padres. My friend is a wealthy man, which is probably the reason
why the devils are especially vicious to him. They poison his cattle,
spoil his crops and his coffee plants, and persecute his numerous
relations, sending them sunstrokes, madness and epilepsy, over which
illnesses they especially preside. These wicked demons have settled in
every corner of his spacious landed property--in the woods, the ruins,
and even in his stables. To avert all this, my friend covered his land
with stucco pyramids, and prayed humbly, asking the demons to draw their
portraits on each of them, so that he may recognize them and worship
each of them separately, as the rightful owner of this, or that,
particular pyramid. And what do you think?.... Next morning all
the pyramids were found covered with drawings. Each of them bore an
incredibly good likeness of the dead of the neighborhood. My friend had
known personally almost all of them. He found also a portrait of his own
late father amongst the lot....."

"Well? And was he satisfied?"

"Oh, he was very glad, very satisfied. It enabled him to choose the
right thing to gratify the personal tastes of each demon, don't you
see? He was not vexed at finding his father's portrait. His father
was somewhat irascible; once he nearly broke both his son's legs,
administering to him fatherly punishment with an iron bar, so that
he could not possibly be very dangerous after his death. But another
portrait, found on the best and the prettiest of the pyramids, amazed
my friend a good deal, and put him in a blue funk. The whole district
recognized an English officer, a certain Captain Pole, who in his
lifetime was as kind a gentleman as ever lived."

"Indeed? But do you mean to say that this strange people worshipped
Captain Pole also?"

"Of course they did! Captain Pole was such a worthy man, such an honest
officer, that, after his death, he could not help being promoted to the
highest rank of Shanar devils. The Pe-Kovil, demon's house, sacred to
his memory, stands side by side with the Pe-Kovil Bhadrakali, which was
recently conferred on the wife of a certain German missionary, who also
was a most charitable lady and so is very dangerous now."

"But what are their ceremonies? Tell us something about their rites."

"Their rites consist chiefly of dancing, singing, and killing
sacrificial animals. The Shanars have no castes, and eat all kinds of
meat. The crowd assembles about the Pe-Kovil, previous