Mutto daft erit daakkaa
Mailme khetzhjai mannat,
la don kalkak dai
Pazhjatallah, dachekejetzhja lakai hxwanet.
Accurfed wolf! far hence away!
Make in thefe woods no longer ftay:
Fly hence! and feek earth’s utmoft bounds,
Or perifli by the hunter’s wounds.
The method taken by the Noaaid to recover ftolen goods is no
«lore than this. He comes into the tent where he has reafon to
fufpect the thief is to be found, and pouring a quantity of brandy
into a difh, which then reflecfts the features of any perfon looking
into it, he makes a number o f grimaces over it, and appears to
confider it with very great attention. After fome length of time
employed in this way, he takes the fufpeded Laplander afide,
charges him with the fad , declares th a t he faw his face plainly
figured to him in the diih, and threatens to let loofe a fwarm o f
ganic flies upon him, who fhall torment him until he makes ref-
titution. Thus does the magician work upon the fears and ap-
prehenfions o f the fufpeded perfon, who, if he be the real thief,
never fails to replace whatever he has ftolen with the fame fecrecy
as he took it away.
The egregious folly o f believing th a t certain perfons were endowed
with fupematural power, and th a t they were aftifted by
inviiible fpirits, was univerial foon after the eftabhihment of
Chriftianity,
Chriftianity, and began not to be generally difcredited till the
ftxteenth century. In England we even find witchcraft fupported
by royal authority : by James I. countenanced by the great Lord
Bacon. The belief in fpirits, not lefs abfurd, even the vigorous
mind of Dr. Johnfon was not exempt from. But thefe ridiculous,
mifchievous, and cruel delufions, are happily banifhed
almoft from the habitations o f the moft ignorant, and we already
begin to wonder at the credulity o f our anceftors.