Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/114

86 does fall, after this rite, it is a sign that the charmer was impure. They are said to have gained this power from the saint Sayyid Muhammadi, whose tomb is venerated at Bhera. Descendants of another saint. Sháh Biláwal, cure hydrophobia by blowing charms on salt. The healer sits on a raised seat, and stretches out his legs; the sick man is passed under him, and eats the holy salt. Another healer cures guinea-worm, scrofula, swollen glands, and boils by sitting in a mosque with the sick person lying on a cot before him. He recites charms, and waves a wand of the date or other tree. Another family gained the gift of healing because their ancestor once released the hair of a noted Fakír which had become entangled in a tree. In his gratitude the holy man conferred on his benefactor a cure for guinea-worm by reading a charm and marking lines on the patient's body. His descendants give the sufferer a charmed slip of paper, which he continues to stare at while the healer makes lines on the affected limb. Another worthy cures pains in the loins by giving the sick man a kick in that region.

In the Jhílam District some people cure inflamed eyes by hanging an amulet round the waist and giving pills. They also know charms effective to free a person from the influence of evil spirits. In the case of a bite of a dog they draw a line with an iron rod round the wound to prevent the poison from spreading. At Datiya jaundice is cured by invoking the seven daughters of the Lord Siva and giving the patient some charmed lentils. The healer, if his charm is to work, must not practise it during the Holi or spring festival, the Diváli or feast of lamps, or an eclipse, or immediately after his return from a funeral. The charm must be recited three times while the patient is fumigated with incense.

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[Communicated by Mr. R. R. Marett.]

The following four Corroboree Songs, spelt phonetically in the Goorang-Goorang dialect, were obtained by Mr. R. B. B. Clayton,