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THE NATIOXAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



])ermitted to be one or two stories high. 

 Pagoda temples and pawnshops are ex- 

 ceptions by special permission and pay- 

 ment. Here is fonnd largely the objec- 

 tion to railways, telegraphs, and the high 

 houses of foreigners. These things bring 

 actual terror to the Chinese, for they 

 interfere with the flight of devils. 

 Calamities of every kind hang over the 

 neighborhood through these offended 

 devils. 



Spirits cannot turn a corner safely ; 

 hence all public highways and waterways 

 and city streets are never built straight, 

 but twist and turn. It is hoped by this 

 arrangement that the devils may get con- 

 fused and lost. For this reason doors 

 and windows are not placed opposite 

 each other, and outside windows are 

 rare, to prevent devils entering. As 

 many intricacies as possible are intro- 

 duced. The very straightness, therefore, 

 of railways and telegraph lines and all 

 roads built by foreigners is a menace. 



In the above conditions lies one of the 

 great secret causes of hatred toward for- 

 eigners ; for, though the Chinese may 

 actually build these roads and houses for 

 the sake of the money they earn, yet they 

 do so in fear, unless they can find a 

 satisfactory way of counteracting their 

 malign influence. The hatred, however, 

 always abides. 



DRIVING OUT the: DEVII.S 



Taoist priests can buy or drive these 

 devils out, and you find them beating 

 tomtoms through the streets at that work 

 at any hour of the day or night. 



Boys, so precious to the Chinaman, are 

 given girls' names or dressed in girls' 

 clothes, or called dogs, cats, or any old 

 wretched things to trick the devils into 

 supposing they are not boys at all. The 

 devils may then think it not worth their 

 while to bring calamity upon them. They 

 certainly have a very poor opinion of the 

 intelligence of these devils. 



No journey, no business or social en- 

 gagement is undertaken without propiti- 

 ating these spirits. 



No grave is located by the astrologers 

 till the ])roper ceremonies are performed 



and their permission secured for burial. 

 These burial professors are sent for at 

 death. They live with and must be kept 

 by the family freely and be paid besides. 

 It is their policy, therefore, to prolong 

 their decision as long as possible. Some- 

 times months elapse before thev decide, 

 and in the meantime the body remains 

 in the house coffined but unburied. So 

 superstitious and fearful are the people 

 that, although they are quite aw^are of 

 the trick, yet they submit to the dreadful 

 imposition. 



Not so strange is it that among a peo- 

 ple dominated by such beliefs a coffin 

 should be among the best of gifts to a 

 friend. The necessities of such burial 

 rites explain also the fact of the traveling 

 Chinaman carrying his coffin with him as 

 part of his baggage. Coffins are, for 

 evident reasons, made of great thickness, 

 and are supposed to be air-tight. This 

 is, unfortunately, not always the case. 

 Visitors would welcome more careful 

 sanitary conditions. 



Shrines are met with everywhere and 

 in the most extraordinary places. Where 

 any bones are found of some one mur- 

 dered or starved to death, there a shrine 

 is erected and the bones collected and 

 placed in it. There the traveler will 

 pause and cast in a ''cash" or place an 

 incense stick to propitiate the devil of 

 the deceased. 



Property is not devised by will, but 

 is apportioned before the father dies. 

 No such outrage as the neglect of par- 

 ents can occur in China as with us. 

 Honors, if conferred, are bestowed upon 

 ancestors and not upon descendants. It 

 is a constant subject of wonder why 

 Chinese homes are so often located in 

 such insanitary situations. The cause 

 lies in the same fear of devils. The 

 owners imagine themselves more likely 

 to be free from their visitations, as they 

 think the devils may not consider it worth 

 the trouble to look after such wretched 

 people. 



The very reverse is the case with their 

 graves. These are the residences of 

 their ancestors and nothing is too good 

 for them. The beautiful breezy hillside 



