406 



CURIOUS SUPERSTITION. 



Chap. XXI. 



superstitious or ignorant as to fancy that these 

 junks or boats really could see with the eyes which 

 had been given to them. It seemed, however, 

 that I was mistaken. As I was sailing slowly 

 onwards one of my boatmen seized his broad hat, 

 and, rushing past me to the bows of the boat, 

 placed it over one of the eyes. Several other 

 boats in company were also blinded in the same 

 way ; some with hats, others with coats, cloaks, 

 or anything that came readiest to hand. I did 

 not understand this proceeding at first, but soon 

 found out the cause. A dead body was floating 

 up the stream with the tide, and if the boat is 

 allowed to see an object of this kind some evil is 

 sure to happen to the passengers or crew before 

 the voyage is over. Such is one of the super- 

 stitions of the Chinese, and hence the reason for 

 covering up the eyes of the boats in order that 

 they might not see. 



About the end of October I found myself once 

 more in front of the old temple of Tsan-tsing, 

 which I have already noticed in these pages, and 

 met there the same priests and the same travelling 

 tailor. The priests here seemed to me the most 

 ignorant, lazy, and imbecile I had ever met with 

 in any part of China. They spend their days in 

 perfect idleness, sitting for hours at a time basking 

 in the sunshine, or under the verandah of their 

 dwellings when the sun's rays are too powerful to 

 be thus exposed. They seemed to be in a kind 

 of dreamy, mesmeric state ; their eyes indeed are 



