532 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



the lycanthropist makes use of, though sometimes the tiger proper 

 (abolangshu) , is usually a leopard and is is known as angshu amiki, 

 a word which is said to be derived from the verb kemiki, meaning to 

 wander alone in the jungle for days together, since men who do this 

 are most liable to the possession. It may be observed, however, that 

 the root miki- also means " to bite." 2 Cowardly and worthless men, 

 if they acquire the habit, make use of the body of a red cat {angshu 

 akiim, probably =FeIis aurata, the golden cat). The habit is very 

 far from desired. No one wants to be possessed by the habit, and it 

 is, on the contrary, feared as a source of danger and a great weariness 

 to the flesh. 



The soul usually enters into the leopard during sleep and returns 

 to the human body with daylight, but it may remain in the leopard 

 for several days at a time, in which case the human body, though 

 conscious, is lethargic. It (i. e., the human body) goes to the fields 

 and follows the usual routine of life, but is not able to communicate 

 intelligibly, or at any rate intelligently, with other persons until the 

 possession expires for the time being. The soul, however, is more or 

 less conscious of its experiences in leopard form and can to some ex- 

 tent remember and relate them when it has returned to its human 

 consciousness. During sleep the soul is the leopard with its full 

 faculties, but when the human body is wide awake the soul is only 

 semiconsciously, if at all, aware of its doings as a leopard, unless 

 under the influence of some violent emotion experienced by the 

 leopard. 



The possession is accompanied by very severe pains and swellings 

 in the knees, elbows, and small of the back in the human body, both 

 during and consequent on the possession. These pains are said to be 

 such as would result from far and continuous marching or from re- 

 maining long periods in an unaccustomed position. During sleep 

 at the time of possession the limbs move convulsively, as the legs of 

 a dog move when it is dreaming. A were-leopard of the Tizu Valley, 

 in a paroxysm at such a time, bit one of his wife's breasts off. When 

 the leopard is being hunted by men, the human body behaves like a 

 lunatic, leaping and throwing itself about in its efforts to escape. 

 Under these circumstances the relatives of the were-leopard feed him 

 up with ginger as fast as possible in order to make him more active, 

 so that the leopard-body, on which his life depends, may have the 

 agility to escape its pursuers. 



Were-leopards are particularly liable to possession between the 

 expiry of the old and the rising of the new moon. Those possessed 

 are liable to a special sort of disease which is believed to attack tigers 

 and leopards generally, but no human beings except were-leopards. 



a Incidentally, It also means " to tell lies." 



