128 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
to be the means of his future subsistence, and as his 
safety will depend upon the dexterity and judgment 
with which it is employed. The moment he receives 
the dhoute he is released from all restriction, and tries 
his skill at strangulation the next opportunity that 
offers. 
The veneration which the Phansigar entertains for 
the person by whom he has been initiated into the 
abominable mysteries of their vocation, continues 
through life. Whenever he meets him, after a long ab- 
sence, he touches his feet, as a mark of profound respect ; 
frequently divides with him the plunder which he has 
obtained in many successful excursions ; and when his 
tutor becomes old and helpless, he provides for him 
with an anxiety worthy of a better state, until death 
removes him beyond the influence of his anxiety or 
the need of his care. 
The course of education which the Phansigar un- 
dergoes is so progressive and so exciting ; such expecta- 
tions are held out, and such advantages anticipated ; 
the spirit of emulation is so successfully roused, and 
the field of adventure so attractively portrayed, gra- 
dually winning the heart to a love of that by which 
our common nature is shocked and repelled, and 
warping it by gentle degrees to the most revolting 
prepossessions, as to cause in the members of this 
singular community such an intense attachment to 
their detestable occupation — that nothing can induce 
them to relinquish it. Although some of them have 
been employed in the Company’s armies, they have 
never entirely abandoned their original mode of life. 
