4 



SUBTERRANEAN HAIRS. Chap. 1. 



When daylight dawned on the following morn- 

 ing it was found that the damage done was not 

 very great. The wall I have already noticed had 

 fallen, some beams in one of the houses had come 

 through the ceiling, and a quantity of goods had 

 tumbled down in one of the godowns. Most of the 

 clocks had stopped, and some few lamps and glasses 

 were broken, but upon the whole the damage done 

 was very inconsiderable. Groups of Chinese were 

 seen in the gardens, road-sides, and fields, engaged 

 in gathering hairs which are said to make their 

 appearance on the surface of the ground after an 

 earthquake takes place. This proceeding attracted 

 a great deal of attention from some of the foreign 

 residents in Shanghae, and the Chinese were closely 

 examined upon the subject. Most of them fully 

 believed that these hairs made their appearance 

 only after an earthquake had occurred, but could 

 give no satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, 

 while some more wise than their neighbours did 

 not hesitate to affirm that they belonged to some 

 huge subterraneous animal whose slightest shake 

 was sufficient to move the world. 



I must confess, at the risk of being laughed at, 

 that I was one of those who took an interest in 

 this curious subject, and that I joined several groups 

 who were searching for these hairs. In the course 

 of my travels I have ever found it unwise to laugh 

 at what I conceived to be the prejudices of a 

 people simply because I could not understand them. 

 In this instance, however, I must confess the 



