Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/491

 Folklore of the Algerian Hills and Desert. 183

in the ordinary affairs of life gladly paying the scribe the sum at which the Jinn itself is supposed to assess his services.

I recently noted two methods of foretelling the result of an illness which differ from those I noted before the War. A sorceress takes a large wooden ladle, such as is to be found in almost every Shawiya home, into which she puts some flour. To this she adds water without, however, stirring it, and then carefully pours away the water so as to leave the moistened flour in the ladle. Should the flour be left smooth, a favourable result of the illness is pre- dicted ; but should it form into lumps suggesting graves, the patient will die. In the latter event the invalid is not informed of the fate which awaits him ; but a satisfactory result is communicated to the sufferer. The second method of divination is concerned with a curious illness due, apparently, to the date of a child's birth. If two children are born in neighbouring houses in the same month but exactly fifteen days apart, e.g. on the first and fifteenth or the sixteenth and the thirtieth days of the month, one of them is certain to be sickly. In order to ascertain its fate its relatives dress up a stick to resemble a man, clothing it completely with sheshiya or red skullcap, gandura, a shirt, etc. This efiigy they set upright beside a stream at a point where a barrage deflects the waters of the stream into a saqiya, or small irrigation canal. At the same time they place an egg in the water. The family visits the spot daily at dawn and sunset to see whether the effigy remains upright. Should it have fallen, the egg will be found to be bad and the child will die. On the day on which the effigy is placed beside the stream some barley is thrown upon the ground beneath the tripod which supports the waterskin in the home, ground rendered damp by the water dripping from the skin. This barley is allowed to grow and is cut three times. Should it grow strongly, the child will live ; should it droop, the infant must die. My