wali or
Dipavali_).

There is however nothing ominous in all this, except when the
"sacrificial sword" fails to sever the head of the goat from the trunk
at one deadly stroke. As this bodes ill the householder to appease the
deity, to whose wrath such failure is imputed, sacrifices another goat
then and there and further offers to do penance by sacrificing double
the number of goats next year.

But what is more pertinent to the subject I am dealing with is the
sacrificing of goats under peculiar circumstances. Thus when an epidemic
(such as cholera, small pox and now probably plague) breaks out in a
village in Bengal all the principal residents of the place in order to
propitiate the deity to whose curse or ire the visitation is supposed to
be due, raise a sufficient amount by subscription for worshipping the
irate Goddess. The black he-goat that is offered as a sacrifice on such
an occasion is not actually slain, but being besmeared with "_Sindur_"
(red oxide of mercury) and generally having one of the ears cropped or
bored is let loose, _i.e._ allowed to roam about until clandestinely
passed on to some neighbouring village to which, the goat is credited
with the virtue of transferring the epidemic from the village originally
infected. The goats thus marked are not looked upon with particular
favour in the villages. They are generally not ill-treated by the
villagers, and when they eat up the cabbages, etc. all that the poor
villagers can do is to curse them and drive them away--but they return
as soon as the poor owner of the garden has moved away. Such goats
become, in consequence, very bold and give a lot of trouble.

When, therefore, such a billy-goat appears in a village what the
villagers generally do is to hire a boat, carry the goat a long distance
along the river, say 20 or 25 miles and leave him there. Now the
villagers of the place where such a goat is left play the same trick, so
it sometimes happens that the goat comes back after a week or so.

Once it so happened that a dedicated goat made his unwelcome appearance
in a certain village in Bengal.

The villagers hired a boat and carried him about 20 miles up the river
and left him there. The goat came back after a week. Then they left him
at a place 20 miles down the river and he came back again. Afterwards
they took the goat 50 miles up and down the river but each time the goat
returned like the proverbial bad penny.

After trying all kinds of trick