Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/349

Rh weird scream of a nature to suggest a devilish origin. Remembering the story of the Gingee ghost, however, I was able to assure the timid servants that it was not a devil.

Natives believe that evil spirits assume the shapes of animals. The sight of the hyæna would not have brought conviction to their minds that the disturber of the night was nothing but a hungry animal. Soon after we arrived in Trichinopoly a murder case came before the cantonment magistrate. A villager had killed an old woman, a stranger, who was travelling south, begging her way along. The poor old body had been forsaken by her family, who had gone to Ceylon. She was in search of them. The man was in his field having just finished his day's work. The sun had set, and it was the moment when the devils of India are supposed to awake and go forth on their errands of mischief and spite. He saw the old woman approaching and took her for a devil. Snatching up his marmotty, he rushed at her and slew her on the spot, in the full belief that he had conferred a benefit upon the hamlet by his prompt action. This was the only reason and excuse he could offer for his conduct.

Although many Europeans died of disease and were killed round the old Fort of Gingee, there is no sign of a cemetery to be seen in or near the place. A piece of ground must have been set apart for that purpose, as was customary at every station occupied by Europeans, whether English, French, or of any other nation. Probably tombstones were erected over the graves to mark the spot. If this were so, the monuments were destroyed when the fort was given back to the native Prince. The stones, no longer protected, were carried off by the inhabitants of the town that lies at the foot of the hills. The Hindu discovered long ago that a monumental slab