CUSTOMS. 257 



ling power. That the \vomcn who were 

 killed had undergone the prescribed form 

 of trial, were duly convicted of causing the 

 death of the son of one of the prisoners 

 by witch-craft, and had been put to death 

 by the prisoners, in conformity to the sentence 

 of the assembly. 



The prosecutors, who, agreeably to the 

 forms of the Mahommedan law, were the re- 

 lations of the deceased women, declared 

 they had no charge to prefer against the 

 prisoners, being satisfied that their relations 

 had really practised sorcery. 



The custom pleaded by the prisoners was 

 fully substantiated by the testimony of a 

 great number of witnesses, who recited spe- 

 cific facts in support of it, without any de- 

 nial or disagreement; and from the collec- 

 tive evidence exhibited in the course of the 

 inquiry, the following curious and extraor- 

 dinary circumstances appeared: 



