aken such a person for a madman, or one who had been imposed upon
by idle tales. And yet nothing could be truer; hundreds of travellers
had been buried every year in the groves of Mundesoor; a whole tribe
of assassins lived close to my door, at the very time I was supreme
magistrate of the province, and extended their devastations to the
cities of Poonah and Hyderabad. I shall never forget, when, to convince
me of the fact, one of the chiefs of the Stranglers, who had turned
informer against them, caused thirteen bodies to be dug up from the
ground beneath my tent, and offered to produce any number from the soil
in the immediate vicinity.'(5)

"These few words of Colonel Sleeman will give some idea of this dread
society, which has its laws, duties, customs, opposed to all other
laws, human and divine. Devoted to each other, even to heroism,
blindly obedient to their chiefs, who profess themselves the immediate
representatives of their dark divinity, regarding as enemies all who do
not belong to them, gaining recruits everywhere by a frightful system of
proselytising--these apostles of a religion of murder go preaching their
abominable doctrines in the shade, and spreading their immense net over
the whole of India.

"Three of their principal chiefs, and one of their adepts, flying from
the determined pursuit of the English governor-general, having succeeded
in making their escape, had arrived at the Straits of Malacca, at no
great distance from our island; a smuggler, who is also something of a
pirate, attached to their association, and by name Mahal, took them on
board his coasting vessel, and brought them hither, where they think
themselves for some time in safety--as, following the advice of the
smuggler, they lie concealed in a thick forest, in which are many ruined
temples and numerous subterranean retreats.

"Amongst these chiefs, all three remarkably intelligent, there is one
in particular, named Faringhea, whose extraordinary energy and eminent
qualities make him every way redoubtable. He is of the mixed race,
half white and Hindoo, has long inhabited towns in which are European
factories and speaks English and French very well. The other two chiefs
are a Negro and a Hindoo; the adept is a Malay.

"The smuggler, Mahal, considering that he could obtain a large reward
by giving up these three chiefs and their adept, came to me, knowing, as
all the world knows, my intimate relations with a person who has great
i