March, 1848. MIRZAPORE. 65 



There is little native vegetation, the country being 

 covered with cultivation and extensive groves of mango, and 

 occasionally of guava. English vegetables are abundant 

 and excellent, and the strawberries, which ripen in March, 

 rival the European fruit in size, but hardly in flavour. 



During the few days spent at Mirzapore with my kind 

 friend, Mr. C. Hamilton, I was surprised to find the 

 temperature of the day cooler by nearly 4° than that of the 

 hills above, or of the upper part of the Soane valley ; while on 

 the other hand the nights were decidedly warmer. The dew- 

 point again was even lower in proportion, (7-|°) and the 

 climate consequently drier. The atmosphere was extremely 

 dry and electrical, the hair constantly crackling when 

 combed. Further west, where the climate becomes still 

 drier, the electricity of the air is even greater. Mr. Griffith 

 mentions in his journal that in filling barometer tubes in 

 Affghanistan, he constantly experienced a shock. 



Here I had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant 

 Ward, one of the suppressors of Thuggee {Thuggee, in 

 Hindostan, signifies a deceiver ; fraud, not open force, 

 being employed). This gentleman kindly showed me 

 the approvers or king's evidence of his establishment, 

 belonging to those three classes of human scourges, the 

 Thug, Dakoit, and Poisoner. Of these the first was the 

 Thug, a mild-looking man, who had been born and bred to 

 the profession : he had committed many murders, saw no 

 harm in them, and felt neither shame nor remorse. His 

 organs of observation and clestructiveness were large, and 

 the cerebellum small. He explained to me how the gang 

 waylay the unwary traveller, enter into conversation with 

 him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior 

 throws his own linen girdle round the victim's neck and 

 strangles him, pressing the knuckles against the spine. 



VOL. I. F 



