These crystals are valued by them according to their size, and it is not easy to procure a large one from them. They are not only regarded as a charm by which wounds and diseases of the human frame can be cured, but they advance another step, by declaring, that when thrown at a person (accompanied, I suppose, by certain incantations) it will have the power of causing his death. This power, said by them to be possessed by the stone, having been mentioned one day by a native to a European settler, the latter ridiculed it, and desired the black to put it to the test by throwing it at him. This, however, was refused, “he being good man;” alluding to the European, “he no want kill him;” and, after using every endeavour to induce blackee to make the trial, he shuffled out of the dilemma, by acknowledging “that it would have no effect upon the white fellers.” The following account of the manner in which the crystal is used by the physician, may be considered interesting. In the Tumat country, a native black, named Golong, was suffering from a spear wound, received a short time previous in a skirmish with a hostile tribe; it was in the evening, (for the stones are only used after dark, as at that time their efficacy is considered greater,) when a native of his tribe, named Baramumbup, employed the crystal for the purpose of healing the wound in the following manner. The patient was laid at a distance of twenty or thirty yards from the encampment, after which the physician commenced the examination of the wound, which he sucked; then, without spitting, he retired to a distance of ten or fifteen yards from the invalid, muttered, or appeared to mutter some prayer or invocation for about a minute; on concluding, he placed the crystal in his mouth, sucked it, and then, removing the stone, spat upon the ground, and trampled upon the discharged saliva, pressing it with his feet firmly into the earth. This ceremony was repeated several times on this and subsequent evenings, until the patient’s recovery, which, of course, was considered to have been effected by the wonderful curative properties resident in the crystal. On making inquiry, why the physician is so careful in trampling the saliva discharged from his mouth into the ground, no satisfactory reason could be obtained, a vague answer only being returned to the query; but it is not improbable that they consider, by this operation, they finally destroy the power of the evil spirit, extracted by the operation, through the virtues of the stone: some such reason for this proceeding may be inferred from an observation made to any European, who may be present at this part of the ceremony, that “He no come up again.”