the society of Hindoos, all of good caste, and you will find them as faithful and as worthy of your friendship as any Moosulman; such, at least, has been my experience of them."
On the day of the Dasera the ceremony of my inauguration as a Thug commenced. I was bathed and dressed in new clothes which had never been bleached, and led by the hand by my father, who officiated as the Gooroo or spiritual director, and to whom seemed to be confided the entire direction of the ceremonies. I was brought into a room, where the leaders of the band I had before seen, were assembled sitting on a clean white cloth, which was spread in the centre of the apartment. My father then advancing towards them, asked them whether they were content to receive me as a Thug and a brother, to which they all answered, "We are."
I was then conducted into the open air, accompanied by the whole number, when my father, raising his hands and eyes to the sky, cried in a loud voice, "Oh Bhowanee! mother of the world! whose votaries we are, receive this thy servant—vouchsafe to him thy protection—to us, an omen which may assure us of thy consent."
