120 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
other times, a soft and clammy root is put into the 
mouth, when, if it adheres, the person is forthwith 
punished, if otherwise,, he is dismissed. Other 
trials are made by putting the arm of the accused 
into boiling water ; by making him drink water 
variously prepared j or by applying snail shells to 
the temples; which, if they adhere, prove him to be 
guilty. Proofs are taken on a similar principle by 
the chiefs in the administration of justice. If two 
persons have a plea which is difficult to decide, a 
shell is placed on the head of each, and both are 
made to stoop ; when the party from off whose 
head the shell first drops, has sentence immediate- 
ly given against him. 
The magicians appear to have been resorted to 
universally in cases of malady, which proved a hard 
trial on the faith even of the steadiest converts. 
When their children or near relations were seized 
with illness, they immediately began to cast a 
longing eye towards their old method of cure ; and 
if they had not recourse to it, they even incurred 
reproach among their neighbours, as suffering their 
relation to die, rather than incur the expence of a 
magician. Merolla's indignation was peculiarly 
roused by a certain lady of rank, who, he under- 
stood, not only performed magical cures, but wore 
dishevelled hair, and beat a drum before her, in 
sign of her profession. She had also a son whom 
she educated in the same arts. The missionaries 
