The Canton mail., 1875-09-11
An Hysterical Fair.
From All tho Year Round.

From All the Year Round
That hysteria plays more important
part in many nstrations-physicai,
mental, and spiritual than is generally
supposed, will not be denied, at any
rate, by medical men. Those indefi
mite distances to which human nature,
is more or less subjected, and which
have borne at different times, such us
the vapors, the spleen, the megrims,
the nerves-and c,i1i,i should perhaps,
be added to tho list-are nothing but
varied forms of hysteria. So, again,
great emotional excitements, whether
produced by alarms, eagerness, or even
religion, may be often traced to the
same source. The wild frepzies of
Bacchantes on Theban mountain the
restless dancing of Italian girls, said to
have been bitten by the tarantula
the fervent jumping of some orders
of Methodists the weeping and con
triton at revivals-though we do not
deny for moment that other better or
| worse causes may be at work simulta-
neously-have all a physical element of
| hysteria in them. Hys.eria is decidedly
common in India not unfreduently
amongst men, and very frequently
amongst women. With the latter sex,
the wearing climate may be accredited
with part of the mischief, but other
causes doubtless exist in early mar
riage, early child-bearing, seclusion,
and want of air and exercise or in the
case of women in the humblest walks of
life, opposite evils may operate to-
wards the same results-over- work, in
sufficient nutriment, exposure to heat,
etc. The somewhat violent measures
occasionally resorted to may not do
much harm in simply hysterical cases !;
but it is painful to think that, with a
wholly imperfect diagnosis, remedies
may be applied to actual insanity which
can only tend to greatly aggravate the
disease. The belief that persons in a
| hysterical condition are possessed by
evil spirits is universal, and supersti-
tious cures are sought after, though iu
different ways, by professors of both
the great religions of the land-many
A of the lower Hindoos resorting to magic,
which may be considered as applying to
the devil, while the Mussulman would
seek by charms and sacred exortations
to drive out the evil spirit.
Generations ago, two fakirs of the
Mohammedan order of Kadiree started
on pilgrimage to Baghdad from their
own village in northwest India, stu
ated in the district of Jeunpore, which
lies between Benares and the territory
of Oudh. The founder of their sect,
Abdul Kadir, is buried at Blghdad, and
around his mausoleum the tombs of so
many mystical sheikhs have been
placed, that Baghdad itself has some
times being called the "City of the
Saints" On their return journey from
the shrine, which they are said to have
performed backwards, the fakirs
brought with them two bricks which
had formed part of it, as sacred me-
MORALS, and perhaps also as testimony
that they had reached the place of their
destination. There was a propriety in
bringing bricks, because they are asso-
ciatei with Abdul Kadir's fame as a
saint /; for one occasion When he was
praying the devil appeared to him dis
gHised as an angel of light, and told
him that, on account of his great piety,
God would henceforth absolve him
from the necessity of prayer; but
Abdul Kadir was not to be deceived,
and without hesitation began hurting
bricks at the deceitful visitant, under
which treatment he presently disap-
peared, aud the temptation was thus
got rid of.
The fakirs deposited the bricks near
their own village, and built a cupola
over them. The shrine is called Ghous-
pore, and the bricks are shown to this
day, and are objects of peneration.
An annual fair is held at the place,
on the day of the death of Abdul Ka-
dir, but as it is fixed by the Moham-
medan calendar. and the Mohammedan
year is a lunar one. the comnemoration
goes round through all The seasons. A
large concourse of people always as
sembles, and the specially of the occa-
sion is the exorcism of evil spirits in
other words, the empirical cure of hys.
tericll persons. Sacrifices are per-
formed before the shrine by Mohamme-
dams and the Hindoos, who have an
Athenian catholicity in their respect for
all gods, known or unknown, cast flow
ers there or offer sws etmeats and fruits.
A recent visitor relates as follows
"Around the tomb 1 saw some hun
dred women, and perhaps thirty men,
with a few children, sitting on the
ground, wagging their heads, shivering,
weeping, and screaming. Their rela-
tives were waiting on them. Some
women had thrown off their ornaments,
or had broken them. The friends OF
other OF the women held them by the
hair of the head, and called upon them
to disclose the name of the demon who
possessed them. The afflicted them
selves would shout out as if addressing
their tormentors, and would ask fol
what sacrificial inducement, or at what
price, they would depart. 1t was a
very wild scene. The custodians OF
the shrine, who may rightly be called
priests, though they do not represent
about, fumigating the posse esed will
incense, and accompanied by musicians
! beating lo.idly on drums. Sacred ex
orcisms were pronounced, papers will
efficacious formul;e written on then
we're burnt under the noses of the
afflicted, their hair was pulled, or, il
obstinate cages, their bodies were wei
, belabored with drumsticks. The fer
vor with which one man assisted the
exorcists with his private cane, in theil
endeavors to relieve a female, seemed
to indicate the concealed payment O.
an old domestic score. Such viltue a.
belonged to the locality itself was sale
to extend as far as the point to which
the beating of the drums could be
heard"
A girl named Dulhir, who had recov-
cred from her affection, thus related
her experience. "Her Demon" she
said, "came from a lake named Dal, il
Kashmeer, and was travelling south
wari when he was luckily enough to
meet person wearing an armlet, OF
which was inscribed the Holy Name
Fire issued out of the center, and
would have consumed the evil spirit
but he adroitly jumped down we'll
The unfortunate girl Dulhir happened
to be drawing water at the very time
the demon saw her, and remaining
quiet all the day, tracked her home al
night From that moment she was
possessed. Her visit to the shrine was
however, quite successful. 1t was
lighted at the time, and the effulgenct
gradually overcame her tyrannical in,
cumbent, and in the end he left hen
perfectly free from ailment and distress
Whilst he was departing, however, she
lay on the ground, writhing her body,
aud striking the dusty road with hen