ey still go away
and visit the _bonga_ and when they do so they send in their place a
_bonga_ woman exactly like them in appearance and voice; so that the
husband cannot tell that it is not his real wife. There is however a
way of discovering the substitution; for if the man takes a brand from
the fire and burns the woman with it, then if it is really a _bonga_
and not his wife she will fly away in a flame of fire.

CLXXVIII. Witch Stories.

I will now tell you something I have seen with my own eyes. In the
village of Dhubia next to mine the only son of the Paranik lay ill
for a whole year. One day I went out to look at my _rahar_ crop
which was nearly ripe and as I stood under a mowah tree I heard a
voice whispering. I stooped down to try and see through the _rahar_
who was there but the crop was so thick that I could see nothing;
so I climbed up the mowah tree to look. Glancing towards Dhubia
village I saw the third daughter of the Paranik come out of her house
and walk towards me. When about fifty yards from me she climbed a
big rock and waited. Presently an old aunt of hers came out of the
village and joined her. Then the old woman went back to her house and
returned with a lota of water. Meanwhile the girl had come down from
the rock and sat at its foot near a thicket of _dhela_ trees. The old
woman caused the girl to become possessed (_rum_) and they had some
conversation which I could not hear, Then they poured out the water
from the lota and went home.

On my way home I met a young fellow of the village and found that
he had also seen what the two women did. We went together to the
place and found the mark of the water spilled on the ground and two
leaves which had been used as wrappers and one of which was smeared
with vermilion and _adwa_ rice had been scattered about. We decided
to tell no one till we saw whether what had been done was meant to
benefit or injure the sick boy. Fifteen days later the boy died:
and when his parents consulted a _jan_ he named a young woman of the
village as the cause of the boy's death and she was taken and punished
severely by the villagers.

It is plain that the boy's sister and aunt in order to save themselves
caused the _jan_ to see an innocent woman. I could not bring the boy
back to life so it was useless for me to say anything, especially as
the guilty women were of the Paranik's own family. This I saw myself
in broad daylight.

Another thing that happened to