Page 78 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

to the horizon, with jungles inhabited by snakes and tigers,
which fled at the noise of the train; succeeded by forests
penetrated by the railway, and still haunted by elephants
which, with pensive eyes, gazed at the train as it passed.

The travellers crossed, beyond Milligaum, the fatal country
so often stained with blood by the sectaries of the goddess
Kali. Not far off rose Ellora, with its graceful pagodas, and
the famous Aurungabad, capital of the ferocious Aureng-
Zeb, now the chief town of one of the detached provinces
of the kingdom of the Nizam. It was thereabouts that
Feringhea, the Thuggee chief, king of the stranglers, held
his sway. These ruffians, united by a secret bond, strangled
victims of every age in honour of the goddess Death,
without ever shedding blood; there was a period when this
part of the country could scarcely be travelled over
without corpses being found in every direction. The
English Government has succeeded in greatly diminishing
these murders, though the Thuggees still exist, and pursue
the exercise of their horrible rites.
At half-past twelve the train stopped at Burhampoor
where Passepartout was able to purchase some Indian
slippers, ornamented with false pearls, in which, with
evident vanity, he proceeded to encase his feet. The
travellers made a hasty breakfast and started off for

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