314 CUSTOMS OF THE KAR NICOBARESE 



senses, and therefore committed the crime. He stated that the 

 Mussulman who was killed by him was not an enemy, but on the 

 other hand, he and all the traders were his friends. Regarding 

 his brother, he said that he had been kind to him. 



The proceedings of a man who wishes to obtain a name as a 

 wizard are rather curious. He will, for instance, frequent pig 

 wallows, and, sitting in the mud, collect the bristles left there by 

 the pigs when cooling themselves ; or again, he visits the grave- 

 yard at night and disturbs the graves. He generally lives by 

 himself in the jungle, doing no work, but stealing pigs, chickens, 

 and coconuts from others. Having made a reputation for witch- 

 craft, he is held in much fear by the community, but to balance 

 this advantage, if they consider themselves injured by his practices, 

 it is not impossible that they may some day combine and murder 

 him. 



Besides ridding themselves of an unpleasant neighbour, it 

 would seem that they also hope by such an action to cause the 

 destruction of an evilly-disposed spirit. 



1. " Tham Koi, son of Katha, having beaten a countryman to 

 death in Chaura, made the following statement : ' Kanunla, a 

 menluana (medicine man) and sorcerer, is addicted to sodomy 

 and theft. He bewitched my father, who became very ill. I sent 

 for Kanunla to come and shampoo my father, who gradually got 

 worse. I became enraged with the menluana^ and waited until 

 he got on the ladder of my hut, when I struck him on the left 

 side of the neck, so that he fell down. I went down and struck 

 him again thrice, and he died. I then went and told my neigh- 

 bours Kamrang Piko, Okio, Cher, and Tachoi what I had done, 

 and asked them to help me remove the corpse, which we took in 

 a canoe and threw into the sea. Kanunla did not make a noise. 

 No one knew of this at the time because it was in the evening, 

 and very dark. The villagers knew of it on the following morning.' " 

 — Diary of Mr Obed Elias. 



2. Tekwa was the adopted son of Iskol's father, and was 

 always living in Iskol's house. Eventually he became a thief, 



