April, 1866.J An-hoo-ting with a Stone. 243 



brought up her liead only wlieii an affirmative reply was made. The 

 third operation, on the 8tli, is described by Hall as follows : 



Nu-lcer-zlioo brought into our iyloo from the land a stone weighing 10 pounds ; 

 then he made fast a string of ook-goolc skin to the stone, and thus he was prepared 

 for his witching work. I got on the bed-platform, a deeply-interested si)ectator. 

 The persons present were Nu-l-er-.:hoo, Ar-mou, Mam-marl; myself, Ebierbing, 

 Too-koo-li-too, and their sick babe. Except Ar-mou, who stood on the floor, all 

 were seated on the platform. The stone with which Xu-lcer-zlioo operated, rested 

 on the bed beside him, and the string that encircled the stone was in both his hands, 

 the hand nearest the stone being used as a kind of fnlcrum as well as for the 

 lifting-power. It was by his side, and the string passed just above his lap to his 

 right hand. The first proceedings were for Nu-Jcer-zhoo, on having the string in 

 his hand, as above, to woo or call the Spirit to the stone by calling out ^'■At-tee! 

 At-tee!^^ many times; lifting each time on the stone to determine whether the 

 Spirit responded. The others present occasionally joined in the same call. After 

 two or three minutes spent in this way, to the willing eyes of N'u-Jcer-zhoo the 

 stone, desi)ite of all i)ulls, became almost immovable by the Spirit pulling hard 

 down on it, as the poor devotees to this absurd business believe. This was the 

 indication that the Spirit was willing and ready to answer any question that 

 might be proposed. If the answer was no, the stone had no more than its natural 

 weight; if yes, then Nu-lier-zJioo labored hard to raise it the least hit. 



The object aimed at on each of these occasions was plainly enoug-li 

 indicated by some of the many questions which the Spirit answered. 

 These were, " Should the child take any more of Hall's medicines?" 

 and, more pointedly, " Had Too-koo-li-too conformed to the customs 

 of her people in her habits of daily life, food," &c.; or "on what 

 conditions would the child's life be saved!" The answers to such 

 questions as the two first of these were always strongly in the nega- 

 tive; to the third it was, in substance, that if the mother should, for 

 the space of five months, give up the use of such articles as bread and 

 tea, or remain with Ou-e-la's people, the child would live; but if the 



