POPULAR MISCELLANY 



719 



gees, or priests, are supposed to be, as is 

 their duty, particularly diligent in teaching 

 the wickedness of eating fish, but they like 

 to eat them ; this is illustrated by the story 

 of a fisherman on the Irrawaddy, who built a 

 monastery in the hope of earning the highly- 

 prized title of founder of a religious home. 

 Many poongees came to visit him, but none 

 of them staid long, until at last one came 

 who seemed to find the quarters and the 

 fare to his liking. The fisherman one day 

 asked this holy man anxiously the question, 

 " Why, my father, do not the poongees ap- 

 prove my monastery, for none but yourself 

 have remained over the going down of two 

 suns ? " The poongee told him it was be- 

 cause he broke the law by depriving fish 

 of life. " True," answered the fisherman) 

 " but, were I not to do so, how could I sup- 

 ply your table with fish, or how could I live 

 were I to give up my employment ? " The 

 only reply he could obtain was, " Better to 

 fast while keeping the law than to feast 

 while breaking it ! " The disciple took the 

 priest at his word, and refrained from fishing 

 for three days, giving his guest in the mean 

 time only vegetables for his meals. On the 

 fourth morning, when the same fare ap- 

 peared, the poongee said, " My son, when 

 you fish the river, does your net extend all 

 across, permitting no fish to escape, or is a 

 portion of the river free for those which se- 

 lect to pass to one side ? " " Not all across, 

 but only one third of the way," he answered. 

 " Well, then, my son," said the priest, " I 

 have been seriously considering the subject, 

 and have arrived at the conclusion that, if 

 you leave room for the fish to ascend or 

 descend the stream, and they will not avail 

 themselves of it, but rush headlong into the 

 net, the fault is theirs, and not yours. Even 

 Gautama blessed the hunter who met him 

 when he was hungry, and supplied him with 

 venison. This was accounted as a meritori- 

 ous act, although he must have killed a deer 

 to obtain it. So go, my son, and procure 

 me some fish, for I am hungry." From that 

 day the priest consumed his fish in quiet- 

 ness, and refrained from inquiring whence 

 it had been procured. 



Some Newly Remarked Instincts. Mr. 



Charles S. Clarke, of Peoria, Illinois, re- 

 cently related, in a lecture before the Scien- 



tific Association of that city, an incident, 

 the key to which, if it is found to be of gen- 

 eral application, may disclose a hitherto un- 

 noticed principle of our organization. A 

 child had been lost in the hazel-bushes near 

 its home, and, after all the neighbors had 

 failed to find it in the course of a day's 

 search, an old trapper was called in to as- 

 sist. He marked out with flags a rough 

 circle of about two miles in diameter, start- 

 ing from the bushes and bearing to the left 

 toward the house ; then set the company he 

 had collected in a line along the radius of 

 the circle, and moved them so as to exam- 

 ine the ground all over. The child was soon 

 found. When asked the reason of his pro- 

 ceeding, he replied : " It was very simple. 

 Probably you know that lost people always 

 go round in a circle, but may be you don't 

 know that they always circle agin the sun 

 (from right to left)." "No," replied the 

 speaker, " I have never heard that." " Well, 

 they do," the hunter said, " and every In- 

 dian and trapper from here to the mouth of 

 the Columbia will tell you so. Lost men 

 or women will always make the circle within 

 three miles in diameter, and children in two, 

 unless they are led away by a trail or 

 stopped by a stream." In the course of the 

 same address, Mr. Clark also gave the fol- 

 lowing example, illustrating how much the 

 senses can be cultivated : " While we were 

 talking, two young dogs had gone to a small 

 eminence, a few rods from the old man's 

 cabin, and, with their noses in the air, 

 would at short intervals utter a low, warn- 

 ing cry. The trapper soon noticed it, and, 

 calling to an old dog in the cabin, he said, 

 ' Dave, go up yonder and see what those 

 youngsters are making a fuss about.' The 

 dog, after reaching the place and standing a 

 moment with outstretched neck and dis- 

 tended nostrils, gave a clear but low warn- 

 ing notice, such as I had never heard from 

 a dog before. ' Is that so, Dave ? ' said the 

 old man. He immediately went to the same 

 place and began to sniff the air, much after 

 the manner of the dogs. ' Sure enough, 

 Dave,' he said, ' you are right.' ' What is 

 it?' I asked. 'The prairie is on fire,' he 

 said, ' some thirty or forty miles northwest 

 from here ! I must set a back-fire on the 

 other side of the creek, or my cabin and 

 bees will be in ashes before morning, should 



