n about whose throat it might be
cast. She moreover commanded them to gash and bury the bodies of those
whom they destroyed.

The Phansiagars bring up their children to their own profession. To
learn this, the boy is placed under the care of a tutor. Sometimes his
father is his teacher. By him he is taught that it is just as proper to
murder a man, as it is to kill a snake which lies in his path and would
bite him as he passes. He is not permitted at first to see the murders,
but merely a dead body; his mind being gradually prepared for the sight.
After this, the dreadful secret of his trade is, by degrees, told him.
When he expresses a wish to be engaged in this horrid business, they
tell him all about it. In the meantime he is allowed a small part of the
plunder, in order that his desire to commit these murders may be
increased; since it is only by murder that the plunder is obtained. He
is from time to time allowed to assist in some things, while the murder
is taking place, or allowed to be present to see how the business is
managed. It is not, however, until he becomes a man, that he is
permitted to apply the noose. To attain this privilege, he usually
devotes eight or ten years. Before he can commit a murder, his tutor
must present him with a noose. This sets him loose upon the world, as a
licensed murderer. When the tutor is about to give him the noose, he
takes him apart, and solemnly enjoins it upon him to use it with skill,
as it is to be the means of his earning his food, and as his safety will
depend upon the skill with which it is used. After he receives it, he
tries his skill in strangling a person the first opportunity that
offers.

By the course of education which the Phansiagars undergo, they become so
fond of their dreadful occupation, that nothing can induce them to quit
it. Some who have been employed in the East India Company's service,
have always returned to their business when an opportunity offered of a
successful enterprise.

When the Phansiagars become old, they do not quit the service, but act
as watchers, and decoy the traveller, by some false tale of distress,
into some distant place, where he is murdered.

Women are sometimes admitted to the society of these plunderers, and,
on some occasions, are allowed to apply the noose. They select a
handsome girl, and place her in a convenient spot, where, by her beauty,
or by a false story of distress, she may decoy some unsuspecting
traveller,