1834.] along the Manipur Frontier. 133 



proper offerings ; which he proceeded forthwith to prepai'e in the shape 

 of some of the best rice and vegetables procurable, cooked with great 

 care and many prayers. The mess when ready he placed under a 

 banyan tree on the outside of the village. If the " Laee" partook of 

 it within the two succeeding days, it would be a sure sign his anger 

 had evaporated. As he knew I was anxious, he said, regarding the 

 welfare of the village, he would let me know in a day or two how mat- 

 ters stood. 



18th — Tummoo ; here I was detained for three days in decid- 

 ing a case, or rather three cases of witchcraft ! Motives of huma- 

 nity induced me to undertake the business, as persons labouring under 

 such an accusation become regular outcasts ; whom no village will 

 receive within its precincts ; with whose children, male or female, no 

 other family will intermarry ; the whole of whose property is seized by 

 the village from which they are expelled. Exclusive of the above, the 

 husbands of two of the women who were accused had been of the 

 utmost service to me as guides in my different trips through Kubo, and 

 otherwise useful from their intelligence and knowledge of the country. 

 The favour with which I consequently treated them was I doubt not 

 one of the causes of their misfortunes, and induced a wily old Kubo to 

 intrigue to get them out of the way of his own prospects. Part of the 

 penalties had already been inflicted previous to my arrival ,• they had 

 been turned out of the village, and the greater part of their property- 

 seized. On the morning after my arrival I assembled the whole village, 

 the accused being also present, and tried to reason with them on the 

 absurdity and folly of believing in witchcraft. I was laughed at for 

 my pains, and told by one or two of the elders that I might as well 

 try to convince them, there was no sun in heaven, as no witches. 

 Finding all remonstrances and arguments were vain, I proposed the 

 ordeal by water usual on such occasions, and called on the persons 

 who were suffering under the supposed witches' incantations to stand 

 forth, that they as well as the witches, as is customary, should un- 

 dergo it. This caused a demur and whispering, which ended in a re- 

 quest, begging me to defer farther proceedings till next day, to allow 

 them to consult together on the subject, in which I acquiesced. I was 

 almost assured that the same superstition which led to the belief in 

 witchcraft would prevent any persons from coming forward to stand 

 the proposed test, as the accuser, they say, unless actually convinced in 

 his own mind of the truth of his accusation, is sure to draw down sig- 

 nal punishment on himself and family for having made it ; besides he is 

 heavily fined by the village, should the result of the ordeal be contrary 

 to his assertion. Even were I disappointed in the hope, that no per- 



