Note 40 — V.—CHARMS, SPELLS, AMULETS AND DIVINATIONS.

Another mode of divination employed is by means of a small image carved out of willow wood (See supra for qualities attributed to this wood). The medium is in this case also a woman. A recent writer thus describes the modus operandi: “The image is first exposed to the dew for forty-nine nights, when after the performance of certain ceremonies it is believed to have the power of speaking. The image is laid upon the stomach of the woman to whom it belongs, and she by means of it pretends to be the medium of communication between the dead and the living. She sometimes sends the image into the world of spirits to find the person about whom intelligence is sought; it then changes into an elf or sprite, and ostensibly departs on its errand. The spirit of the person enters the image, and gives the information sought after by the surviving relatives. The woman is supposed not to utter a word, the message seeming to proceed from the image. The questions are addressed to the medium, the replies appear to come from her stomach; there is probably a kind of ventriloquism employed, and the fact that the voice appears to proceed from the stomach undoubtedly assists the delusion; any way, there are scores and scores of these mediums implicitly believed in, and widows who desire to communicate with their deceased husbands, or people who desire any information about a future state, invariably resort to their aid.” In Kwang-hsi again there are wizards who use a magic water called ku-tu.40 They take this medicine and smear it on a grain of rice, which they throw away. The natives gravely believe that if any one is unfortunate enough to touch this grain of rice, he at once grows ill; his stomach swells, and continues to do so for a month or so until he at length bursts and out gush, not bowels, but unboiled rice. If the ku-tu is smeared on straw, the stomach of the person touching it, in like manner, becomes full of straw!