It is plain that the boy’s sister and aunt in order to save themselves caused the jan to see an innocent woman.  I could not bring the boy back to life so it was useless for me to say anything, especially as the guilty women were of the Paranik’s own family.  This I saw myself in broad daylight.

Another thing that happened to me was this.  I had been with the Headman to pay in the village rent.  It was night when we returned and after leaving him I was going home alone.  As I passed in front of a house a bright light suddenly shone from the cowshed; I looked round and saw a great crowd of women-witches standing there.  I ran away by the garden at the back of the house until I reached a high road; then I stopped and looked round and saw that the witches were coming after me; and looking towards the hamlet where my house was I saw that witches were coming with a bright light from that direction also.  When I found myself thus hemmed in I felt that my last hour had come but I ran on till I came to some jungle.

Looking back from there I saw that the two bands had joined together and were coming after me.  I did not feel safe there for I knew that there were bongas in the jungle who might tell the witches where I was.  So I ran on to the tola where an uncle and aunt of mine lived.  As I ran down the street I saw two witches at the back of one of the houses.  They were sitting down; one was in a state of possession (rum) and the other was opposite her holding a lamp.  So I left the street and made my way through the fields till I Came to my uncle’s house.  I knocked and was admitted panting and breathless; my uncle and aunt went outside to see what it was that had scared me and they saw the witches with the two lights flashing and made haste to bolt the door.  None of us slept for the rest of the night and in the morning I told them all that had happened.

Since that night I have been very frightened of witches and do not like to go out at night.  It was lucky that the witches did not recognise me; otherwise I should not have lived.  Ever since I have never stayed at home for long together; I go there for two or three months at a time and then go away and work elsewhere.  I am too frightened to stay in my own village.  Now all the old women who taught witchcraft are dead except one:  when she goes I shall not be frightened any more.  I shall be able to go home when I like.  I have never told any one but my uncle and aunt what I saw until now that I have written it down.

So from my own experience I have no doubt about the existence of witches; I cannot say how they “eat” men, whether by magic or whether they order "bongas" to cause a certain man to die on a certain day.  Some people say that when a witch is first initiated she is married to a bonga and if she wants to “eat” a man she orders her bonga husband to kill him and if he refuses she heaps abuse on him until he does.