were about to appear. My father seated himself
on one side of me, and our servant on the
other. The stranger then wrote some short
sentences from the Koran, which he placed beneath
the burning coals, and he uttered some strange
words of incantation while the paper was
consuming. Scarcely was this accomplished, when
behold my mother and sister became visible in
the middle of the room, and as they regarded
me with smiles of tenderness I did not feel the
slightest fear, but, on the contrary, the liveliest
desire to fling myself into their arms. The
apparition had lasted some minutes, when, no
longer able to restrain myself (for I thought
that the relatives I desired to see were really
before me), I endeavoured to run towards them,
but was withheld by my father, who kept me
back with his hand across my body. I then
cried out: ' Oh, mother! do you not say a word
to me?' In an instant the figures disappeared;
the magician looked at me with a terrible frown,
and my father dealt me a heavy blow for my
disobedience. I was in despair, and to calm me
the stranger at length promised to repeat the
same scene the following day. I expressed a
wish that he should come and lodge with us, for
his presence alone seemed to console me, and
this he kindly consented to do. The following
day, before commencing the proceedings, he
made me take an oath upon the Koran that I
would remain quiet; then by the same arts he
again presented to me the vision of my mother
and sister. I was already much better. Twice
afterwards, during our pilgrimage, he caused
them to reappear, and my health was thus
completely re-established."

There resides at Libokhowa (a small town of
Epirus, ten leagues from Yanina) a respectable
man named Omar Kombar Aga. He is the
Kiahya (steward) to the sister of Ali Pasha,
who occupies a palace in the above-mentioned
town. Since the year 1808, Djins have troubled
the repose of the house of Omar Aga. They
throw every day a quantity of large and small
stones into the rooms and over the staircase and
passages; they drag the furniture about here
and there; they light fires in the cellar;
extinguish those in the kitchen and stove; they
empty vases filled with water, and even carry
the dishes off the table, calling on people by
their names, and playing other strange tricks.
These events take place by day as well as by
night, so that neither has the master of the house
any peace, nor have those who reside with him.
He has disbursed large sums, which he has paid
to persons who have promised to drive the Djins
from the house, but, up to this present time,
money and means have been alike ineffectual,
insomuch that Omar Aga has been obliged to
abandon his dwelling, in which, however, he
continues to have magical arts exercised, in the
hopes of being able to reoccupy it. I write on
the 13th of February, 1818, and it is now just six
days since he left this place (Yanina), accompanied
by an exorcist, whose services he has
engaged at great cost. The outlines of this case
are generally known, not only to the inhabitants
of Libokhowa and the surrounding villages, but
also to the whole town of Yanina. I am now
about to relate some particular circumstances
relating to this affair, facts that have been
reported to me by eye-witnesses.

A cadi, a relation of the above named Omar
Aga, told me that he slept one night in this
house while it was still tenanted, and dwelt in
the same room as a young man, one of the family.
During the night the Djins threw stones into
the middle of the room, but without, as usual,
touching the two persons who occupied it;
upon this the youth observed to the cadi,
"These Djins would be very gracious if, instead
of stones, they would throw us roasted chesnuts."
The cadi imposed silence; but what was
their surprise when, about two minutes after,
there fell by the side of the speaker about an
oke (three pounds) of chesnuts roasted and
peeled? The cadi was afraid to eat them,
but, encouraged by his young relative, he
profited by the generosity of the spirits, and
ventured to partake of them, found them
excellent, and preserved a portion of them in a box
as a treasure. This account, he gave me himself.

This same cadi related to me that, being on
another occasion in this dwelling in broad
daylight, he was engaged in the performance of the
Abdist (the required ablution), previously to the
mid-day prayer, when a large stone fell right on
his face without doing him the slightest injury,
as though it had been held in the hand of one
who only touched his features with it.

The owner of this mysterious house had a son
named Ishmael. One night he heard a voice
calling "Ishmael! Ishmael!" several times, and
fearing that his father had been taken suddenly
ill, he hastened to his room, where he found him
in good health, and was assured by him that he
had not called him. Whilst they were speaking
together, several voices were heard to cry out in
the room itself, " Ishmael! Ishmael!" The word
was repeated again and again. Both father and
son then understood that the voices must be
those of the Djins; and since that period every
day and every night they shout the name of
Ishmael.

In the early days of these singular occurrences,
a resident in Libokhowa, named Hussein
Aga, refused to believe all the marvellous things
that he heard respecting this house, and he
went with some other neighbours to visit Omar
Aga, in order to assure himself of the truth or
falsehood of the reports which had reached
him. The incredulous Hussein Aga, while
ascending the stairs, called out from afar to the
master of the house, " Well, now! what has
become of your Djins? They hide themselves!"
In an instant he received such a blow that his
turban fell to the bottom of the staircase, while
he was himself thrown down upon the balcony.
He was seized with such an excess of fear that
convulsions ensued, and he was conveyed home,
where he was laid up for a fortnight.

But the most interesting of all the anecdotes
which I might recount respecting this dwelling,
is the following: