reason to judge on several
occasions, when I have seen teeth extracted in the most primitive
fashion, without a sound being emitted from the sufferer.

In South-Western Tibet the _Hunyas_ (Tibetans) have the same strange
notions on transmigration of evil spirits that are common to the Shokas.
For instance, if a man falls ill, they maintain that the only remedy is
to drive away the evil spirit which has entered his body. Now, according
to Tibetan and Shoka ideas, evil spirits always enter a living body to
satisfy their craving for blood: therefore, to please the spirit and
decoy him away, if the illness be slight, a small animal such as a dog or
a bird is brought and placed close by the patient; if the illness be
grave, a sheep is produced and exorcisms are made in the following
fashion. A bowl of water is whirled three or four times over the sick
man's head, and then again over the animal selected, upon whose head it
is poured. These circles, described with certain mystic words, have the
power of drawing the spirit out of its first quarters and causing it to
enter the brain of the second victim, upon whose skull the water is
poured to prevent its returning back.

"Of course," said my informer with an air of great gravity, "if you can
give the evil spirit a present in the shape of a living being that will
satisfy him, he will depart quite happy." If the illness is slight, it
means that the spirit is not much out of temper, and a small present is
enough to satisfy him, but if the disease is serious, nothing less than a
sheep or even a yak will be sufficient. As soon as the spirit has changed
his temporary abode the animal is quickly dragged away to a crossing of
four roads, and if there are no roads a cross is previously drawn on the
ground, where a grave for the animal is dug, into which it is mercilessly
thrown and buried alive. The spirit, unable to make a rapid escape,
remains to suck the blood of his last victim, and in the meantime the
sick man, deprived of the company of his ethereal and unwelcome guest,
has time to make a speedy recovery. When a smaller animal is used, such
as a dog or a bird, and when the patient complains of more than one
ailment, the poor beast, having been conveyed to the crossing of four
roads, is suddenly seized and brutally torn into four parts, which are
flung in four different directions, the idea being that, wherever there
may be spirits waiting for blood, they will get their share and