PLATE m.
reached our destination, and Kellner’s handsome hotel
opened its hospitable gates; here I enjoyed a few days
repose.
My first visit was to the School of. Industry, at the
time a Thug establishment, or reformatory for the
approvers, and the children, of certain convicted
assassins, belonging to a hereditary sect of fanatics,
now happily extinct, with the exception of a few individuals
still within its prison walls. One or two old
men were pointed out to me, in whose features it was
not difficult to recognize their savage cut-throat character.
(Plate III.)
A few lines on the subject of Thuggeeism may interest
some of my readers, and I promise to be as brief
as possible.
At first, perhaps a century ago, for there is no
authentic record as to its first appearance, Hindus only
were of this dread fraternity, whose emblem, a pickaxe,
used to accompany them upon their expeditions.
They were worshippers of the goddess Kali, wife of
Seva, representing the destroying element, whose
favour her devotees propitiated by human sacrifice.
Later the no less superstitious Moslem, tempted by the
prospect of rich plunder, took up the trade,, and frequently
even joined bands organized by those' of the