o brand these life convicts with a hot iron to indicate the
character of their crime, and this was in some cases done upon the
forehead both in the English language and in the vernacular of the
district where the crime was committed. This was very properly put a
stop to shortly after the custom became known. We have seen some of
those in our jail who, by good conduct, have risen to a ticket of leave,
using their utmost endeavours to get rid of the marks, but without
effect; and finally as a last resource they were obliged to be content
to hide the "stigma" by wearing their turbans, or head-dresses,
inconveniently low down over their brows.

It is worthy of remark here, in reference to those native criminals who
are in the habit of working in gangs, more especially among the Thugs,
how signally they often fail when they attempt to act alone. Amongst our
Thugs we had one (a strangler) who, coveting a pair of gold bangles on
the wrist of a fellow-convict employed at the General Hospital, one
night tried the handkerchief upon him, but missed his mark, and got away
without being detected. Later on, the convict authorities examined the
warrants of all the men at the hospital, and this gave them a clue,
which they followed up successfully and caught the "Thug." He was
punished, and then confessed, saying, "Bhawani was unkind, and I could
not do it by myself; I missed my companions," or "saubutwale" as he
called them, literally meaning those "I kept company with."

It will not be inappropriate to mention here the callous and brutalized
nature of those gang-robbers, of whom it is recorded that, when one of
their gang was suddenly arrested, they at once decapitated him, and
carried off the head, lest the whole gang should be betrayed.

Chapter II

A SLIGHT SKETCH OF PENANG AND THE TREATMENT OF THE CONVICTS THERE

Penang, also named "Prince of Wales" Island as a compliment to the then
Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. This name for the island has
become almost obsolete, and the Malay name Pi'nang, for the "Areka
Palm," which flourishes there, is that by which it is now always known.
It is situated at the northern extremity of the Malacca Straits, and was
ceded to us by the Rajah of Kedah in 1785, when we gave up, but only for
a time, our British settlement on the North Andaman, which we had
acquired in 1789 and abandoned in 1796. Province Wellesley, opposite to
Penang, upon the Malay Peninsula, was thirteen years