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 howhngs 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 my 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 



