did their order arise, and thus
originated their mode of operation.

The profession of a Thug, like almost everything in India, became
hereditary, the fraternity, however, receiving occasional
reinforcements from strangers, but these were admitted with great
caution, and seldom after they had attained mature age. The Thugs
were usually men seemingly occupied in most respectable and often in
most responsible positions. Annually these outwardly respectable
citizens and tradesmen would take the road, and sacrifice a multitude
of victims for the sake of their religion and pecuniary gain. The
Thug bands would assemble at fixed places of rendezvous, and before
commencing their expeditions much strange ceremony had to be gone
through. A sacred pickaxe was the emblem of their faith: its
fashioning was wrought with quaint rites and its custody was a matter
of great moment. Its point was supposed to indicate the line of route
propitious to the disciples of the goddess, and it was credited with
other powers equally marvellous. The brute creation afforded a vast
fund of instruction upon every proceeding. The ass, jackal, wolf,
deer, hare, dog, cat, owl, kite, crow, partridge, jay, and lizard,
all served to furnish good or bad omens to a Thug on the war-path.
For the first week of the expedition fasting and general discomfort
were insisted on, unless the first murder took place within that
period. Women were never murdered unless their slaughter was
unavoidable (i.e. when they were thought to suspect the cause of the
disappearance of their men-folk). Children of the murdered were often
adopted by the Thugs, and the boys were initiated in due course in
the horrid rites of Thuggee. Men skilled in the practice of digging
and concealing graves were always attached to each Thug gang. These
were able to prepare graves in anticipation of a murder, and to
effectually conceal all trace of the crime after they were occupied.
To assist the grave-diggers in this duty all roads used by Thugs had
selected places upon them at which murders were always carried out if
possible. The Thugs would speak of such places with the same
affection and enthusiasm as other men would of the most delightful
scenes of their early life.
It was these people, versed in deceit and surrounded by a thousand
obstacles to conviction, that General Sir W. H. Sleeman so nobly set
out to exterminate. Within seven years of his first commencing the
suppression of Thuggee it