upposed
practice of witchcraft by an old woman.--Assaulted by an infuriated
populace.--Rescued by a Native gentleman.--He inquires their reasons
for persecuting her.--Is instrumental in appeasing their
malignity.--Endeavours to remove their prejudice.--Proneness of
Asiatics to superstition.--Opinion of a Mussulmaun on the influence
of evil spirits.--Account of a woman possessed by an evil
spirit.--Dialogue with her during the paroxysms of her
affliction.--Means used for her recovery.--Further allusions to the
false notions of the Natives respecting supernatural agency...Page 387

All the Natives of Hindoostaun appear to me to be, more or less, tinctured
with superstitious notions, which, in many instances, are so grafted in
their nature as to resist every attempt made to root out by arguments the
folly of this great weakness.

I hope to be forgiven for introducing in this Letter a few anecdotes and
occurrences, which may illustrate that faulty side of the character of a
people who have not derived those advantages which are calculated to
displace superstition from the mind of man;--in a word, they are strangers
to that Holy volume which teaches better things.

A fair had been held at Lucknow one afternoon, not immediately within our
view, but the holiday folks passed our house on the road to and from the
scene of action. This fair or mayllah is visited by all ranks and classes
of Natives; but it is strictly a Hindoo festival annually kept up in
remembrance of the celebrated Kornea,[1] of Hindoo mythologic celebrity,
who according to their tradition, when but a child, on a certain day
killed with his slender arm a great tyrant, the giant Khaunce. Had there
ever existed a suspicion that the Hindoos sprang from any of the tribes of
Israel, I should have imagined the event they celebrate might have
reference to the act of David, who with his single arm destroyed Goliath
of Gath. This, however, can hardly be supposed, although the similarity is
remarkably striking.

The figure of Khaunce is made up of bamboo and paper, representing a human
being of gigantic stature, and bearing a most fierce countenance, with
some certain appendages, as horns, tail, &c., to render the figure more
disgusting. It is placed near the bank of the river Goomtie, in a
conspicuous situation, for the wonder and admiration of some, the terror
of the weak, and the satisfaction of the believers in the fabled story of
Kornea and h