1S93.] S. 0. Mifcra — Drowning and Drowned Persons. 105 



to a distant part -wherein he will have to cross rivers, simply for the 

 purpose of appeasing the river-goddesses who will, therefore, preserve 

 him from all accidents in the rivers. The Bengali boatmen cry " Badar, 

 Badar" when a boat is in danger of capsizing, in the belief that doing 

 so wonld cause the vessel to reach its destination safely. The Ainos, 

 who are the aborigines of Japan, believe that if they throw the images 

 of their gods, which are nothing but wands and posts of peeled wood, 

 whittled nearly to the top, from which the pendent shavings fall down 

 in white curls, into rivers, streams, rapids and other dangerous places, 

 they will be able to cross them safely.* The Japanese worship a god 

 who, they believe, saves men from drowning and accident. They have 

 also an amulet which saves persons from drowning. Miss Bird says, 

 " The amulet which saves from drowning is a certain cure for choking, 

 if courageously swallowed. "f The Kakhyens of Burma worship a ISTat 

 called the Khahoo Kha-nam, the god of water — on the occasion of any- 

 one getting drowned. They also worship another Nat named the Ndong 

 Nat ( Aing-peen Nat of the Burmese) — the God of the Outside of Home, 

 who, they believe, resides in the house, but is worshipped by them outside 

 if one of the family is killed by drowning.^ The Mahommedans, when 

 undertaking journeys by water utter, as a protective from drowning, 

 the following formula which is contained in Surah Nooh of the Koran : — 



The whole may be transliterated in Eoman characters thus : " Bis- 

 millaheh majriha o mursaha inna rabi-il-ghafur ur-rahim." The origin 

 of this custom is contained in the following legend which runs thus 

 narrated in Urdu : — 



<2- ti> l fr! j^l li?* ^i ^1 K c;^ 1 ^ ^U* |*^~- ,t **** z^ ^-^ b A M^ 



The legend in Urdu may be thus translated into English : — 



" The story of the Deluge of the Patriarch Noah — on whom be 

 p eace — i s well-known. The long and short of it is that when the Deluge 



* Mrs. Bird's Unbeaten Trades in Japan, Vol. II, p. 95. 



f Op. cit. Vol. I., p. 379 and p. 380. % Anderson's Mandalay to Momicn, page 457. 



