to Mandla[3] with a message of some kind or
other. He took a cock from an old Gond woman without paying for it,
and, being hungry after a long journey, ate the whole of it in a
curry. He heard the woman mutter something, but being a raw,
unsuspecting young man, he thought nothing of it, ate his cock, and
went to sleep. He had not been asleep three hours before he was
seized with internal pains, and the old cock was actually heard
crowing in his belly. He made the best of his way back to Jubbulpore,
several stages, and all the most skilful men were employed to charm
away the effect of the old woman's spell, but in vain. He died, and
the cock never ceased crowing at intervals up to the hour of his
death.'

'And was Mr. Fraser convinced?'

'I never heard, but suppose he must have been.'

'Who ate the livers of the victims? The witches themselves, or the
evil spirits with whom they had dealings?'

'The evil spirits ate the livers; but they are set on to do so by the
witches, who get them into their power by such accursed sacrifices
and offerings. They will often dig up young children from their
graves, bring them to life, and allow these devils to feed upon their
livers, as falconers allow their hawks to feed on the breasts of
pigeons. You "sahib log" (European gentlemen) will not believe all
this, but it is, nevertheless, all very true.'[4]

The belief in sorcery among these people owes its origin, in a great
measure, to the diseases of the liver and spleen to which the
natives, and particularly the children, are much subject in the
jungly parts of Central India. From these affections children pine
away and die, without showing any external marks of disease. Their
death is attributed to witchcraft, and any querulous old woman, who
has been in the habit of murmuring at slights and ill treatment in
the neighbourhood, is immediately set down as the cause. Men who
practise medicine among them are very commonly supposed to be at the
same time wizards. Seeking to inspire confidence in their
prescriptions by repeating prayers and incantations over the patient,
or over the medicine they give him, they make him believe that they
derive aid from supernatural power; and the patient concludes that
those who can command these powers to cure can, if they will, command
them to destroy. He and his friends believe that the man who can
command these powers to cure one individual can command them to cure
any other; and, if he does no