' OF THE MURDERERS ^5/ 



, I NOW proceed to notice various particulars, more fully illudratin* 

 the pradlices, habits, and charaBer ol" thefe GrioQiQals.-. 



It is not improbable that formerly- a long" ftfing;' with a runnings 

 noofe, might have been u fed by PWa«//^ari for - feizing travellers, antfl 

 that they robbed on horfeback. But, be this as it may, a noofe is now, . 

 1 believe, never thrown by themfrom a diftance, iri- this - part o£' India, 

 They fometim;s ufe a-Ihort rope,' with aloop at one end ; but a turban 

 or a dot'hi, (alongnarrow^ cloth, or^-fuch worn about the waift,) are 

 more commonly employed ; thefe ferve the purpofe as effeftuall}^ as a 

 regularly prepared noofe, with this advantage, that th6y do not tend to 

 excite fufpiciom When fucha cloth is ufed, itis, • previoufly to ap^ 

 plying it, doubkd to the length. of two, or two and .a half feet, and a 

 knot is formed at the. double extremity; and about eighteen inches 

 from it, a flip knot is tied.. In regulating the diftance of the two knots,- 

 fo thit the intervening fpace when tightly twifted,. ir.ay he adapted to 

 embrace the neck, the Fhdnsigar wlio. prepares the inflrument tries it 

 upon his own knee. The two knots giye the P'Adnsigars a firm- hold 

 of th-e cloth, and prevent is flipping through their hands in the 2.6: o£ 

 applying it. After the per fon they attack has been brought to the 

 ground, in the. manner already dcfcribed/the. ilip knoti&loofed by the 

 F^hdnsigar who has hold of that part of the cloth, and he makes another 

 fold of it round tha neck ; upon which^ placing Jiis foot, he draws tha» 

 cloth tight, in a manner fimilar to that (to ufe the cxpreflioa of my 

 F'Mnsig^dr'in^mmQr,) *• of packing .a bundle of lira w,". 



Sometimes thCi P'hinsigirs. hava not time,to obferve all the prccau*. 

 tions I have mentioned in cuttin^; and interring a body ; apprehenfions, 

 for their own fafety inducing them to leave it flightly buried. Some- 

 times, alfo,wh3n a. murder is perpetrated in a part of the counr^ 



