In case the spirit-medium’s prescription proves ineffective and the person gets worse, witchcraft is sometimes suspected, and an exorcist is called in. The charge of witchcraft means ruin to the person accused, and to his or her family. It arises as follows: The ghost or spirit of witchcraft is called Pee-Kah. No one professes to have seen it, but it is said to have the form of a horse, from the sound of its passage through the forest resembling the clatter of a horse’s hoofs when at full gallop. These spirits are said to be reinforced by the deaths of very poor people, whose spirits were so disgusted with those who refused them food or shelter that they determined to return and place themselves at the disposal of their descendants to haunt their stingy and hard-hearted neighbours. Should any one rave in delirium, a Pee-Kah is supposed to have passed by. Every class of spirits—even the ancestral spirits, and those that guard the streets and villages—are afraid of the PeeKah. At its approach the household spirits take instant flight; nor will they return until it has worked its will and retired, or been exorcised. Yet the Pee-Kah, as I have shown, is itself an ancestral spirit, and follows as their shadow the son and daughter, as it followed their parents through their lives. It is not ubiquitous, but at one time may attend the parent and at another the child, when both are living. Its food is the entrails of its living victim, and its feast continues until its appetite is satisfied, or the feast is cut short by the incantations of the spirit-doctor or exorcist. Very often the result is the death of its victim. When the exorcist, spirit-doctor, or witch-finder is called in and asked whether he considers the patient is suffering from a Pee-Kah, he puts on a knowing look, and after a cursory examination of the person, generally declares it to be so. His task is then to find out whose Pee-Kah is devouring the sick person. After calling the officer of the village and a few head-men as witnesses, he commences questioning the invalid. He first asks, “Whose spirit has bewitched you?” The person may be in a stupor, half unconscious, half delirious from the severity of the disease, and therefore does not reply. A pinch or a stroke of a cane may restore consciousness. If so, the question is repeated; if not, another pinch or stroke is administered. A cry of pain may be the result. That is one step towards the disclosure; for it is a curious fact that, after the case has been pronounced one of witchcraft, each reply to the question, pinch, or stroke is considered as being uttered by the Pee-Kah through the mouth of the bewitched person. A person pinched or caned into consciousness cannot long endure the torture, especially if reduced by a long illness. Those who have not the wish nor the heart to injure any one often refuse to name the wizard or witch until they have been unmercifully beaten.