146 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



A friend tells me he has known two 

 perfectly healthy young girls die in a couple of 

 days after, as they said, the devil had come to 

 them ; and Rob knew a man who said he saw 

 the devil in the jungle, and in a few hours was 

 dead. It is supposed to be a curious form of 

 hysteria which attacks the victims ; these 

 visitations usually take place about sunset. 



So our deserted, Lines still remain deserted ; 

 but it is settled that the kangany is himself to 

 pay the expense of their having been made 

 habitable. 



I am told that this is not at all an uncommon 

 incident and that in most districts there are 

 these deserted houses. Our friend told me 

 that the way he succeeded in getting his set re- 

 occupied was by giving his kangany twenty 

 rupees in order to have a great feast on the 

 spot, a reputed exorcist in the shape of an old 

 man, first turning out the devils by the aid of 

 incantations, sacrifices, and much beating of 

 tom-toms. When a whole night had been 

 made hideous in this manner the devils were 

 said to have departed, and the coolies took up 

 their abode there, and the lines have remained 

 occupied ever since. Probably in most cases 

 the original prejudice arose from an unhealthy 

 feverish season causing an unusual number of 

 deaths amongst the inhabitants. 



August 8th. — I have just returned from a 



