Chams
A race of Indo-Chinese origin, numbering about
130,000 souls, settled in Annam, Siam, Cochin-China, and Cambodia. They have some reputation among the surrounding population as sorcerers, this corruption probably arising from the mythic influence of a conquered race. Their magicians claim to be able to slay at a distance, or to bring ruin and disease by the aid of magical formulæ. Among the Cambodian Chams, sorcerers are cordially detested by the common people, as they are believed to be the source of all the evil which befalls them, and the majority of them usually end their days by secret assassination. They are nearly always of the female sex, and enter the sisterhood by means of a secret initiation held in the depths of the forest at the hour of midnight. Indeed the actual method of initiation is known to us. The woman who desires to become a sorceress procures the nest of a termite, and sacrifices thereon a cock (See Cock), cutting it in two from the head to the tail, and dancing in front of it in a condition of complete nudity, until by force of her incantations the two halves of the bird approach one another and it becomes once more alive and gives vent to a crow. Sorceresses are said to be known by the tendency of their complexion to alter its hue, and by their swollen and bloodshot eyes. They possess numerous rites for the propitiation of evil spirits, in which, in common with the neighbouring and surrounding populations, they implicitly believe. Thus in building a house numerous propitiatory rites must be observed, accompanied by invocation of the protecting deities. They believe in lucky and unlucky days, and are careful not to undertake anything of importance unless favoured by propitious omens. They possess many peculiar superstitions. Thus they will not disturb grain which has been stored during the day time, as they say it is then asleep, and wait until nightfall before supplying themselves from it. They also have many magical agricultural formulæ, such as the "instruction" to, and passing" of, the standing rice-stems in the harvest field before they are cut and garnered, so that they may be worthy to be stored. The Brahmanic Chams believe that the souls of good men betake themselves to the sun, those of women to the moon, and those of the coolie class into clouds, but these are only places of temporary sojourn, until such time as all finally come to reside within the centre of the earth. The belief in metempsychosis is also highly popular. See E. Aymonier, Les Tchames et leur Religions, Paris, 1891; Aymonier Chaton, Dictionnaire Cam-Française, Paris, 1906; Cahaton, Nouvelles recherches sur les chams, Paris, 1901. 66