272 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



which the king asked the Bhut to go on climbing up 

 and down a pole for ever. 



Brahmans and all the different kinds of devotees 

 have various ways of exorcising Bhuts, most of which 

 turn upon sacrificial and other offerings. Unfortu- 

 nately for the existence of such creatures, we hear 

 less and less of them, in their old shapes, as know- 

 ledge increases ; but they are hard to kill, and seem 

 to reappear again even in the most civilised countries, 

 affecting there chiefly the legs of tables. The Indian 

 superstitions are really more worthy of respect, if 

 both may be considered as arising from timidity, 

 delusion, and interested fraud. In a country like 

 India, full of jungle and solitary places, abounding 

 with wild beasts and serpents, and with a population 

 sunk in extreme ignorance, it is no wonder that any 

 extraordinary phenomena should be regarded as the 

 manifestation of supernatural powers. Where at 

 night any bush may conceal a tiger, and any footstep 

 be planted on a snake, and one's sleep is disturbed 

 by innumerable hideous forms of insect-life, it is not 

 surprising that people should find an evil spirit in 

 the shaking of a leaf, the unearthly wail of a jackal, 

 or the shivering of fever. Let any one try the ex- 

 periment of spending a night alone in a jungle 

 haunted by wild beasts, and if his nerves are not 

 of something more than iron, he will soon find him- 

 self developing supernatural powers both of seeing 

 and hearing. Then the seasons, also, are favourable 



