is concerned, it is
my belief that all things are possible to the Almighty power and will of
God. And I see no right we have either to inquire why, or to dispute about
the motives by which His wisdom permits the weak to be afflicted for a
season, or the wicked to be punished in this life.'

I inquired if he had ever witnessed any of the strange events I
continually heard his people speak of, as having occurred in their
neighbourhood, such as people possessed with unclean spirits, sufficient
to confirm his belief in their probability. He replied, 'I have not only
witnessed but have, under Divine Providence, been the instrument to convey
relief to several different women, who suffered from being possessed by
evil spirits.' He then related the following, which I copy from the notes
I took at the time of his relation:--

'When I was a very young man, my mind was bent on inquiring into the truth
of the generally believed opinion, that some righteous men of our faith
had power granted to them to remove evil spirits from their victims. I
took the advice of a certain venerable person, who was willing to impart
his knowledge to me. Preparatory to my own practice, I was instructed to
forsake the haunts of man, and give myself wholly to prayer. Accordingly I
absented myself from my home, family, and friends, and led the life you
would call a hermit's; my food was simply herbs and fruits, and
occasionally an unleavened cake of my own preparing, whilst the nearest
tank of water supplied me with the only beverage I required; my clothing a
single wrapper of calico; my house a solitary chupha (a thatch of coarse
grass tied over a frame of bamboo), and this placed on the margin of a
wood, where seldom the feet of man strayed to interfere with, or disturb
my devotion. My days and nights were given to earnest prayer; seeking God
and offering praises with my mouth to Him, constituted my business and my
delight for nearly two whole years, during which time my friends had
sought me in vain, and many a tear I fear was shed at the uncertain fate
of one they loved so well in my father's house.'

'The simplicity of my mode of life, added to the veneration and respect
always paid to the Durweish's character, raised me in the opinion of the
few who from time to time had intruded on my privacy, to ask some boon
within my limits to give as a taawise[6] (talisman), which is in fact a
prayer, or else one of the names or attributes of God, in such a c