, they are journeying; and of what property they are possessed."* When they think a traveller worth robbing, the next point is to carry their operations into effect. Should their place of encampment be deemed a convenient and sufficiently retired spot, the murder is usually perpetrated just before dusk. While all are employed, either in cooking their evening meal or preparing for their night's rest upon the ground, the stranglers and assistant-stranglers, called Bhurtote and Shumshea, take up their positions respectively near each traveller; scouts are sent out to watch at a little distance from the encampment, that no one approaches; the signal is given, the twisted cloth is thrown by the strangler round the neck of each victim, who is held by the assistant, and in a few seconds all is over! Others dig the grave; and the bodies are deposited, after being cut open, which, they say, prevents them from swelling and cracking the earth above; for in this case the smell, by attracting the jackals to dig up the body, might lead to detection. Should it be in a frequented place, they light fires over the spot to hide the appearance of the earth being newly moved; if it is lonely and retired, they will perhaps leave the bodies as they lie, or hide them loosely under a heap of stones; sometimes the limbs are disjointed, in order to pack the bodies closer, when they have several to dispose of.

The mode of proceeding occasionally varies, and they not unfrequently murder the travellers as they are walking along the road, i. e. when the encamping place is not considered convenient. In this case, one or more of the gang are sent on overnight to select a fit spot for the murder, and often to dig the graves beforehand. The travellers are then induced to set off before daybreak, either to avoid the heat, or on some other pretence: as they walk along, the stranglers aud their assistants attach themselves to their respective victims, generally chatting

See Appendix, p. 332.

with them in the most friendly way. At the proper spot the signal is given; the unfortunate travellers are strangled, stripped of whatever they possess, and disposed of in the ready-made graves. So admirably arranged is their system, that they will simultaneously murder thirty or forty travellers at once! On one occasion, a party of sixty people, consisting of fifty-two men, seven women, and a boy of four years old, were, all but the child, simultaneously strangled, as they were travelling along the road, although many of them were on horseback, and well armed.See Text, p. 209, and Appendix, p. 107.

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The Thugs have a cant or slang language, understood by themselves alone; and a variety of signs and signals, by which they can discover members of the fraternity, although personally strangers to each other. Their mode of salutation would pass with the uninitiated for the ordinary expression, but a Thug immediately understands it as coming from a brother: and as the very use of cant language, called by the Hindostannee Thugs Ramasee," might sometimes excite suspicion in the intended victims, to obviate this the Thugs have attached their own peculiar meanings to certain phrases of hourly use. The signal for murder, for instance, is usually," Give me some tobacco." “Go and clean the cooking pots," is the word to search for a bail, or proper spot for the murder. They have also signs, consisting of mere ordinary motions of the head or hand; coughing in a peculiar way, &c.

Drawing the back of the hand along the chin, from the throat outwards, implies that caution is requisite that some stranger is approaching. Putting the open hand over the mouth, and drawing it gently down, implies that there is no longer cause for alarm. If an advanced party of Phansigars overtake any travellers whom they design to destroy, but have need of more assistance, they make certain marks on the roads, by which those of the gang who follow understand that they are required to basten forwards. A party in advance also leaves certain marks where a road branches off, as intimations to those who follow of the route their comrades have taken."-See App. p. 345.

In some instances, they will actually make their destined victims. carry the message and signal which occasions their own destruction. When a party of Thugs, in advance, have got with them some travellers whom they intend to murder, but who are as many as they can manage, should they meet with others worth robbing, they will request these to carry a message to Bajeed Khan (a common name), and others of the party, who are behind, requesting them to hasten on. The Thugs in the rear, on receiving this message, understand by it that the coast is clear in advance, and the travellers who deliver it are worth plundering: they immediately attach themselves to them for that purpose.

The confidence which these miscreants exhibit in the course of their infernal vocation, is not one of their least remarkable features they will sometimes murder travellers who had been persuaded to join their party, when encamped within a few yards of a village, or of another encampment of travellers. A remarkable instance of this occurred at the village of Lucknadown, between Nagpoor and Jubulpoor. A moonshee (secretary to a native chief) was travelling with his wife and children, several servants and attendants, besides horses, and was joined by a party of Thugs, who accompanied him for several days, treating him with attention, and some of them every evening singing and playing on the guitar for his amusement. The whole party were encamped close to the above village; and within a few yards of them, on the other side, quite within hearing, were some officers' servants, employed in pitching the advance-tents of a native regiment, which was expected next morning. Although it was not a very convenient spot for the murder, the Thugs determined to perpetrate it, fearing the moonshee might escape them by accompanying the regiment; and, as described by the man who turned approver,

"The tent-pitchers were all busily occupied in pitching the tents. Noor Khan, and his son Sadee Khan, and a few others, went as soon as it became dark to the moonshee's tent, and began to sing and play upon the guitar, as they had been accustomed to do. During this time, some of them took up the moonshee's sword, on pretence of wishing to look at it. His wife and children were within, listening to the music. The Jhirnee, or signal, was given, but at this moment the moonshee saw his danger; called out murder!' and attempted to rush through, but was seized and strangled. His wife hearing him, ran out, with the infant in her arms, but was seized by Ghubboo Khan, who strangled her and took the infant. The other daughter was strangled in the tent. The grooms were at the time cleaning their horses, and one of them, taking the alarm, ran under the belly of his horse and called out' murder!' but he was treated in like manner, as well as all the rest of his companions."

The murderer who took the infant had intended to adopt it, but on one of the gang urging that it might lead to discovery, it was thrown alive upon the other bodies, and the grave was closed.*

We have said that there is nothing in their appearance to distinguish Thugs from ordinary individuals. It might be expected that men who spend their whole lives in the commission of such atrocities, would acquire a peculiar or ferocious cast of countenance; but of the hundreds of Thugs it has been our lot to see we can recollect but one whose aspect exhibited any thing remarkable, and he had certainly an expression of mingled cun

They abhor bloodshed, (even in self-defence,) considering it Murder, and repel any imputations of this, or of Theft.

ning and ferocity, which would have attracted the notice even of a casual observer. They are adepts at various disguises, and it is the apparently gentle and winning manners of those who are employed on that part of the duty which enables them to entice travellers to join them; so much so, that they even frequently persuade people who have already taken up their abode for the night in a serai, to quit the shelter, and to join the Thug camp at a little distance. Some of the gangs are found in situations where they would never be suspected. One of the most noted of them in the south of India, opened a linen-draper's shop in the military cantonments of Hingotee, where he was considered one of the most respectable men of the place. A list of the most notorious Thugs in that part was sent to Captain Reynolds, with directions to arrest them, and approvers to point them out:

"On hearing that the Huree Sing of the list sent to him of noted Thugs at large in the Duckun, was the Huree Sing of the Sudder Bazaar, Captain Reynolds was perfectly astounded; for so correct had he been in his deportment and all his dealings, that he had quite won the esteem of all the gentlemen of the station, who used to assist him in procuring passports for his goods on their way to Bombay; and yet he had, as he has himself since shown, been carrying on his trade of murder up to the very day of his arrest, with the gangs of Hindustan and the Duckun, on all the roads around, and close to, the cantonments of Hingoke; and leading out his gangs of assassins, while he pretended to be on his way to Bombay for a supply of Irish linens and broad-cloth.”—Ibid. p. 35. Captain Reynolds had for several years, up to this time, had the civil charge of the district of Hingotee, without having had the slightest suspicion of the numerous murders that he has now discovered to have been every year perpetrated within his jurisdiction. Yet nothing was more true, as this man's own confession, besides the evidence against him, afterwards fully proved."-Ibid.

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The noted approver Ferringhea, was for several years in the service of Sir David Ochterlony as a jemadar; a sort of sergeant in command of the armed attendants of a great man: but a more remarkable instance we are enabled to adduce from the official documents already alluded to. A man, named Dhunnee Khan, had for a while been a sergeant of police in the district of Mynpoorie. So high was the opinion entertained of him by the magistrates, that in 1822, on the occasion of Soorawun, a noted Thug, and several others, having escaped from gaol, Dhunnee Khan, assisted by two constables, was selected to trace and apprehend the fugitives. He was furnished with a general warrant and letter, addressed to all British authorities, and ordered to proceed through Bundelcund and Central India. This man, as it afterwards appeared, had been in league with a numerous body of Thugs who resided in that part, but had contrived to

obtain the high estimation in which he was held by the magistrate, by apparent zeal, and by occasionally arresting insulated Thugs, who were for some reason or other obnoxious to his own gang. On receiving the warrant, he immediately collected this gang and many others, increasing his numbers as he proceeded until they amounted to a hundred and fifteen, and started on a Thug expedition. In the course of it they murdered thirty-two people and collected considerable plunder. The sergeant had apprehended Soorawun, and put him in irons as a blind, in the event of being questioned on the road. Near Jubulpoor they were arrested upon the charge of an informer; but the sergeant and constables showed their badges of office, warrants, and other documents, pointed to the prisoner in irons, explained that some of those who accompanied him were relations and friends, anxious to distinguish themselves and obtain service, (a common custom in India when police are ordered on a hazardous duty,) while the rest passed for travellers; and, in short, so far deceived Mr. Molony, the Commissioner at Jubulpoor, that he ordered their release. They were, however, subsequently retaken, and eventually punished, as will be hereafter mentioned. It was this gang that murdered the moonshee's party, as already detailed.

It would be supposed a mockery to mention religion in connection with such atrocities, but the demon of superstition has perhaps the principal share in their commission: in this instance it is clothed in a female form, the goddess Bhawanee, whom they believe to preside over their proceedings, and to be pleased with the sacrifice of the victims.

"Of Thugs from all quarters of India, from Lodheeana to the Carnatic, and from the Indus to the Ganges, there is not one among them who doubts the divine origin of the system of Thugghee; not one who doubts that he and all who have followed the trade of murder with the prescribed rites and observances, were acting under the immediate orders and auspices of the goddess Devee, Doorgah, Kalee, or Bhawanee, as she is indifferently called; and, consequently, there is not one who feels the slightest remorse for the murders which he may, in the course of his vocation, have perpetrated or assisted in perpetrating. A Thug considers the persons murdered precisely in the light of victims offered up to the goddess; and he remembers them as a priest of Jupiter remembered the oxen, and a priest of Saturn the children sacrificed upon their altars. He meditates his murders without any misgivings; he commits them without any emotions of pity; and he remembers them without any feelings of remorse. They trouble not his dreams, nor does their recollection ever cause him inquietude in darkness, in solitude, or in the hour of death."—p. 7.

They have a variety of ceremonies and omens, which they observe both on setting out on an expedition and during its conti