blacks, of course, are peculiarly skilled in detecting such marks.
In maleficent magic, as among the Dene Hareskins, the Australian
sorcerer has 'his head, body, and limbs wound round with stringy
bark cords'. {41b} The enchantment is believed to drag the victim,
in a trance, towards the sorcerer. This binding is customary among
the Eskimo, and, as Mr. Myers has noted, was used in the rites
described by the Oracles in 'trance utterances,' which Porphyry
collected in the fourth century. Whether the binding was thought to
restrain the convulsions of the mediums, or whether it was,
originally, a 'test condition,' to prevent the medium from cheating
(as in modern experiments), we cannot discover. It does not appear
to be in use among the Maoris, whose speciality is 'trance
utterance'.

A very picturesque description of a Maori seance is given in Old New
Zealand. {42} The story loses greatly by being condensed. A
popular and accomplished young chief had died in battle, and his
friends asked the Tohunga, or medium, to call him back. The chief
was able to read and write; he had kept a journal of remarkable
events, and that journal, though 'unceasingly searched for,' had
disappeared. This was exactly a case for a test, and that which was
given would have been good enough for spiritualists, though not for
more reasonable human beings. In the village hall, in flickering
firelight, the friends, with the English observer, the 'Pakeha
Maori,' were collected. The medium, by way of a 'cabinet,' selected
the darkest corner. The fire burned down to a red glow. Suddenly
the spirit spoke, 'Salutation to my tribe,' and the chief's sister,
a beautiful girl, rushed, with open arms, into the darkness; she was
seized and held by her friends. The gloom, the tears, the sorrow,
nearly overcame the incredulity of the Englishman, as the Voice