generally a small bag of beetel nut and paun. Their leaders, or jemadars, frequently assumed the garb and bearing of wealthy merchants, and had four or five attendants to cook for them, hand the hookah, clean their pony, and do other menial offices, while the rest of the gang followed in small parties, not to excite suspicion, but closed up rapidly when the signal was passed along. The true Hindostanee Thugs, however, professed to look down upon those of Arcot, and refused to intermarry with them. The latter retorted, that the others could have no pretensions to high birth, for at their marriages the matrons, as they threw down the _toolsee_, were wont to exclaim, "Here's to the spirits of those (Qulunders), who once led bears and monkeys; to those who drove bullocks, and marked with the _godnee_ (kunjurs, or gipsies); and to those who made baskets for the head." But this was explained by the necessity of assuming disguises, in the first place, to escape from Delhi, and afterwards for carrying on their terrible vocation. There was certainly one very low Hindoo class, the _Sooseeas_, but calling themselves _Naeks_ and _Thories_, with whom the others associated with reluctance. These chiefly confined themselves to Malwa and Rajpootana, travelling as merchants, with their leader indulging in a hackery or palanquin. Sometimes they disguised themselves as Sepoys, or as treasure-bearers. The most exclusive clan were the Chingurees, or Mooltanee Thugs, who practised female infanticide to a frightful extent. They preserved alive only a sufficient number to provide wives for the members of their own clan. They were allowed to be an ancient tribe, and were much respected by the inferior associations with whom they had nothing in common, except the dialect peculiar to all Thugs. They usually travelled with their families as Brinjarees, with bullocks and cows laden with goods, and strangled their victims with a bullock's rope. A colony of about one hundred families was settled at Hingolee. A very clever and staunch tribe, known as the Jumaldehee Thugs, settled in Oude, who prudently kept their wives in ignorance of the true nature of their pursuits, nor did they initiate their sons till they had reached the age of puberty. When they sallied forth on their expeditions, they left a certain number of their men at home, to take care of the women and children, and to these they allotted a full share of their spoils. The Brinjaree Thugs were especially fortunate in escaping detection, or even suspicion, by reason of their nomade habits, which rendered it extremely difficult to trace any particular crime to them. They were consequently enabled to amass considerable riches, though they seldom renounced their wandering life. A Thug approver told the late Major-General Sleeman, that on one occasion he and his party fell in with a company of merchants from the westward, who were encamped near Jyepore, and wore exceedingly high turbans.