108 S. C. Mitra — Droivning and Drowned Perrons. [No. 3, 



jjoint, when it suddenly sank. The boy was found within a few feet of 

 the spot." 



This belief is to be found in other forms in many countries. Another 

 form of it consists in floating a loaf weighted with mercury, which is be- 

 lieved to float at once towards, and stand over, the spot where the corpse 

 lies. A writer in an American paper gives the following instances of this 

 belief : " Some years ago, a boy fell into the stream at Sherborne, Dorset- 

 shire, and was drowned. The body not having been recovered for some 

 days, the mode of procedure adopted was thus : A four-pound loaf of best 

 flour was procured, and a small piece cut out of the side of it, forming 

 a cavity, into which a little quicksilver was poured. The piece was 

 then replaced, and tied firmly in its original position. The loaf thus 

 prepared was thrown into the river at the spot where the body fell, and 

 was expected to float down the stream till it came to the place where 

 the body had lodged. But no satisfactory result occurred." In another 

 form, this belief is also prevalent among the aboriginal Indians of 

 North America. Sir James Alexander, in his work on Canada, says : 

 " The Indians imagine that in the case of a drowned body, its place 

 may be discovered by floating a chip of cedar wood, ■which will stop 

 and turn round over the exact spot. An instance occurred within my 

 own knowledge, in the case of Mr. Lowery, of Kingston Mill, whose boat 

 was overturned, and himself drowned near Cedar Island, nor conld the 

 body be discovered until this experiment was resorted to." The writer 

 in the American paper, from whom I have quoted the above, says : " Not 

 many months ago a man was drowned at St. Louis. After search had 

 beed made for the body, but without success, the man's shirt, which he 

 had laid aside when he went in to bathe, was spread out on the water, 

 and allowed to float away. For a while it floated, and then sank, near 

 which spot, it is reported, the man's body was found." Another modi- 

 fication of the theory of the discovery of a drowned man's corpse by a 

 loaf, is current in Brittany. When a man gets drowned in Brittany 

 and his corpse cannot be recovered, a lighted taper is stuck into a loaf 

 of bread, which is then set adrift in the stream. Wherever the loaf of 

 bread stands over, still, there, it is believed, the corpse lies underneath 

 the water. Another modification of this belief consists in tying round 

 a wisp of straw, a strip of parchment having on it some cabalistic letters 

 written by the parish priest, and setting it afloat in the stream. 

 Wherever it will stop still, there, it is believed, the body is sure to be 

 found. A correspondent of Notes and Queries says that the corpse of a 

 drowned person was recovered by this means. 



In some other countries, a living animal is employed for the purpose 

 of recovering the body of a drowned man. It is believed that the 



