234 TlMEHRI. 
kind of very strong pepper, called Piman* is then rub- 
bed in her eyes, and she is left for some days without 
food, until a drunken executioner arrives and puts an 
end to the unfortunate being by breaking her head with 
a club. I know all this from having saved two of these 
people. 
They adopt the Chemeen that they like best as their 
good spirit. They consult the Devil through their Con- 
jurors or Piaye Doctors, as to their recovery from sickness, 
as to their whereabouts at sea in bad weather, as to the 
issue of their wars, or to learn the names of those that 
have bewitched them. Each Piaye has his particular 
Chemeen (spirit), or familiar devil, and they are gov- 
erned by the evil counsel of these detestable sorcerers 
also known by the name of Eocheiri. 
To know the cause of their illness they send for a Piaye 
Boye, or sorcerer, at night, who orders. all the lights in 
the house to be put out and turns the suspected persons 
out : he then retires into a corner, where the sick person 
is brought to him, and, after smoking a piece of tobacco, 
he mashes it in his hands, and blows it in the air, shak- 
ing and flipping his fingers. They say that the Chemeen 
always comes on scenting the odour of this incense, and, 
being interrogated, he answers with a clear voice, 
but sounding as from a distance. The sorcerer then 
approaches the sick person repeatedly, feels, presses, and 
manipulates the suffering part, always blowing on it, and 
extracts sometimes from it, or rather appears to extract, 
some thorns, or small pieces of cassava, wood, or bones, 
making the sick person believe that this was the sole 
cause of the pain. Very often he sucks. the painful part 
* Peemi is applied to all kinds of " red peppers," i.e. capsicums. liu. 
