-the Deoda. This is the _possessed_, who,
"when filled with the god, answers by inspiration to the question of the
priest as to the prospects of the coming season. When we first discerned
him, he was sitting on the ground, panting, and rolling his eyes so
significantly that I at once conjectured his function. Shortly
afterwards, the rite still proceeding, the Deoda got up, entered the
circle, and commenced dancing with the rest, but more wildly. He held a
short staff in his hand, with which, from time to time, he struck the
bedizened poles, one by one, and lowering it as he struck. The chief
dancer with the odd-shaped instrument waxed more and more vehement in
his dance; the inspired grew more and more maniacal; the music more and
more rapid; the incantation more and more solemn and earnest; till, at
last, amid a general lowering of the heads of the decked bamboo poles,
so that they met and formed a canopy over him, the Deoda went off in an
affected fit, and the ceremony closed without any revelation." This
self-excited state of ecstasy is an element of most religions in the
same stage of development; and a low level it indicates. In Greece, in
Africa, and in Northern Asia, we find it as regularly as we find a
coarse and material creed; and to the coarseness of the materialism of
such a creed it is generally proportionate.

Witches, and the discovery of them, and the influence of the evil eye
are part and parcel of the Bodo and Dhimal superstitions.

_Kocch_ means a population, which possibly amounts to as much as a
million souls, extended from about 88 deg. to 93-1/2 deg. East long., and
25 deg. to 27 deg. North lat., and of which Kocch Behar is the political
centre. The term is _ethnological_--not political. It is ethnological,
and not political, because, although originally native, it has since been
partially abandoned. _All_ the inhabitants of the parts in question
_once_ called themselves Kocch; and Kocch they were called by their
neighbours the Mech. At this time the country was unequivocally other
than Indian; _i.e._, in the same category with that of the Garo and
Bodo. Since then, however, great changes have taken place; so that, just
as Wales is partially Anglicized, the Welsh language being replaced by
the English, the Kocch--the native tongue--is under the process of being
replaced by a Hindu dialect. Nevertheless, just as many a Welshman who
speaks nothing but English is still a Welshman, so are the Kocch, w