The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-09-07
THE LOVE OF TWINS.
How Double Doses Of Humanity Are
Received In Several Places.
[From the London standard.1

from the London Standard
Few things are more mysterious than the
undefnabe sympathy which often exists be-
tween two beings who came into the world
together. There can be no doubt that this
sympathy is real and not the effect of the
imagination, as some have supposed. So far
as is known it does not always develop itself
and when 1t is present its cause is not by
any means understood. A real affection
generally exists between twins, ana often
seems to show itself In the earlier days of
infancy. IL is no unco mmon thing for alvin
who has lost his or her counterpart to pine
away, dropping gradually into the clutches
of the destroyer, who. in taking away the
other, has deprived life of all its joy. But
though intense fondness Is no doubt to
great extent the cause of such sad occurren-
ces, the sympathy which twins have for one
another shows itself here.
With many savage races twins are hurried
out of the world Immediately they have en-
tered 1t; others allow them to live, but only
under certain conditions. In Western AT
RIGA, a little below the equator, between 100
and 12e east longitude, live large tribe
called the Ishogo. They have many peculiar
customs, but none more so than their
treatment of twins and of the
mother n bear S wne ds SO seems % Nss
with them that no woman ought to produce
more than single child at a time, and they
| seek to rectify the error by giving their
deities every chance of killing one of the
| children before they have arrived at the age
at which they are able to take care of them
selves. This is held to be at about 6 years
old. Once that age has been passed it is
thought by these people that a proper bal
ance between life and death has again been
struck, and they do not deem any further
precautions necessary. Immediately the
| birth of twins takes place the hut in which
| the event happened is marked in some man
ner which will render it readily distinguish
| able from all others In the village.
Those who have read accounts of African
travel Will probably remember the unani-
| nous testimony which explorers of the Dark
Continent bear to the extraordinary loquacity
of its natives. Africans talk as they breathe
-unceasingly-and yet the unfortunate
mother of twins is forbidden to exchange
single word with anyone but the immediate
members of her family. She may go into the
forest for firewood and perform the house
self and children, but 1t must all be done in
strict silence, unless she finds herself near
one of her close relatives. The consequence
| OF this peculiar custom Is that the Ishogo
woman breads the advent of twins more
| than anything, except, perhaps, being child
less; and nothing irritates newly married
| woman more than to tell her that she is sure
| to become the mother Of two children at
birth. When the six years of probation
have dragged out their weary length, grand
| ceremony is held to celebrate the release of
| the three captives and their admission to the
| societyo their fellows. At daybreak all the
| village Is aroused by proclamation made i'm
| the principal street, and the mother and a
| friend take up their stand ON either side of
the door OF the hut having previously
whitened their legs ard faces. The rest Of
the Inhabitants of the place congregate round
about, and at given Signal the white-legged
women march away from the hut, followed
by the twins, the mother casping her hands
| and capering about, the friend beating a
hasty tattoo upon drum and singing an APP
| propriate song.
After this procession has gone the rounds
OF the village there is general dance. Then
| every one sits down to q feast, and eating
drinking and dancing are carried ON for the
rest OF the day and all through the night AS
| soon as the next day dawns all restrictions
upon the mother and her offspring are held
to be removed. This ceremony is known as
IN PARA" word which signifies both the
twins and the rite by virtue of which they
and their mother are admitted to the COM
partnership of their kind.
Cases in which one of pair of twins has
| felt disturbing influence at work within
him when evil was Detailing his other self
are numerous. AS with all matters of the
kind, the Instances related are apt to border
upon the land of fiction, but there are many
| which are pretty well authenticated. Though
twins are usually alike in form and feature
| this is notinvariably the case. The writer
| knows twin brothers who can scarcely be
| said to bear even family likeness to one
] another, and whose compilations go to the
| very extremes OF darkness and fairness. But
| though unlike bodily, they resemble one an
other mentally to such an extent that they
| passed from the bottom to the top of one of
| our great public schools side by side.