492 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIOXS. 



Signaque dat, digitis medio cum pollice junctis,' 



Oceurrat taoito ne levis umbra sibi ; 

 QuumquG manus pure fontana perluit unda, 



Vertitur, et nigras accipit ore fabas, 

 Aversusque jacit, sed dum jacit ' Hsco ego mitto, 



His, inquit, redimo meque meosque fabis.' 

 Hoc novies dicit, nee respicit ; umbra putatiir 



CoUigcre et nullo terga ridento sequi." 



Fadi r. 429. 



Some copies read 'ante' in place of 'ore,' but the beans in tliis case may have been 

 intentionally deposited in the mouth with regard to the silence-loving shades to 

 wliich they were oifered. In support of this view may be adduced the amusing 

 account given by Ovid of the offerings made to Tacita. 



" Eccc anus in mediis residons annosa puellis 



Sacra facit Tacitte ; vix tamen ipsa tacet. 

 Et digitis tria thura tribus sub limine ponit, 



Qua brcvis occultum mus sibi fecit iter. 

 Turn cantata ligat cum f usco lieia rhombo ; 



Et septem nigras versat in ore fabas ; 

 Quodque pice astrinxit, quod acu trajecit acna, 



Obsutum moeme torret in igne caput. 

 Vina quoque instillat ; vini quodcumque relictura est, 



Aut ipsa, aut comites, plus tamen ipsa, bibit. 

 ' Hostiles li^iguas iuimicaque vinximus era,' 



Dicit disccdens, ebriaque exit anus." 



Fasti II. 571. 



An amusing mode of fortune-telling by beans is thus described by De Guberaatis : 

 "En Sicile (Noto) et en Toscane (Campagne de Florence), les jeunes fiUes qui 

 desirent un mari apprennent leur soit par les feves ; voici comment : elles mettent 

 dans un petit sac trois feves, I'une entiere, une autre sans I'oeil, une troisieme sans 

 ecorce, et elles los seconent ; puis elles en tirent une, si elles ont la chance de tomber 

 sur la feve entiere, un mari riche et bien portant leur est garanti ; si elles tombent 

 sur la feve sans ceil, leur mari sera iniirme et gene ; si elles ont le malheur d'attraper 

 la feve sans ecorce, le seul mari qui se presentera pour les epouser sera un pauvre 

 diable sans le sou." — ilythologie des Plantes, vol. ii. p. 136. 



Sub-order EU-LEGUMINOS^. 



Flowers more or less irregular, rarely almost regular, and in this case the 

 standard-petal slightly larger and innermost in bud. Petals imbricate in bud. 

 Stamens definite, variously connate or rarely free. 



PAPILIOXACIE^E. 

 Uppermost petal (standard) outside in hud. 

 * Stamens free from the hase or slighthj connate at tlie very base onli/. 



' The thoughtful student will not fail to remember that the Pope of Rome still blesses the faithful 

 ■with three fingers, on the centi'e one of which is a ring, evidently a variation of the procedure alluded 

 to by Ovid. 



For some very pointed remarks (which cannot here be reproduced) on Christians still persisting 

 in the use of symbols of a Pagan and indecent character, see luman's ' Ancient Faiths embodied in 

 Ancient Names,' vol. ii. p. 651, but the cause of what seems so surprising to the writer is not far to 

 seek. It is simply ignorance. Not one person in a hundred has any conception of the original 

 significance of religious symbols, and it is about the last subject regarding which people may look for 

 any enlightenment from their religious teachers, many of whom, however, it must in fairness be 

 allowed, are as ignorant on such matters as the bulk of the laity. It is an utterly tabooed subject, 

 save with a few restless philosophers who have acquired the inconvenient habit of logical thought ! 



