54 TRAVELS IN 
ern nations, the Chinefe for example, they 
pafs lligbtly over a cuftom prevalent among 
mothers at Pekin of expofing in the ftreets 
during night all the children which they 
wifh to get rid of, that a: break of day the 
carriages and cattle as they pafs may crufli 
them to death, or that they may be de- 
voured by the hogs. Certain travellers who 
have vifited Alia inform us that the great 
lords in Thibet go on a pilgrimage to Pu- 
tola, the refidence of the Grand Lama, to 
procure feme of the excrement of this fo- 
vereign high prieft 5 and that they carry it 
about their necks in amulets, or fprinkle it 
like pepper over their food. 
Has this filthy ceremony any thing more 
difgufting in it than that falfely afcribed to 
the Hottentots in the celebration of their 
marriages? Maflers of ceremony, which they 
have not — or rather priefls, with whom they 
are ftill lefs acquainted, are fuppofed to have 
the fupernatural power of drenching from 
the urinary paffage the bride and bride- 
groom, who, piaftrated at the feet of the 
perfon who befprinkles them, devoutly rc^ 
ceive the liquor, and carefully rub it over 
their whole bodies, without lofing a fingle 
drop. 
