EXPLANATORY INDEX. 451 



"All the fires in the house had been put out in anticipation 

 of his arrival, and the place was pitch dark, so that the illu- 

 sion that he was not there in the flesh might be kept up. 

 Owing to the noise I did not get a wink of sleep until about 

 two o'clock in the morning, and often thought, during the 

 night, what a good thing it would have been if his spirit had 

 only accompanied his body to the mountains. 



" The house being close to the one I was in, the interpreter 

 could hear all he said, and at my request, but with evident 

 reluctance, told me what it was. It seems that he entered 

 the house silently, and then commenced the sort of din above 

 mentioned, beating with a palm-branch on the floor. He then 

 asked in a deep, sepulchral voice what it was that ailed the 

 patient, to which the sick man's wife responded that some 

 evil spirits or kanaimas had ' done him bad.' The sorcerer 

 then said, 'Well, I don't know whether I can cure him, but 

 I will do my best.' 



" He then called to his aid the good spirit of a bird, called 

 the maroudi, the descent of which from the roof was made 

 known by the shaking of the palm-leaf raised up and gradually 

 lowered to the floor. 



" On the arrival of this good spirit, it at first complained of 

 having had a long journey, and that it was much heated by 

 the haste it had been obliged to make when so suddenly sum- 

 moned. It made the usual amount of noise, interlarded with 

 whistlings (in imitation of the maroudie's call), and promised 

 to do its best. "When its best, which consisted of discordant 

 sounds, had been done, its egress through the roof was made 

 known by the shakings of the palm-leaf, "and a dead silence of 

 a minute's duration succeeded, when the fiuttering of the leaf 

 announced the arrival of the spirit of an alligator, which in 

 its turn was replaced by a duraquara, and so on." 



Pegall. — A native basket, very light, elastic, and strong. 



Pelican (Pelecanus fuscus). — Several Pelicans are known, 

 such, for example, as the frigate bird, and all of them 

 have the under part of the skin of the neck and throat 



GG 2 



