The St. Johns herald., 1889-05-09
suRMIsEs OF sAvAezs.
TF'7gs That Are Mysteries and How The;
 Are Inclined to Solve The,1.

6OIQ6 WOlucu OQ Dl lOc Sahara thought the Abbc Poirethaa 9 green skin because he wore gloves of that hue. and others in a nomadic tribe of Morocco were very Iiuch frightened at seeing Drum mond Hay pull or his gloves, says the St. Louis G'Obe-DemOcrdt. T2sr,anilns were very much surprised to see a traveller dc the same. African Laus thOughtsth boots were part of the natural body, and yron- fered much that they should be dIrA, w.llle the faces were white, Another African tribe thought that a missionary wes dc- tachlng his feet when remov,lg his shoes. and that hls black stockings were a tie fachablc part of double skin UIth wlirh he was provided. Tdc Uez2rDIos cf Afs.~j thougnt tbat another, who wore glasses had four eyes, enc pair Of winch were e tachable. Some New Zealandcrs were per suaded that wig was but tire slz.u of l::c nead, and that its removal WAS acccn- 3,ished by magic Hawaii;Gs thought lit Cooks officers were horned because they gTore three-corncrcd cHcpeaux, ;.nl b. iievcd that their pockets were entrances 10 great natural reservoirs Of treasures vi. ilhi their bodies.
 Chairs delighted the natives of New ZeG- land, especially when they found they coald
 
 struck with astonishneat 9: l. id:ng tna: he could make bel r1nG by bling me rope.
 Guinea negroes, TdEIliGns and tribes of the New Britain Archipelago, LcilcvcI that cloth, arms, hatchets, mirrors and other D. jccts of the kind, were fruits Of the earth, and TahitiaLs sowed nails 10 ra @ crop, while Carlos planted glnpo'rdcr n tne T, rI,,-
 Canadian and Iowa Indians were most in pressed ill LJnGon and Paris wi,h the butcher shops, filled with quantities of meat 4 savage cGrrIed to the court cf Charles K. of France, was greatly astonishcd to see the Swiss guard. six feet high, win huge mustachcs and hal5crds, obey a beard less stripling of an officer.
 Several Australian tribes, a5 well as nar tives of New South Wales, aad Mexican5, thought the horse and ri3cr inseparaDe and were accordingly astonished to sec the human part Of the Centaur descend from his perch. South Sea Islandcrs thought the first horse brought on shore was a plg 70 which latter animal they were &ccds. omed.
 Kamschatkans thought ell animals under Itood their language, and addressed to them
 
 :Gll the bear Lord, nlustrious O,d Man. 5ood Father, and beg of him humbly the permission to continue thelr journey The iger is rarncd Lord or Grandfather by Cambodia tribes, end the Ara2mItc cal liE1 Sir Tiger and address prayers to him. Philippine Islanders beg inc crocodiies not . do them ny harm: while inhabitants of )nc Of the Fiji Islands think the shark will lct attack them if they call out: q am from Columbla!" (thcir villagc).
 Guaranis of Brazil, when the horees of Europeans were restless, begged them to tc ltill, and promised to feed them well Some natives of the Marianne Islands carried presents to a horse, to obtain from hin per, mission 10 pull few hairs out Of his tail!
 The Khas, an Indo-Chinese people, can only add two and two by the use of their fingers, and the same IS true of the Hotten- tots and the inhabitants of Fczzan. The Ccirons, a New Guinea tribe. only appre- ciate the value of any number after they have counted from one 10 that number on the fingers. A chief of q Siberian tribe and a Corarna of EGst Africa could not tel how many children they had (scvcn in one cIse), without telling them on the fingers.
 Livingstone and Du Chai.lu both testify
 
 stand how thought is communicated by Yrit ing and reading. Tribes have been founc from the West to the East Indies whcm nc amount of explanation could show how i was possible 10 convey words by pen aut paper. Tho Bassoutos of Africa say it is impossible, for you can Lot make the paper speak. There is q well-Inown anecdoie o. a FiJian, believe, who WIS sent alter some tools, the message being written on a chip astonishing the savage by tho procurement of the tcols. 4 Tongan chief, upon seeing white men write, asked that they should put him upon tho paper. Astonished al finding that a person who had just then came up could read hls name, he still asked s'Whcrc are my head, my arms, my legs" etc, decning the picture necessary to tue conveyance of thc idea.
 Canadian Indians could not comprehend how, by looking at the number of a page, tho reader could tell how many pages pre- ceded It. A Missouri rIver tribe, seeing a traveller read a fragment of Q newspaper, thought it charm to cure SOTO eyes and wanted 10 purchase it at any plice. Brazil m Indians could net be mado to under stand how the white people who collected vocabulary of thcir language could, by re- fcTring to their written lists. make them selves so easily understood in so short a tine.
 Some tribes think the books speak to the reader. Caribs and Guiana Indians so be- licvsd, aud some Esquimaux, seeing priest read from tho EvangeEsts, thought that he heard tho voice of the book, and repeated it 10 them. Tribes in Africa, South AIaer.ca md Oceanica thought tho reader was con- vcrsing with tho book, and Wcddell said a Fucgian put the book to his car in order to hear tho sound of the voice that spoke 10 the reader. In W est Australia, books and letters are thought to reveal hidden secrets, and are called speaking papers" It was in- applicable to them that the person receiv- ing letter announcing the sending of number of sheep, should be able by it to detcss loss of one. Some Cochin China DGunois were hl1ewlse Gstcnished 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. ACalifornia Indian being de- tccted in the theft of one out of number of loaves of bread which he was carrying to. a missionary, adopted the plan of hid ing the note under stone the next time, so that it should not sec hun eat the bread. (san36ian Indians BraZilianS and PeruvianS