tooth, and, muttering some gibberish, drew it along the side and back of the patient, leaving deep scratches; the patient, unable to speak, of course writhed and struggled. At length, after a deeper incision (which drew the blood), the patient uttered an audible cry; this sound was interpreted by the ferocious, drunken spirit-doctors to indicate the situation of the spirit. With a vigorous thrust in the side, while his assistant, thinking he had discovered the spirit in another region, was equally attentive, the chief inquisitor with foul and abusive language ordered the spirit to leave. The exorcism was a failure, and the spirit refused to make itself known, though pressingly flattered to do so by the persuasive and forcible eloquence of these three drunken, demoniac savages.
In these investigations any injury inflicted is directed against the spirit, and any answers to questions asked by the doctor or the friends of the patient are supposed to proceed from the spirit; so the doctor asks the name of the spirit, and the patient, if conscious or partly so, will, in order to escape torture, give the name of some acquaintance, probably some near and intimate neighbor; for usually some suspicion will have been expressed. The name of some one having been mentioned by the patient, various questions concerning the domestic relations of the family of the person named are asked, such as the names
