802 The Hodesum (improperly called Kolehan). [No. 104. 



that by certain prayers and incantations, a person can obtain sufficient 

 power to produce the illness, or cause the death, not only of any 

 obnoxious person, but of whole families, or even villages ; and that 

 these evil arts can also extend to the crops, the cattle, and the wea- 

 ther ! 



Should any such misfortunes befall them, it is of course immediately 



referred to the machinations of some sorcerer, and every means is 



had recourse to, to discover him. This is effected either by certain 



signs, or by the divination of some augurer, or most frequently (in 



case of sickness) by the declaration of the patient himself, who declares 



he has seen the wizard in a dream,%tanding on him, and sacrificing to 



the gods, to procure his dissolution. Such is the inflexible integrity of 



the Koles in speaking truth, that I firmly believe the sick man, in all 



such cases, does dream of the person he denounces. Being taught 



from his infancy to attribute every misfortune to preternatural 



agency, it is not to be wondered at, that when in his turn afflicted, 



his apprehensions rest upon some one, with regard to whom a previous 



quarrel, or other cause of ill-will, suggests the fear of retaliation, 



and these thoughts, long nourished while waking, would naturally 



embody themselves in sleep in some dreadful dream, which at once 



substantiates all the suspicions of the sufferer ! 



Should these proofs however be wanting, the near relations of the 

 patient have recourse, as I said, to a diviner. This class of wretches, 

 sources of all evil, are not, happily, so prevalent among the Koles as 

 the Hindoos who reside in the vicinity. To these the poor credulous 

 creatures resort, journeying to great distances, and parting with 

 almost all their possessions to obtain the aid of the sage, who, after 

 collecting such information as he requires, pockets his fee, goes 

 through some absurd ceremonies, and coolly denounces the person he 

 may consider best suited for the distinction, as the originater of all 

 the calamity. 



The life of the unfortunate victim so pointed out was, of course for- 

 merly, not worth an hour's purchase; he was either slain openly by 

 the party, whose kinsman was dead or dying, murdered in cold blood 

 at night, or in some cases, demanded from his clans people, to undergo 

 the ordeal. The latter have seldom been known to refuse such a re- 

 quisition. The ordeal, however, was, as it has been in other countries, 



