A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE THUGS AND DACOITS, THE HEREDITARY GAROTTERS AND GANG-ROBBERS OF INDIA. BY JAMES HUTTON. LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN AND CO., 7, LEADENHALL STREET. 1857. Thugs and Thuggee. www THEY who reverence ancient descent, and a long line of ancestors, are bound to regard the Thugs with peculiar veneration. Perhaps, neither in Asia nor in Europe are there any other families that can date their origin from such remote antiquity. They are said to be sprung from the Sagartii, who contributed 8,000 horse to the army of Xerxes, and are thus described by Herodotus, in the Seventh Book of his History: "These people lead a pastoral life, were originally of Persian descent, and use the Persian language; their dress is something betwixt the Persian and the Pactyan; they have no offensive weapons, either of iron or brass, except their daggers; their principal dependence in action is on cords, made of twisted leather, which they use in this manner: when they engage an enemy, they throw out these cords, having a noose at the extremity if they entangle in these either : |