With the divinities present and our souls in place, we were wished health, happiness, and power. Then, one after another, the villagers tied the waiting cotton strings around our wrists. These were to be kept on, to hold in the 32 souls.

As we stepped out into the sunlight, a man came up to John Cool and silently showed him his hand. It had a festering hole as big as a silver dollar. We could see maggots moving.

John said: ``I have some antiseptic salve with me, but it's too late for that.''