temples till he dies, which is usually in a minute. They never commit a
murder until they have taken every precaution not to be found out. They
will follow a traveller for weeks, if necessary, before they destroy
him. After they have murdered him, they gash the body all over and bury
it. They gash it, that it may not swell, and cause cracks to take place
in the ground, which might cause the jackals to dig down to the body,
and thus expose their guilt. If a dog accompanies the person, they
always kill it, lest the faithful creature should lead to the discovery
of his master. They think it to be a very good act to give a part of the
plunder, which they get when they murder a person, to their goddess. If
they fail to put him to death according to their rules, they suppose
that they have made her angry, and they make offerings to her, that she
may be appeased. Thus, you see that their religion teaches them to
commit the blackest of crimes.

The reason why this people gash and bury the bodies of those whom they
murder, is as follows. They say that the goddess used to save them the
trouble of burying the corpses of their victims by eating them, thus
screening the murderers from all chance of being found out. Once, after
the murder of a traveller, the body was, as usual, left unburied. One of
the Phansiagars employed, unguardedly looking behind him, saw the
goddess in the act of feasting upon it. This made her so angry, that she
vowed never again to devour a body slaughtered by them; they having, by
this one act of curiosity, forfeited her favor. However, as an
equivalent for withdrawing her patronage, she plucked one of the fangs
from her jaw, and gave it to them, saying that they might use it as a
pickaxe, which would never wear out. She then opened her side and pulled
out one of her ribs, which she gave them for a knife, whose edge nothing
could blunt. Having done this, she stooped down and tore off the hem of
her garment, which she gave to them for a noose, declaring that it