of Nodha, took the money, but that very day his only son and the best horse in his stable died, and he was himself taken ill and died soon after a miserable death.

Nasir.-Ah Davey took care of you then, and why? Was it not because you were more attentive to her orders?

Zolfukar.—Yes; we had then some regard for religion. We have lost it since. All kinds-of men have been made Thugs, and all classes of people murdered, without distinction, and little attention has been paid to omens. How after this could we expect to escape?

Nasir.-Be assured that Davey never forsook us till we neglected her.

Q.-Do you know of any instance of her punishing a man for annoying Thugs in the Duckun?

Sahib Khan.-A great many. The Raja of Kundul, some ninety cose east from Hydrabad, arrested all the Thugs in his Raj for some murders they had committed. For three successive nights the voice of Davey was heard from the top of every temple in the capital, warning the Raja to release them. The whole town heard her, and urged the Raja to comply. He was obstinate, and the third night the bed on which he and his ranee were sleeping was taken up by Davey and dashed violently against the ground.

Q-Were they killed?

Nasir.-They were not killed, but they were dreadfully bruised; and had they not released the Thugs, they would certainly have been killed the next night.

Q.-Were any of you present?

Sahib Khan.-Our fathers were, and we heard it from them. It occurred sixty years ago.

Q.-And do you think that the chiefs have still the same dread of punishing Thugs in all parts of India?

Sahib.-Certainly not in all parts; because in many they have been suffered to punish them with impunity on account of their neglect of rules and

omens.

Morlee.-There is no fear now. They are every where seized and punished with impunity; there is no resisting your Ikbal (good fortune).

Dorgha.-The Company's Ikbal is such that before the sound of your drums, sorcerers, witches and demons take flight, and how can Thuggee stand.

Davey Deen. Thuggee! why it is gone; there are not fifty Aseel Thugs, (Thugs of good birth) left between the Ganges and Jumna.

Chotee Brahman. And not more than that number of all our old clans of Gwalior and Bundelcund; but the Sooseas of Rajpootana have been untouched, and much is to be done about Delhie and Puteeala.

Q.-But Nasir and Sahib Khan think that it can never be suppressed in the Duckun?

Nasir.-I think it never can.

I say

Sahib Khan.-I do not say it never can. only that the country is very large; that in every one of the five districts there are hundreds of Aseel Thugs, who are staunch to their oath, and attentive to their usages; that the country is every where intersected by the jurisdiction of native chiefs who cannot be easily persuaded to assist.

Nasir.-Assist! why when we go into their districts after a Thug we are every instant in danger of our lives. I got nearly killed with all the guard lately when close upon the heels of a gang,

and when I complained to Captain Reynolds, he told me that we must consent to bear these drubbings on account of the Company, or I could be of no use to him in such a country as that!

Q. And you think that all these obstacles are not to be overcome?

Nasir.-I think not.

Q.-That is, you think an institution formed by Davey, the Goddess, cannot be suppressed by the hand of man?

Nasir. Certainly, I think so.

Q-But you think that no man is killed by man's killing, "admeeke marne se koee murta nuheen;" that all who are strangled are strangled, in effect, by God.

Nasir. Certainly.

Q.-Then by whose killing have all the Thugs who have been hung at Saugor and Jubulpore been killed?

Nasir.-God's of course.

Q.-You think that we could never have caught and executed them but by the aid of God. Nasir.-Certainly not.

Q.-Then you think so far we have been assisted by God in what we have done?

Nasir.-Yes.

Q.-And you are satisfied that we should not have ventured to do what we have done unless we were assured that our God was working with us, or rather that we were the mere instruments in his hands?

Nasir.-Yes, I am.

Q. Then do you not think that we may go on with the same assurance till the work we have in hand is done; till in short, the system of Thuggee is suppressed?

Nasir.-God is almighty.

Q.-And there is but one God?

Nasir.-One God above all Gods.

Q.-And if that God above all Gods supports us, we shall succeed?

Nasir.-Certainly.

Q.-Then we are all satisfied that he is assisting us, and therefore hope to succeed even in the Duckun?

Nasir.-God only knows.

Sahib Khan.-If God assists, you will succeed; but the country is large and favourable, and the gangs are numerous and well organized.

Q-So was the country we have already gone over. How many Thug leaders from Sindouse after Mr. Halhed and Mr. Stockwell's attacks came and settled in the Saugor and Nurbudda districts?

Shiekh Inayat.-My father Hinga Jemadar and his three sons, two of whom were hung at Saugor the year before last, came to Lowa, a village between Dhamonee and Khimlassa in Saugor; my younger brother Dhurum Khan was born after my father's death; his mother could not, and my wife nursed him. We were joined by Monowur Musulman, Niddee and Mungoa Brahmans, Lulloo and his sons.

Q.-And how many noted Thugs and the gangs they formed are still at large.

Sheikh Inayat.-Since I was taken in 1829, these have all been seized, and have been hung or transported or are now in jail. Two of my brothers have been hung. My youngest is now here. The men whom they made Thugs have also been taken, and there are only five or six that we know of. There are Bahadur Chabukaswur, Kuseea

Kirar, Bodhooa, son of another Bahadur: these are new Thugs; but they proved themselves good ones. There are Kadir and Poosoo, adopted sons of Imamee, the son of Mirja Musulman. These Thugs are at large in the district of Seonee or Nursingpore. We know of no others.

Q.--Do you think that if we persevere, we shall be able to do in the Duckun what we have done here, and in the Dooab?

Inaent.-No doubt.

Sahib Khan.-It will be a work of greater difficulty. Half or three-quarters of these gangs were Kuboolas. In the Duckun they are almost all composed entirely of Burkas-men well born, staunch and able; above all the men of Arcot.

Feringeea. And the Hindoo Thugs of Talghat upon the Krishna river?

Sahib Khan.-Yes; they are extraordinary

men.

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Feringeea. They have three painted lines on their foreheads extending up from a central point at the nose. I served with them once for two months.

Sahid Khan.-Yes; they have these lines.

Q.--But do not all Hindoos in that quarter wear the same marks?

Sahib Khan.-All Hindoos put them on occasionally, but they always wear them. They and the Arcot Thugs associate and act together; but they will never mix with us of Telingana..

Q. What are they called?

Sahib Khan.-We call them the Talghat men. What they call themselves I know not.

Q.-Sahib Khan tells tells me that the Arcot men will not intermarry with the descendants from