Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-21

sbip and to oil on board. A NUMBER
az stories Of this character are narrated
bv Lieutenant Bassett, and some ex-
tracts, showing their nature, are worth
reproduction
!. Witches do not always depend on
solid structures in their navigation. A
Cornish tale Is of the Fraddsim witch,
Who is said to float along the coast IN
her coffin and to portend drowning to
The hapless mariners who see her. Bat
sieyes were their favorite barks. See
Macbeth, act l., scene 8: But In a
sieve I'll thither SAIL
"Sailors always personify ships aud
boats, and this was carried so far oy a
certain Cochin Chinese magnate as to
nut bis boats in the stocks when they
did not sail we'll. Many fishermen be-
lieye that boats from which men arc
drowned are afterward unlucky. Fish
ermen Of BRIDGEPORT, Eng, think that
boats are less lucky that do not knell
in launching them, as formerly, and
they carefully turn them with the sun,
and call on the name Of God when first
they lay hand on them to launch them,
even going so far at Redcar, in York
shire, as to change the crews once year
for luck. The savages Of the Hervey
group of islands have many traditions
of my thical canoes. In Raratonga isle
a prominent family makes its ancestors
come from the eastward in great
canoe, holding 10 people. and two
masted. Another canoe contains 200,
and is three-masted. A great chief 10
ancestral fairyland builds canoe, hol-
lowed out by birds, sewed with the aid
of the claws Of others, through holes
punched by the long beaks of Others
and launched by birds also. In this he
voyages, and after many adventures
discovers and settles the islands,"
SACRED SHIPS.
Pious sailors never forget that the
history of the Saviour contains several
references to his presence on board
ship, nor that some Of the apostles
were sailors. Perhaps on this account
a number OF legends concerning ships
have grown up in the Church, and the
Lives Of the Saints contain frequent
references to miraculous interventiOns
in behalf Of seameD.
We next come to sacred ships.
These we're early carried on festive or
religious occasions. Isis, the Egyptian
moon goddess, had her sacred boat
carried about in her festivals, and every
Egyptian temple had sacred barks dedi-
Gated to Ra, or Ammon, the sun-god.
These were carried on priests shout
ders. and there were many in each
temple. The numerous representations
of these on the existing monuments
show us golden barks built Of precious
woods and inlaid with stones, with
Prov and stern adorned with sacred en-
blcms. and the image Of the god in a ia
bernacle in the centre. These are found
in the Oasis temples also, and they
have images of priests and gods on
hem. Sacred boats were in use on
the Nile, and are often spoken of as
carrying the King on religious occa-
sions. These were called Tum, or
Ra-barks and Baris. A boat in the
temple Of Ammon was an oracle, and
gave responses by its motions in the
water. The lotus-eye and other sacred
symbols were painted on these boats
and on their sails, with the yulture,
hawk, and other sacred animals, richly
colored or gilded. From this doubtless
descended the sacred ark Of the Israel
ties. The worship Of Isis, transplanted
TO Rome, was there continued. On the
9Th Of March her boat was carried
in Joyous procession at the festival
of navigation. The Greeks had also
their sacred barks, dedicated to Poseidon
and to Athena, while the Romans car
ried about in triumphal and sacred pro-
cessions the barks Of Jupiter Redux,
or Of Neptune, God of waters. In the
yearly procession of Athena bark
proceeded from the Pireus to Athens,
having her Peplos, or sacred veil, as
sail. Two ships were sacred in an
other sense to the Athenians. These
were the Paralos and the Salaminian.
The former carried tributes, messages,
worshippers, etc., to the sacred
temple of Delos, and the latter
was used in festivals to promote
the memory of the victory Of
Salamis. The galley of Esculapius,
carried to commemorate his arrival in
that city in the time Of pest, was Of
stone, cut in shape Of galley. a sa-
cred stone galley or boat is found in
China, which is supposed to have been
connected with some religious worship
formerly. Tacitus tells us that the
Sueyi carried about in spring proces-
sions model Of liburna, or galley,
and offered it to Isis. Such a model
was carried about in Germany in honor
of Freya. and is found in the accounts
of many German tribes. Similar process
sions were held in other places in the mid
die ages. Thor was carried about by the
Mortimer in ship. A ship with sails
set is still carried about in Christmas
professions in Siberia, with figure of
a saint seated on it. In Chinese fes-
tival, on the LIST of August, boats are
carried about, made Of paper stretched
on bamboo frames, from twenty to
thirty feet long, in the shape of dragons,
and attended by a ceremony. These
boats are burned on the shore, and are
supposed to carry away diseases. \
similar boat is carried in a procession
in honor of the gods of the five ele
ments, containing their images and a
number of others. This is accom-
panied by fantastically-dressed men,
and burned with great beating of
gopgs, &c.
"Silyer and gold images Of vessels
were vowed in the middle ages. In
July, 1897, the master of Trinity, as
shown on the English rolls, paid for a
silver ship, vowed to the Virgin at
Anglers, for saving his ship in storm.
.Joinville says that the Queen Of St.
Louis, during storm, on her return
from the Holy Land, vowed silver
ship to st. Nicholas, and it was made,
with the figures Of the Queen and all
L -.