260 
SPOET AND WAR. 
CHAP. XXVI. 
When a tree has been found in which the wood¬ 
pecker has built a nest (which is discovered by the 
round hole bored or cut into it), the tree is felled to 
the ground and cut open; all the short pieces of stick 
forming the foundation of the nest are collected and 
taken to the nearest stream of running water and 
thrown into the river. Most of the pieces will be 
washed down by the current, but some two or three 
or may be more of them will go up-stream, thereby 
indicating, as the natives believe, their miraculous 
character. These charmed pieces are secured and cut 
into lengths about an inch long, strung like beads, and 
worn round the neck or about the person, and are 
supposed to be an antidote against all illness or evil. 
The natives will burn the end of the stick and inhale the 
smoke for headache, or scrape it and take it internally 
for all sorts of qualms or ailments; and moreover they 
believe these sticks counteract the power of their being 
bewitched. 
Poor, ignorant savages, how a little 'knowledge 
would enlighten their minds ! Yet how different is 
practice from theory! I well remember once out of 
many times being on the wrong side of a flooded river, 
and wishing to communicate with the other side. The 
current was so strong that no one would at first venture 
to plunge in and attempt to swim over. My chief, who 
was present, being a theoretical soldier, at once cut a 
