(1717-91), a missionary in Paraguay, found that "sorcerers
arrogate to themselves the power of transforming themselves into
tigers".(8) He was present when the Abipones believed that a conversion
of this sort was actually taking place: "Alas," cried the people, "his
whole body is beginning to be covered with tiger-spots; his nails are
growing". Near Loanda, Livingstone found that a "chief may metamorphose
himself into a lion, kill any one he choses, and then resume his proper
form".(9) Among the Barotse and Balonda, "while persons are still
alive they may enter into lions and alligators".(10) Among the Mayas of
Central America "sorcerers could transform themselves into dogs,
pigs and other animals; their glance was death to a victim".(11) The
Thlinkeets think that their Shamans can metamorphose themselves into
animals at pleasure; and a very old raven was pointed out to Mr. C. E.
S. Wood as an incarnation of the soul of a Shaman.(12) Sir A. C. Lyall
finds a similar belief in flourishing existence in India. The European
superstition of the were-wolf is too well known to need description.
Perhaps the most curious legend is that told by Giraldus Cambrensis
about a man and his wife metamorphosed into wolves by an abbot. They
retained human speech, made exemplary professions of Christian faith,
and sent for priests when they found their last hours approaching. In an
old Norman ballad a girl is transformed into a white doe, and hunted and
slain by her brother's hounds. The "aboriginal" peoples of India retain
similar convictions. Among the Hos,(13) an old sorcerer called Pusa
was known to turn himself habitually into a tiger, and to eat his
neighbour's goats, and even their wives. Examples of the power of
sorcerers to turn, as with the Gorgon's head, their enemies into stone,
are peculiarly common in America.(14) Hearne found that the Indians
believed they descended from a dog, who could turn himself into a
handsome young man.(15)

(1) Vol. i. pp. 309-315.

(2) See also M'Lennan on Lykanthropy in Encyclopedia Britannica.

(3) Arabian Nights, i. 51.

(4) Bancroft, Races of Pacific Coast, i. 740.

(5) Brinton, Annals of the Cakchiquels, p. 46.

(6) Pinkerton, i. 471.

(7) Bleek, Brief Account of Bushman Folk-Lore, pp. 15, 40.

(8) English translation of Dobrizhoffer's Abipones, i. 163.

(9) Missionary Travels, p. 615.

(10) Livingstone, p. 642.

(11) Bancroft, ii.

(12) Century Magazine, July, 1882.

(13) Da