106 



DEMON POSSESSION. 



again. I bind by the divine power of the Cross. I bind by the 

 power of the five divine wounds. I bind by the authority of the 

 Angels. I bind so as to render the bond indissoluble. By the 

 divine power of the Cross. Amen, Jesu." 



This remarkable phenomenon in the conduct of thousands of 

 Singhalese women throughout the Island can not, we believe, be 

 wholly explained away by the supposition, that all these women 

 are only humbugging every body by shamming madness, merely 

 for the unreasonable pleasure of putting themselves in a state of 

 frantic excitement or of assumed insensibility; an explanation the 

 more unsatisfactory, when it is considered that this peculiarity is 

 often found even in respectable old ladies verging upon 60 and 

 70 —mothers of large families — very respectable, sober, honest, 

 modest characters — who, so far from wishing to simulate madness 

 or demon possession, have always appeared to be quite incapable 

 of such wilful folly. Further, we have often had ample opportu- 

 nities of minutely observing every thing said and done by one or 

 two such persons when under "possession,'' and although on such 

 occasions we were very anxious to convince all around us that all 

 this was nothing but shamming, or at best the effects of an excited 

 and morbid imagination, we yet never failed to perceive much, 

 that could not be reconciled with any idea of imposture, and how- 

 ever much we endeavoured, to believe in their being counterfeit, 

 we never succeeded in fully convincing our reason. 



We must however state here injustice to these old ladies, that 

 their symptoms of possession were not exactly like those we have 

 generally described above; they did not call upon demons, nor 

 shout and cry, but simply sank down on the ground as in a fit of 

 insensibility, and then continued, now and then, to tremble very 

 violently, gnashing their teeth and rolling their eyeballs. In this 

 state they generally remain about three quarters of an hour, and 

 then sit up as if awaking from a sleep. For nearly a day after 

 this they complain of weakness, and after that are as well as ever 

 and about their household duties as usual. In other respects they 



