- Compare Mr. Hodgson's account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos and
Dhimals: "All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man
is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pain
as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. Hence not
the mediciner, but the exorcist, is summoned to the sick man's aid."
(J.A.S.B. XVIII. 728.)
NOTE 10. - Mr. Hodgson again: "Libations of fermented liquor always
accompany sacrifice - because, to confess the whole truth, sacrifice and
feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be crowned with copious
potations." (Ibid.)
NOTE 11. - And again: "The god in question is asked what sacrifice he
requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck, to spare the sufferer; ...
anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will not try the patience
of my readers by describing all that vast variety of black victims and
white, of red victims and blue, which each particular deity is alleged to
prefer." (Ibid. and p. 732.)
NOTE 12. - The same system of devil-dancing is prevalent among the tribes
on the Lu-kiang, as described by the R.C. Missionaries. The conjurors are
there called Mumos. (Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi, XXXVI. 323, and
XXXVII. 312-313.)
"Marco's account of the exorcism of evil spirits in cases of obstinate
illness exactly resembles what is done in similar cases by the Burmese,
except that I never saw animals sacrificed on such occasions." (Sir A.
Phayre.)
Mouhot says of the wild people of Cambodia called Stiens:
