AND PRACTICES OF THE HINDUS. 36 I 



Secondly. Small portions of rice enveloped in cloths, 

 marked as above, are placed in a nest of white ants ; 

 the consumption of the -rice in any of the bags, estab- 

 lishes sorcery against the woman whose name it 

 bears. 



Thirdly. Lamps are lighted at night ; water is plac- 

 ed in cups made of leaves, and mustard-seed and oil 

 is poured, drop by drop, into the water, whilst the 

 name of each woman in the village is pronounced ; 

 the appearance of the shadow of any woman on the 

 water, during this ceremony, proves her a witch. 



Such are the general rules for ascertaining those 

 who practise witchcraft. In th,e instance which I 

 have quoted, the witnesses swore, and probably be- 

 lieved, that all the proofs against the unfortunate wo- 

 men had been duly verified: they assert in evidence, 

 that the branches marked with the names of the five 

 women accused were w ithered ; that the rice in the 

 bags having their specific names, was devoured by the 

 white ants, whilst that in the other bags remained un- 

 touched ; that their shadows appeared on the water, 

 on the oil being poured upon it whilst their names 

 were pronounced ; and farther, that they were seen 

 dancing at midnight in the situation above de- 

 scribed. 



It is difficult to conceive that this coincidence of 

 proof could have been made plausible to the grossest 

 ignorance, if experience did not shew that preposses- 

 sion will supercede the evidence of the senses. 



The following custom would be too trivial for no- 

 tice, if it were not strongly descriptive of the sim- 



plicity 



