es who taught him everything
except how to "eat" human beings. He learnt how to make trees wither
away and come to life again; and to make rain fall where he wished
while any place he chose remained quite dry; he learnt to walk upon
the surface of water without getting wet; he could exorcise hail so
that none would touch his house though it fell all around. For a joke
he could make stools stick fast to his friends when they sat on them;
and anyone he scolded found himself unable to speak properly. All
this we have seen him do; but it was no one's business to question
him to find out how much he really knew.

Once at the shield and sword dance they cast a spell on a youth till
his clothes fell off him in shreds and he was ashamed to dance. Then
this servant had the pieces of cloth brought to him; and he covered
them with his own cloth and mumbled some _mantras_ and blew on it and
the pieces joined together and the cloth was as good as ever. This
we have seen ourselves.

He lived a long time with his master who found him a wife; but because
his first child died he left the place and went to live near Amrahat
where he is now.

Another case is Tipu of Mohulpahari. They say that an old witch Dukkia
taught him to be an _ojha_. No one has dared to ask him whether he
also learnt witchcraft from her but he himself admits that she taught
him to be an _ojha_.

Although it is true that there are witches and that they "eat" men
you will never see them except when you are alone.

The son-in-law of Surai of Karmatane village, named Khade, died from
meeting witches; he told us all about it as he lay dying. He was
coming home with some other men: they had all had a little too much
to drink and so they got separated. Khade was coming along alone and
had nearly reached his house when he saw a crowd of witches under a
tree. He went up and asked who they were. Thereupon they turned on
him and seized him and dragged him away towards Maluncha. There they
did something to him and let him go. Next morning he was seized with
purging and by mistake some of the witches' vengeance fell also on
the other men and they were taken ill too. They however recovered,
but Khade died. If you meet witches you die, but not of course if
they take you with them of their own will and teach you their craft.

CLXXVII. Witchcraft.

Girls are taught witchcraft when they are young and are married to a
_bonga_ husband. Afterwards when they marry a man th