That is wholly true--with one reservation.

In all the long file of Thug confessions an English traveler is mentioned but once--and this is what the Thug says of the circumstance: "He was on his way from Mhow to Bombay.

We studiously avoided him.
He proceeded next morning with a number of travelers who had sought his protection, and they took the road to Baroda." We do not know who he was; he flits across the page of this rusty old book and disappears in the obscurity beyond; but he is an impressive figure, moving through that valley of death serene and unafraid, clothed in the might of the English name.
We have now followed the big official book through, and we understand what Thuggee was, what a bloody terror it was, what a desolating scourge it was.

In 1830 the English found this cancerous organization imbedded in the vitals of the empire, doing its devastating work in secrecy, and assisted, protected, sheltered, and hidden by innumerable confederates -- big and little native chiefs, customs officers, village officials, and native police, all ready to lie for it, and the mass of the people, through fear, persistently pretending to know nothing about its doings; and this condition of things had existed for generations, and was formidable with the sanctions of age and old custom.

If ever there was an unpromising task, if ever there was a hopeless task in the world, surely it was offered here--the task of conquering Thuggee.