378 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
action, which will best explain the ill effects of these sense- 
less superstitions. A woman had been robbed of some 
manioc and ground nuts; she applied to a gangam or 
priest for a fetiche, which would compel the robber to 
restore the property ; and the manner of doing it is as fol- 
lows. The fetiche being exposed in some public place, 
the people of the village dance round it, and with the most 
hideous howlings invoke it to produce the thief, or to 
direct that within a certain time, and at a certain place, 
he shall deposit the stolen goods, in failure of which, that 
this newly created divinity will be pleased to destroy both 
him and his relations. If at the expiration of the time, 
which is usually two days, the property is not restored, 
the fetiche is removed, and the first person of the village 
who dies, is considered to be the thief. It usually happens, 
that the goods are restored, but this was not the case in 
the present instance. The morning after the removal of 
the fetiche, the most dismal howlings were heard in the 
village, and, on sending the interpreter to enquire into the 
cause, he returned and reported, that the fetiche had killed 
the thief, and that the noise proceeded from the relations 
mourning over the body. « 'The deceased,” says Mr. 
Fitzmaurice, “‘ had been one of nry coolies, and was a fine 
strong young man, apparently about twenty-four years of 
age. I had seen him the preceding evening walking 
about in good health, which, together with the circum- 
stance of his having died in convulsions, leads me to sus- 
pect that, rather than suffer the efficacy of the fetiche to 
be questioned, the priest had selected this poor fellow as 
