PHANSIGARS. 
121 
chance of detection. Upon one occasion, after having 
despatched a traveller, the body was, as usual, left 
unburied. One of the Phansigars employed, unguard- 
edly looking behind him, saw the epicurean divinity 
in the act of feasting upon it. Irritated at this pry- 
ing upon her carnivorous indulgence, she vowed — 
and the vows of heathen divinities are irrevocable— 
that she would never again devour a body slaughtered 
by Phansigars, they having by that one act of auda- 
cious curiosity forfeited all title to her future protec- 
tion. As something like an equivalent, however, for 
thus withdrawing her divine patronage, she conde- 
scended to pluck one of the fangs from her celestial 
jaw and presented it to them, stating that they might 
use it as a pickaxe, which would never wear out. She 
then opened her ethereal side, pulled out one of her 
ribs, which she gave them for a knife, annealed to 
such a temper that no contact with any earthly ma- 
terial could ever blunt its edge. Having done this, 
she stooped down, tore off the hem of her garment, 
spun in the bowers of Paradise from the looms of in- 
dustrious Suras,* and presented it to them for a noose 
which would never fail to strangle every person about 
whose throat it should be cast. She moreover com- 
manded them for the future to mutilate and bury the 
bodies of those whom they destroyed. Thus they pre- 
tend to a divine sanction, while they are committing 
the most frightful outrages against the common peace 
of society. Acting as they do under such a persuasion, 
we can scarcely be surprised at the crimes of men 
* Good spirits. 
M 
