WITCHCRAFT. 581 



nection is supposed to exist between a cut lock of hair and 

 the person to whom it belonged. In various parts of the 

 world the sorcerer gets clippings of the hair of his enemy, 

 parings of his nails, or leavings of his food, convinced that 

 whatever evil is done to these will re-act on their former owner. 

 Even a piece of clothing, or the ground on which a person 

 has trodden, will answer the purpose, and among some tribes 

 the mere knowledge of a person's name is supposed to give a 

 mysterious power. The Indians of British Columbia have a 

 great horror of telling their names. Among the Algonquins 

 a person's real name is communicated only to his nearest 

 relations and dearest friends : the outer world address him by 

 a kind of nickname. Thus the true name of La Belle Sauvage 

 was not Pocahontas, but Matokes, which they were afraid to 

 communicate to the English. In some tribes these name- 

 fancies take a different form. According to Ward, it is an 

 unpardonable sin for a Hindoo woman to mention the name 

 of her husband. The Kaffirs have a similar custom, and so 

 have some East African tribes. In many parts of the world 

 the names of the dead are avoided with superstitious horror. 

 This is the case in great parts of North and South America, 

 in Siberia, among the Papuans and Australians, and even in 

 Shetland, where it is said that widows are very reluctant to 

 mention their departed husbands. 



Throughout Australia, among some of the Brazilian tribes, 

 in parts of Africa, and in various other countries, natural 

 death is regarded as an impossibility. In the New Hebrides, 

 " when a man fell ill, he knew that some sorcerer was burning 

 his rubbish ; and shell-trumpets, which could be heard for 

 miles, were blown to signal to the sorcerers to stop, and wait 

 for the presents which would be sent next morning. Night 

 after night, Mr. Turner used to hear the melancholy too-tooing 

 of the shells, entreating the wizards to stop plaguing their 



