The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-11
DROWNING sUPB asTIrIoNs.
In Many Countries 1t is Considered
Folly TO Save the Victim.
From Notes and Queries.

From Notes and Queries.
In many parts of this country the SUPER
stition still survives that it Is folly or mad
he will sooner or later do an injury to the
rescuer. The superstition comes down TO
us from our European ancestors, yet traces
OF 1t exist among the Sioux aud other In
dams, who seem TO have inherited IL from
aboriginal sources In Great Britain the
belief is most prevalent in Cornwall aud
various parts of Scotland.
Sir Walter Scott, in 1.-THE Pirate" tells
how Bryce, the peddler, refused to help
| Mordaun to save the shipwrecked sailor
from drowning, aud even demonstrated
with him on the rashuess of such a deed &.
Are you mad :" says the peddler. "you
that have lived sac lang In Zetland, to risk
the saving of drowning man? Wot We
not II ye bring him to life again he will be
sure TO do you some capital lnjuryN 1t is
found. too, among French sailors and the
boatmen OF the Danube and Is widely
| credited in Russia. Mr.. Barry, in
his 'Ivan at Home" gives a strik-
ing instance of the Russian repugnance
to save life from drowning. One day
drunken man walked into the water and
| disappeared. A number Of spectators stood
| by and gazed on the scene with the utmost
indifference, but no one tried to rescue HIM.
n SO0A VI lululIy was ublO, Dub as on
| examination, no cross WAS found on his
neck, verdict was quickly agreed by the
| villagers, who declared that the man was
| drowned ''becanse he had no cross on his
| neck" The Bohemian fisherman shrinks
! from snatching a owning man from the
waters, fearing that the water demon would
take away his luck in fishing and drown him
at the first opportunity. This, as DR..
| Tylor points out in his Primitive Culture"
Is lingering survival Of the ancient sig
| nihcanee Of this superstition, the explaua-
| ton being that the water spirit is naturally
angry at being despuiled of his victim, and
| henceforth bears special grldge against
| the unlucky persol who has dared to
| Illustrate him. Thus when some one is
drowned in Germany the remark is
made: The river spirit claims his
yearly sacrifice;' or, The nix has
taken him." Out Of Europe, also,
| the accidental drowning of a person
is attributed TO similar seizure, aud the
Siamese eads the Pnuk. a water spirit
that seizes bathers And drags them under TO
his dwelling. The Sioux Indians have
similar fancy, and tell how men have been
drowned by Unktahe, the water monster.
For the same reason, it appears. the KANT
| chakals, far from helping man out Of the
| water, would drown him by force. If res
| cued by any chance no one would receive
such man into his house. or give him
| LOU, Dub u6 WAS TbCkOn6u LOT uedQ. Inc
| Chinese reluctance to save a drowning
man arise from quite different belief, it be
ing supposed that the spirit of person who
has met his death in this way continues to
| fit along the surface of the water until 1t
has caused by drowning the death of a fell
! low creature. ga person, therefore" writes
Mr.. Jones in his "Credultties Past and
Present" "whosRttempts TO rescue another
| from drowning is considered to incur the
hatred of the uneasy spirit. which is desir,
Gus, even at the expense of q mans life, to
escape from its wanderinRs."
| Superstition every where has many curl
GUS modes Of recovering the body of a
drowned person. Again, the universality
| OF this form OF superstition is shown by the
fact that in one form or other it is shared
in this country by white man and Indian
alike. Sir James Alexander, in his account
of Canada, tells US: The Indians imagine
| that in the case Of a drowned body its place
may be discovered by floating chip Of
| cedar wood, which will stop and turn round
over the exact spot An instance occurred
within my own knowledge i'll the case of
Mr.. Lavery of Kingston Mill, whose boat
overset and himself drowned near Cedar
Island, nor could the body be discovered
| until this experiment was resorted tor
Not many months ago a man was
drowned at st. Louis. After search had
been made for the body. but without sue
cess, the mans shirt, which he had laid
aside when he went IN to battle. was spread
out on the water and allowed to float away
For a while it floated and then sank near
which spot, 1t is reported, the mans body
was found.
A loaf OF bread Is a favorite talisman in
most European countries. Sometimes it is
found sufficient Of itself. sometimes it needs
the aid Of some other substance. Thus in
| England the loaf is usually weighed with
quicksilver. The London Standard recent
ly told story in point. Some years ago a
| boy fell into the stream at TberbOrne Dor
setshire, and was drowned. The body not
having been recovered for some DAYS the
mode of procedure was thus: A pound
loaf of best flour was procured and a small
piece cut out of the side of it. forming a
cavity into which little quicksilver was
poured. The piece was then replaced, and
tied firmly in its original position. The
loaf thus prepared was thrown into the
river at the spot where the body fell, and
was expected to float down the stream till
it come to the place where the body had
lodged. But no satisfa Glory result occurred.
In Brittany, where the body of drowned
man cannot be found, a lighted taper is
fixed in a loaf of bread, which is then
abandoned to the retreating current. When
the loaf stops, there it is supposed the body
will be recovered.
III Java a live sheep is thrown into the
water and is supposed to indicate the posi-
ton Of the body by sinking near it. But
the objects used for this purpose vary
largely in different countries. corre-
spondent of Notes and Queries tells how q
corpse was discovered by a wisp of straw
around which was tied strip of Iarch-
ment inscribed with certain cabalistiC
characters written on IL by the parish
priest. A curious custom is practiced il
Norway, where those in search of g
drowned body row to and fro with cock
in the boat fully expecting that the bird
will crow when the boat reaches the spot
where the corpse lies.
1t was popular theory in days gone by
that the body of a drowned man would
float the ninth day. a notion which. Mr.
Henderson informs u.s. prevails in the
county of Durham. Sir Thomas Browne
alIudes TO it as believed in his time, and in
his "Pseudodoxia Epidemics" there is dis
cusson on this fanciful notion 1t was alsc
believed that the spirits of those drowned
at sea were doomed to wander for 100 year,
owing TO the rites of burial having never
/ L. a 49,