ir (fakeer), a religious mendicant. The word properly applies
to Muhammadans only, but is often laxly used to include Hindoo
ascetics.

15. So called because the poison they use is made of the seeds of the
'datura' plant (_Datura alba_), and other species of the same genus.
It is a powerful narcotic.

16. The crime of poisoning travellers is still prevalent, and its
detection is still attended by the difficulties described in the
text. In some cases the criminals have been proved to belong to
families of Thug stranglers. The poisoning of cattle by arsenic, for
the sake of their hides, was very prevalent forty years ago,
especially in the districts near Benares, but is now believed to be
less practised. It was checked under the ordinary law by numerous
convictions and severe sentences.

17. In the Saharanpur district, where the Ganges issues from the
hills.

18. A small principality in Rohilkhand, between Muradabad and
Bareilly (Bareli).

19. The special laws on the subject, namely: Acts xxx of 1836, xviii
of 1837, xix of 1837, xviii of 1839, xviii of 1843, xxiv of 1843, xiv
of 1844, v of 1847, x of 1847, iii of 1848, and xi of 1848, are
printed in pp. 353-7 of the author's _Report on Budhuk alias Bagree
Decoits, &c._ (1849). See Bibliography, _ante._ No. 12.

20. I may here mention the names of a few diplomatic officers of
distinction who have aided in the good cause. _Of the Civil Service_-
-Mr. F. C. Smith, Mr. Martin, Mr. George Stockwell, Mr. Charles
Fraser, the Hon. Mr. Wellesley, the Hon. Mr. Shore, the Hon. Mr.
Cavendish, Mr. George Clerk, Mr. L. Wilkinson, Mr, Bax; _Majors-
General_--Cubbon and Fraser; _Colonels_--Low, Stewart, Alves, Spiers,
Caulfield, Sutherland, and Wade; Major Wilkinson; and, among the
foremost, Major Borthwick and Captain Paton. [W. H. S.]

The author's characteristic modesty has prevented him from dwelling
upon his own services, which were greater than those of any other
officer. Some idea of them may be gathered from the collection of
papers entitled _Ramaseeana_, the contents of which are enumerated in
the Bibliography, _ante._ No. 2. Colonel Meadows Taylor has given a
more popular account of the measures taken for the suppression of
Thuggee (thagi) in his _Confessions of a Thug_, written in 1837 (1st
ed. 1839). The Thug organization dated from ancient times, but
attracted little notice from the East India Company's Government
until the author, then Captain Sleeman, submitted h