320 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1886. 



tions, petitioning the gods to admit these their children to their 

 aliode. Man3^ and diverse incantations are iterated. One, given 

 to rae by a woman who appeared to be an expert, may be trans- 

 lated as follows : 



Sister spirit, ghost of nun, Spirit, spiiit, come and reach 



Body take bv sharing one ; Hand to lead us ; vouchsafe speech ; 



Twu or three await tliee here. Be incarnate in us here ; 



Choo.-e in which thou wilt appear. Choose in whom thou wilt appear. 



Two or three of the women, perhaps, fall into trance. Their 

 doing so is indicated by their trembling violently, dropping the 

 incense-sticks they were holding, beginning to beat the table with 

 the palms of their hands, and to discourse incoherentl}'. They 

 speak of meeting their own lost friends, or those of other women 

 who are present. They weep bitterly while they appear to con- 

 verse with tlie dead. They describe streets, shops and houses 

 and say that certain person are engaged in agriculture or ti'ade. 

 Sometimes they, by request, make inquiry concerning the where- 

 abouts of a dead person, and then give the information that he 

 has been born into the human family for the second time. Some- 

 times they report that a dead neighbor is shut up in Hades with 

 nothing to eat but the salted flesh of the infant daughters she 

 destroyed when she was alive. 



Many women go to these meetings merely as observers ; many ' 

 more go in order to avail themselves of what the}' believe to be 

 an opportunity to hear from dead relatives ; a few go with the 

 hope that they may themselves fall into trance, and see the spirit 

 of some recently deceased friend. It is said that those who wish 

 to enter Elysium and see the dwellings of the gods and geni, 

 must make the attempt in the forenoon, while those who wish to 

 visit lower spheres get admittance only in the afternoon. 



As no pecuniary benefit accrues, directly or indirectly, to the 

 actors in these scenes, there is less reason for suspecting conscious 

 deception than in the case of the public interpreters for the gods. 



No foreign lady can get access to these sittings, and no native 

 Christian woman is admitted to them. It is said that no one falls 

 into the trance-state, if a Monotheist be within sight or hearing. 

 My knowledge is gained wholly from a score of Chinese women, 

 now my pupils, who in former years attended these sittings, and 

 who have described to me the scenes of the eighth month. 



Throughout the whole there is indication that the minds of the 

 women are, during these trances, moving in customary grooves. 

 They evidently see what they expect to see. The gardens of 

 Elysium are laid out in Chinese style; the architecture of the 

 buildings is Chinese ; the punishments are those made familiar to 

 the imagination by Buddhism and Tauism ; the costumes, the 

 implements, and the paraphernalia are such as are common in 

 Swatow. These seekers after truth in the land of shades bring 



