As the sun went
down she made a start with such swiftness that the fastest runner
could not come up with her, and when at the distance of about two
hundred yards she dropped on a sudden as if shot. Soon afterwards
a young man, on coming up with her, fired a matchlock over her
body, and struck her upon the back with the broad side of his
large knife, and asked her name, to which she answered as when in
her common senses--a sure proof of her being cured; for during the
time of this malady those afflicted with it never answer to their
Christian names. She was now taken up in a very weak condition
and carried home, and a priest came and baptised her again in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which ceremony concluded
her cure. Some are taken in this manner to the market-place for
many days before they can be cured, and it sometimes happens that
they cannot be cured at all. I have seen them in these fits dance
with a BRULY, or bottle of maize, upon their heads without
spilling the liquor, or letting the bottle fall, although they
have put themselves into the most extravagant postures.
"I could not have ventured to write this from hearsay, nor could I
conceive it possible, until I was obliged to put this remedy in
practice upon my own wife, who was seized with the same disorder,
and then I was compelled to have a still nearer view of this
strange disorder.
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