field had been Political Agent at Harauti;
Colonel Sutherland was Resident at Gwalior, and afterwards Agent in
Rajputana; Colonel (Sir C. M.) Wade had been Political Agent at
Ludiana; Major Borthwick was employed at Indore; Captain Paton was
Assistant Resident at Lucknow (see _Journey through Kingdom of Oudh_,
vol. ii, pp. 152-69).

Besides the officers above named, others are specified in
_Ramaseeana_ as having done good service.

_Note._--Mr. Crooke suggests, and, I think, correctly, that the words
_Megpunnia_ and _Megpunnaism_ (_ante_, note 20, and Bibliography No.
7) are corruptions of the Hindi _Mekh-phandiya_, from _mekh_, 'a
peg', and _phanda_, 'a noose', equivalent to the Persian _tasmabaz_,
meaning 'playing tricks with a strap'. Creagh, a private in a British
regiment at Cawnpore about 1803, is said to have initiated three men
into the peg and strap trick, as practised by English rogues. These
men became the leaders of three Tasmabaz Thug gangs, whose
proceedings are described by Mr. R. Montgomery in _Selections of the
Records of Government_, N.W.P., vol. i, p. 312. A strap is doubled
and folded up in different shapes. The art consists in putting in a
stick or peg in such a way that the strap when unfolded shall come
out double. The Tasmabaz Thugs seem to be identical with the
'Megpunnia' (_N.I.N.& Qu._, vol. i, p. 108, note 721, September
1891).

General Hervey records seven modern instances of strangulation by
Megpunnia Thugs in Rajputana (_Some Records of Crime_ (1867), vol. i,
pp. 126-31).

CHAPTER 14

Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal.

On the 29th[1] we came on to Patharia, a considerable little town
thirty miles from Sagar, supported almost entirely by a few farmers,
small agricultural capitalists, and the establishment of a native
collector,[2] On leaving Patharia, we ascend gradually along the side
of the basaltic hills on our left to the south for three miles to a
point whence we see before us this plane of basaltic cappings
extending as far as the eye can reach to the west, south, and north,
with frequent breaks, but still preserving one uniform level. On the
top of these tables are here and there little conical elevations of
laterite, or indurated iron clay.[3] The cappings everywhere repose
immediately upon the sandstone of the Vindhya range; but they have
occasional beds of lim