Introduction.

"Ti-shao-ma" is probably the name given to this spirit in the Yi language. Yang Yung-xin preferred the Miao name Yi gi-lao-jiw. The "dlang", the magical objects, which were used to bring disease and death to cattle, took a variety of forms. That described by Wang Ming-ji was a small bunch of pieces of yarn, a few inches long, tied together into a knot. He does not say whether its lethal power had to be introduced into it by some ritual act, or whether, once it was made, the malignant spirit would come of its own accord and occupy it. However this may have been, the object could not be handled safely, or disposed of, except by the shaman-healer.

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