The Yellowstone journal., 1894-11-13
Tuesday, November Is. 1894.
CHINESE SUPERSTITION.
a Striking Illustration OF the Credulity
and Ignorance of Monsolians.

and Ignorance of Mongolians.
Crowds of people assembled a. we ar
rived at the Jun, Just before sunset, aud
among others I spotted the fine head of
III oid Buddhis. priest. After long
confabulatiOn and "a few strings of cash,
which passed from my pockets into his
hands, / was able TO induce him to sit
for his picture, and / dashed off sketch
in oils before he had time TO change his
mind Unfortunately the large crowd
that had gathered round, especially the
women folks, seemed TO scold him and
talk ansriiy At him for his Stiffness in
sitting, owing to the strange notion
that prevails in China, and, IN fact,
nearly al over the oast, that if an image
IL reproduced a soul has to be given to
il, and that the person portrayed has to
be the supplier Of it at his own expense.
The venerable oil Buddhist priest, who
was nursing his cash" on his lap while
being immortal zed on a wooden panel,
and had a cur Gus twinkle in his eye,
rs if he kney better, resisted bravely
for some time and sat like statue, but
finally had tc give in.
"You will iie," cried an old woman
Ut him. II Iw your soul coming out of
you and go into the picture. / did real
ly. / saw 1t with my own eyes"
$50 die l." cried a hundred other
voices in a chorus.
BY the time the priest had got up,
they had half convinced him that at
least half his soul had really gone out
a him, but had the soul gone or not
he would go and take the cash for safe
Keeping to his home first and complain
and ask for the restitution Of his lost
property afterward. He was q sensible
man. So was /, and knowing what was
coming the moment he had gone /
went into the room and packed the
sketch safely, then took another clean
panel and smeared it with the scrapings
of my palette to show him instead, in
case he would come back and wish the
picture destroyed. Twenty minutes had
mot elapsed when he was back again, of
course without the leash, holding his
stomach and complaining of internal
agonies
81 am going to die he cried the
moment he saw me. lyon have taken
sway half my soulr'
Certainly l have" said I sternly.
"You did not expect me to give you all
that cash for less than half your soul,
did you:"
"Oh, mol but wish it back, as / feel
90 bad without it
"All right, said l. II shall go in
the room and destroy the image / did
Of you. Will you then be satisfied"
"Yes.
Here the other panel smeared with
palette scrapings was produced after
making pretense at destroying il with a
knife, and never in my life have | seen
m expression of relief to equal that of
the priest. He had not felt half his soul
30 much going out of him, but he GER
tainly had felt it coming back again.
He could swear by it. He was now per-
fectly well again!
This wonderful cure gave us all
very busy evening. All the Villagers
who had complaints of any sort came to
us 10 be restored to health. A leper who
had lost ali his fingers wished me to
make them grow again, and a pitiful
case of a poor child only few months
old was brought up, whose mother,
while busy stirring water in big cal
dron, had dropped the child in by mis-
take. He was SO badly scalded that j
am afraid, though / tried to relieve his
pain, the poor child cannot have lived
more than few hours. s.-Fortnightly
Review.