HOW DEMONS INFLICT DISEASE. 



45 



feeling in the mind of a girl at the moment of her arriving at pu- 

 berty is grief, love, or fear; 6, when a person takes his meals when 

 his mind is not at ease; and a variety of other occasions. 



The usual haunts of the demons are, 1st, large trees, especially 

 Bo, Nika, Ruk-attana, Ironwood, Co/wmba, Banyan, Kong, 

 Ehella, Yakberiya, and Belli trees;* 2nd, paths and roads; 3rd, 

 the junction of two or more paths; 4th, ferries and fords; 5th, wells 

 and other places where people come for water; 6th, places, where 

 there are two rocks close to each other; 7th places, where there 

 are two large trees standing near each other; 8th, the seashore; 9th, 

 thick groves of trees and pleasure gardens; 10th, the outskirts of 

 Dewales (temples of the gods;) 11th, graves and graveyards; 12th, 

 tops of rocks and hills; 13th, places where the noise of quarrels and 

 loud voices is continually heard; 14th, streams of water; 15th, bat- 

 tlefields; 16th, woods composed principally of Belli trees; 17th, 

 places where washermen wash clothes; 18th, old deserted houses; 

 19th, large open plains or fields; and 20th, sometimes (not often) 

 close behind the dwelling houses of men. 



At these places the demon frightens people not by actually seiz- 

 ing them, but by other means quite as effectual. He sometimes 

 throws sand or stones at them, often handful after handful, along 

 a considerable part of their way; sometimes he appears as a dark 

 featured man on the road or among the bushes near it; or he only 

 shews himself like the passing shadow of a man, followed imme- 

 diately by a shower of sand or a loud crashing noise among the 

 bushes, as if a number of elephants were actively engaged in beat- 

 ing down the jungle; or he presents himself in the disguise of an 

 old man, or of a young woman with a child in her arms, or merely 

 like a man with a while cloth wrapped round his person from the 



* It is on this account, that a Singhalese seldom allows any of these trees 

 to grow very large, when they are situated near his house. He generally cuts 

 them down, before th^y become fit for the residence of a demon ; nor on the 

 other hand will he willingly cut down one which is already very old, fearing it 

 might provoke the demon, who is supposed to be living on it, and bring down 

 implacable vengeance on himself and his family. 



