n the
bride-elect's hair. A feast follows; after which the husband takes his
wife home. Thus far the Bodo forms agree with the Dhimal; but they
differ in what follows.

_The Bodo_ sacrifices a cock and a hen in the names of the bridegroom
and the bride, respectively to the Sun.

_The Dhimal_ propitiate _Data_ and _Bedata_ by presents of betel-leaf
and red-lead.

Both bury their dead, and purify themselves by ablution in the nearest
stream when the funeral procession is over. The family, however, of the
deceased is considered as unclean for three days.

A feast with sacrifices attends the purification. Before sitting down,
they repair once more to the grave, and present the dead with some of
the food from the banquet;--"take and eat, heretofore you have eaten and
drunk with us; you can do so no more; you were one of us, you can be so
no longer; we come no more to you; come you not to us." After this each
member of the party takes from his wrist a bracelet of thread, and
throws it on the grave.

A ceremonial implies a priesthood. Under this class come the Deoshi, the
Dhami, the Ojha, and the Phantwal.

The first of these is the village, the second the district, priest.

The Ojha is the village exorcist; and the Phantwal a subordinate of the
Deoshi. The influence of this clerical body, although probably higher
than Mr. Hodgson places it, is, evidently, anything but exorbitant.

I cannot find anything in the Bodo and Dhimal superstitions higher than
what was found in Africa. Nor yet is anything _essentially_ different.
Similar intellectual conditions develop similar creeds, independent of
intercourse; a fact which, the more we go into the natural history of
religions, the more we shall verify. We read indeed of _oaths_ and
_ordeals_; but oaths and ordeals are by no means, what they have too
loosely been supposed to be, appeals to the moral nature of the
Divinity. The _dhoom_ test, in Old Calabar, is an ordeal. The criminal
tests of the Fantis are the same. Indeed, few, if any tribes, are
without them. What the real ideas are which determine such and such-like
ceremonies is difficult for intellectual adults to understand. The way
towards their appreciation lies in the phenomena of a child's mind; the
true clue to the psychology of rude populations.

If we take the Bodo and Dhimal religions in detail we find ourselves in
a familiar field, with well-known forms of superstition around us.

Diseases are attributed to