728 Account of the Origin, etc. of the [July, 



crops and domestic animals ; of deprecations of wrath when sickness, 

 murrain, drought, blight, or the ravages of wild animals, prevail ; and 

 thanksgivings when the crops are safely housed, or recent troubles are 

 passed. The offerings consist of milk, honey, parched rice, eggs, 

 flowers, fruits, and red lead or cochineal : the sacrifices of hogs, 

 goats, fowls, ducks, and pigeons — most commonly hogs and fowls. 

 Sacrifices are deemed more worthy than offerings, so that all the higher 

 deities, without reference to their supposed benevolence or malevolence 

 of nature, receive sacrifices — all the lesser deities, offerings only. Li- 

 bations of fermented liquor always accompany sacrifice — because, to 

 confess the whole truth, sacrifice and feast are commutable words, 

 and feasts need to be crowned by copious potations. Malevolence 

 appears to be attributed to very few of the gods, though of course 

 all will resent neglect ; but, in general, their natures are deemed bene- 

 volent ; and hence the absence of all savage or cruel rites. All dis- 

 eases, however, are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man 

 is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with 

 pains as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. 

 Hence, not the mediciner, but the exorcist is summoned to the sick- 

 man's aid. The exorcist is called both by the Bodo and Dhimals 

 Ojha, and he operates as follows. Thirteen leaves each with a few 

 grains of rice upon it, are placed by the exorcist in a segment of a 

 circle before him to represent the deities. The Ojha, squatting on 

 his hams before the leaves, causes a pendulum attached to his thumb 

 by a string to vibrate before them, repeating invocations the while. 

 The god who has possessed the sick man, is indicated by the exclusive 

 vibration of the pendulum towards his representative leaf, which is 

 then taken apart, and the god in question is asked, what sacrifice he 

 requires ? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck to spare the sufferer. He 

 answers (the Ojha best knows how !) a hog ; and it is forthwith vowed 

 by the sick man and promised by the exorcist, but only paid when the 

 former has recovered. On recovery the animal is sacrificed, and its 

 blood offered to the offended deity. I witnessed this ceremony myself 

 among the Dhimals, on which occasion the thirteen deities invoked were 

 Pochima or Waning, Timai or Berang, Lakhim, Konoksiri, Mechi, 

 Chima, Danto, Chadiing, Aphoi, Biphoi, Andhcman (Aphun), T?ito- 

 patia (Baphun) and Shtiti. A Bodo exorcist would proceed precisely 



