CHAPTER VII.


Native superstitions.--Charming a bewitched woman.--Exorcising ghosts
from a field.--Witchcraft.--The witchfinder or 'Ojah.'--Influence of
fear.--Snake bites.--How to cure them.--How to discover a thief.--Ghosts
and their habits.--The 'Haddick' or native bone-setter.--Cruelty to
animals by natives.

The natives as a rule, and especially the lower classes, are
excessively superstitious. They are afraid to go out after nightfall,
believing that then the spirits of the dead walk abroad. It is almost
impossible to get a coolie, or even a fairly intelligent servant, to go
a message at night, unless you give him another man for company.

A belief in witches is quite prevalent, and there is scarcely a village
in Behar that does not contain some withered old crone, reputed and
firmly believed to be a witch. Others, either young or old are believed
to have the evil eye; and, as in Scotland some centuries ago, there are
also witch-finders and sorcerers, who will sell charms, cast
nativities, give divinations, or ward off the evil efforts of wizards
and witches by powerful spells. When a wealthy man has a child born,
the Brahmins cast the nativity of the infant on some auspicious day.
They fix on the name, and settle the date for the baptismal ceremony.

I remember a man coming to me on one occasion from the village of