The St. Johns herald., 1889-04-04
suRMIsEs OF sAvAo9s.
TI''1gs That Are Mysteries ang! How They
 Are Inclined to Solve Them.


 Sahara thought the Abbc Pciret had a green skin because he wore gloves Of that hue, and others in nomGdic tribe of Morocco were very lauch frightened at seeing Drum mond Hay pull of- his gloves, says the St. Louis CiObc-DCI3Ocrrt TlsElaailnS were very much surprised to see traveller d. the same. African Laus thought tho boots were part of the natural body, and won dered much that they should b9 dark. waIlc the faces were white. Another African tribe thought that Q missionary was Ge- tachIng his feet when reEloy,lg lis shoes. and that hls black stockings were a Ge tachable part of d0Gbic s,1in with Wi.ich he was provided. The U:zar,rnos of Africi thought tat another, who wore glasses had four eyes, enc pair of which were Ge- tachable. Some New Zealanders were p2r suaded that a wig was but the sk;n of the acad, and that its removal was acconl 1lished by magic. HGwaiians thought aat Cooks officers were horned because they wore three-cornercd chapcaux. an1 be- Iieved that their pockets were entrances 10 great natural reservoirs of treasures within their bodies.
 Chairs delighted the natives of New Zea- land. especially when they found they could carry them about. A Marquesan chief was struck with astonishmcnt at fndir~ tat he could make a bell ring by p..LinG the rope.
 Guinea negroes, TLhI,ians and tribes cf the New Britain Archipelago, beleved that cloth, arms, hatchets, mirrors and other o0- jects of the kind, were fruits of the earth, and Tahitians sowed nails to ra SC crop, while Carlos planted gunpowdcr in the ground, with similar expectation.
 Canadian and Iowa Indians were most i'm pressed in London and Paris wita the butcher shops, filed with quantities of meat. A savage earned to the court of Charles TX. of France, was greatly astonishcd to see the Swiss guard, six feet higil, win huge mustacheS and halberis, obey q beard less stripling of Gn officer.
 Several Australian tribes, as well as na- tives of New South Wales, and lcxicars, thought the horse and Iidcr inseparab!e, and were accordingly astonishcd to sec the human part of the CentaUr descend from his perch. South Sea Islanders thought the first horse brought on shore was p'g, 70 which latter animal they were accils- omed.
 Kamschatkans thought all animals under Itood their language, and addressed to them most flattering words. Yacuts Of Siberia all the bear Lord, IlIustrious Old Man. food Father, and beg oI hin humbly the ,ermission to continue their Journey. The igcr is named Lord CT Grandfather By Cambodia tribes, and the Annamite cal i'm Sir Tiger and address prayers to h:In. ohillipine Islanders beg the crocOdiic3 not do them ny harm; whIlo inhabitants of )nc of the Fiji Islands think the shari- will lot attack them if they call out: q an from CoIunlbla" (their YillaGc).
 Guaranis of Brazil, when the horccs of Europeans were restless, begged them to be till, and promised to feed them well. Some natives of tho Marianne Islands carried presents to horse, to obtain from him per mission to pull few hairs out of his tail
 The Khas, an InGo-Chincso people, can only add two and two by he use of their fingers, and the samc is true of the Hotten- tots and tho inhabitants of Fczzan. The Ccirons, a New Guinea tribe, only appTo- ciatc the value of any number after they have counted from enc to that number on the fingers. 4 chief of 9 Siberian tribe and Coranna Of East Africa could net tel how many children they had (scyCn in one easel, without telling them on the fingers.
 Livingstone and Du ChaillI both testify the iElpossibility of making savagcs under stand how thought is communicated by writ ing aud reading Tribes have been found from the West to the East Indies when nc amount Of explanation could show how i was possible to convey words by pen an6 paper. Tho BassOutos of Africa say it i. impossible for you can not make tho paper speak. There is a well known anecdOte O. a Filian, 1 believe, who was sent alter some tools, the message being written on a chip astonishing the savage by the procurement of the tools. A Tcngan chief, upon seeing white men write, asked that they shoulc put him upon the paper. Astonishcd al finding that a person who had just then came up could read hls name, he still asked: "Whcre arc my head, my arms, my legs" etc, dcoming the picture necessary to the conveyance of the idea.
 Canadian Indians could not comprehend how, by looking at tho number of a page, the reader could tell how many pages pre- ceded it. A Missouri rlver tribe, seeing a traveller read q fragment of q newspaper, thought it a charm to cure SOTO eyes and wanted 10 purchase 1t at any pli ice. BrGzil- an Indians could not be made to under stand how the white people who collected vocabulary of their language could, by re- ferring to their written lists. make them selves so easily understood in so short q time
 Some tribes think the books speak to the reader. Carlos and Guiana Indians so be- licvcd, and some EsQuinaux, seeing priest read from tho Evargclists, th6eght that he heard the voice Of the book, and repeated it to them. Tribes in Africa, South America and Oceapica thought tho reader was con- versipg with the book. and Weddell said Fucgian put the book to his car in order to hear the sound of the voice that spoke to the reader. In N est Australia, books and letters arc thought to reveal hidden secrets, and arc called speaking papers," It was in- applicable to them that tho person receiv- ing letter announcing tho sending of number of sheep, should be able by it to dctost 9 loss Of one. Some Cochin China Baunois wcrc likevlse astoni5hel at finding that demand for double fees for carrying letter, was detected by that letter itself, the writer having announced the payment of the sum. 4 ACa.ifornia Indian being de- tcctCd in the theft of one out of number Of loaves of bread which he was carrying to missionary, adopted the plan of hid ing the note under . stone the next time, so that 1t should not see hun cat the bread. IR,.ozilioDc T)0,.Y,,-;ry,c