A RUN THROUGH KATHIAWAR. 271 



over India ; but I here speak of it only as it is 

 known in Kathiawar, though it seems to have much 

 the same characteristics in most parts of the Indian 

 peninsula. It partakes of the character of the vam- 

 pire in that it sometimes feeds on dead bodies, and, 

 entering into them, makes them speak ; but it is 

 more remarkable in Kathiawar for entering into 

 living bodies and making these say and do things 

 contrary to their ordinary character. This evil spirit 

 is much more knowing and powerful than the human 

 being. It can either be invisible or assume material 

 shapes. You may come upon it in the shape of a 

 child or a kid crying at the roadside ; and when you 

 put it into your cart to take it home, it grows heavier 

 and heavier until it breaks down the cart, and then 

 disappears screaming. Kot unfrequently it takes the 

 form of a serpent, especially when in its human life 

 it has left treasure concealed in or near the house. 

 Entering into a living person's body it makes that 

 person tremble exceedingly, and then become very 

 violent. Deceased husbands are fond of troubling 

 their widows in this way, and deceased wives trouble 

 their husband's wives, which is not wonderful. 

 Powerful and clever as Bhuts are, they can be 

 cheated like the European Devil of the middle ages. 

 There is a story, for instance, of a Kathiawar king 

 who was about to be devoured by a Bhut, when the 

 latter incautiously promised, before devouring him, 

 to do anything which the king might request ; on 



