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THUGS AND DACOITS.




A

POPULAR ACCOUNT

OF THE

THUGS AND DACOITS,

THE

HEREDITARY GAROTTERS

AND

GANG-ROBBERS

OF

INDIA.

BY

JAMES HUTTON.

LONDON:
WM. H. ALLEN AND CO., 7, LEADENHALL STREET.

1857.




LONDON:
W. LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, FINCH LANE, CORNHILL.




Thugs and Thuggee.


They who reverence ancient descent, and a long line of ancestors, are
bound to regard the Thugs with peculiar veneration. Perhaps, neither
in Asia nor in Europe are there any other families that can date their
origin from such remote antiquity. They are said to be sprung from the
Sagartii, who contributed 8,000 horse to the army of Xerxes, and are
thus described by Herodotus, in the Seventh Book of his History:--

"These people lead a pastoral life, were originally of Persian descent,
and use th