1836.] 



Customs and practices of the Thugs* 



occasionally the most valuable shawls and brocades are torn into small 

 strips, and distributed among the gang, should any difference of opi- 

 nion arise as to their appropriation. The Thugs say this is also done, 

 that every person may run the same risk ; for such an article could not 

 be shared among them, until converted into money, and some danger is 

 attendant upon the transaction. They appear invariably to destroy all 

 Hoondees that fall into their hands, as well as many other articles, that 

 are likely to lead to detection. Ready money is what they chiefly look 

 for, and, when they have a chance of victims, the possessors of gold 

 and silver w r ould certainly be fixed upon, in preference to others. In 

 consequence, it seems to have been a general practice, among the 

 Bundlecund Thugs, to waylay the parties of sepoys of the Bombay 

 and Nizam's armies, while going on leave to Hindustan, for the sake 

 of the specie they are usually the bearers of; and they remark that, of 

 the many sepoys who are supposed by their officers to have aban- 

 doned the service, while their friends and relatives consider them to be 

 still with their regiments, they alone can tell their fate, the whole 

 number having been strangled by their hands. 



The immense wealth that has, at various times, fallen into the hands 

 of these miscreants, has been expended in the grossest extravagance 

 and debauchery, and, as may be supposed, their ill-gotten gains remain 

 but a short time in their possession. 



The Thugs have in use among them, not exactly a language of their 

 own, but sets of slang terms and phrases, which give them the means 

 of holding a conversation with persons of their own class, without any 

 chance of being understood by the uninitiated. 



Their term of salutation, whereby also they recognize each other, if 

 they casually meet, without being personally acquainted, is AH Khan 

 Bhaee Salam. That w T hich appears most extraordinary, is the manner 

 in which the Thugs recollect the names of their comrades, as well as 

 their persons, and they declare that, though the name of any one of a 

 gang may have escaped their recollection, they never forget the per- 

 son of a Thug who has assisted with them in the perpetration of a 

 murder. The Thugs, indeed, seem to know each other almost instinc- 

 tively, and the quickness, with which the recognition between indivi- 

 duals takes place, is so surprising, as to indicate a sort of free-masonry 

 having been established among them. 



To facilitate their plan of operations, the Thugs have established a 

 regular system of intelligence and communication, throughout the 

 countries they have been in the practice of frequenting ; and they be- 

 come acquainted, with astonishing celerity, with the proceedings of 

 their comrades in all directions. They omit no opportunity of making 

 inquiries regarding the progress of other gangs, and are equally parti- 

 cular in supplying the requisite information of their own movements, 



