Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-04-26
IQUEER CHINESE BELIEFS.
CHINAMEN BELIEvEIN THE TRANS
MIGRATION OF SOULS.
Blue Devils With Warnings at Sea
and Bad or Beneficent Tigers
AshOre-Strangc SunerstItions.

| o'o-Strange SuperstltiOhs.
IN URING the recent visit to
| Washington of DIR. Edward
| >. Bedloe, the famous racon-
"a teur of the Philadelphia
Glover Club and late Consul to Amoy.
he regaled his friends with many
strange tales of Chinese beliefs.
"Some years ago." said he, ''the
steamer Nam-Chow sailed from Sinea.
pore in the Straits for Annoy. She
carried several hundred Chinese as
passengers. On the secoud day out
the Captain from his position on the
bridge saw great commotion among
his Chinese passengers forward and
sent the mate to find out the cause of
the disturbance which arose seemingly
without reason and grew with each
moment. The mate shortly returned
from his mission with look of mingled
perplexity and amusement on his
bronzed and weather. beaten face.
Captain, said he, this is the
FUNNIEST lot of heathens l have struck
yet. Blow me if can make them out.
The beggars have yarn and they all
stick to it like lot of sea lawyers
lying under oath. They say that just
before the rumpus began what they
call "blue devil" came down on deck
right out of the smoke from the stacks
and walked up to them. The whole
b'ilin' of 'em declare they saw him
and that he said the steamer was going
to be wrecked and nearly all on board
lost. He said, SO they give it, that
there is Just one honest Chinamau on
board, and that for his sake he came
to give them warning. They say that
when the "blue devil' got through
with his palaver he gave an awful
grimace, walked backward into the
smoke, and disappeared. And now
they are as crazy as March hares, and
every mothers son of 'em in blue
funk with fear that the Nam Chow
will go to Davy Jones's locker in the
next hour.
"The Captain was visibly annoyed,
but he said little. He had sailed too
long in Chinese waters to be thrown
off his balance by any queer freak on
the part of lot of Chinese deck pas
sengers, but his Scotch blood was too
full of belief in second sight not to
give him a feeling of relief when the
harbor of Annoy was reached in safety.
Within a week the cargo was dis
charged and the vessel was ready for
her return trip to Singapore. But,
though the Nam-Chow usually took
several hundred Chinese deck passen-
gers, not one was booked or could be
induced to go. The native cooks and
walters had also deserted the ship,
leaving their wages with the purser.
The story of the blue devil had got
around, and not Chinamsn would
put his foot on the steamer for love or
money. The Captain was in a guam
dary, but shrewdly set to work to find
q way out. He consulted the local au-
thorities, and in few hours he had
every Chinese priest in Annoy down on
the steamer, beating om-toms, burn
ing joss sticks, and raising general
hullsbaloo to scare off the blue devil
and exercise his evil influence. When
this was done to the satisfaction of the
priests they pronounced the vessel
safe and inside the next twenty-four
hours the missing members of the
crew and the normal passenger list
put in an appearance, and the Nam
Chow sailed. Within forty-eight
hours the propeller shaft broke,
pounded hole in the bottom of the
steamer-it was at highland of the
four hundred odd souls aboard only
thirty-five were saved.
"The Chinese" continued Dr. Bed
loe, "are firm believers in the trans
migration of souls, The dogs in the
streets may contain the spirits of ones
departed ancestors, and they treat all
animals with the greatest circumspec-
ton.
81 once went with a party on a
tiger hunt several days journey into
the interior. We arrived at last in the
tiger country, and made inquiry at n
village if there were any tigers in the
neighborhood. The head magistrate,
a shrewd old Mongolian, declared in
the most positive terms that there
were none, nor had there been, he
affirmed, in many years. We had
been informed otherwise, but could
learn nothing, and so proceeded fur
ther into the country. We had pro-
ceeded but few miles before a runner
came from the village we had just left
with II message from the magistrate.
He begged our most humble pardon,
but would the illustrious and most
benevolent gentleman be so kind as to
return at once. He had been mistaken
in saying there were no tigers in the
neighborhood. There was one, and it
was very bad and most dangerous
one. Just after our departure it had
entered the village, seized a young
woman, and made off with her into
the jungle. Would we be so conde-
scending as to hunt up the tiger and
kill him?
"We returned. got on the track of
the tiger, and with a strong force of
beaters succeeded in killing him
after about four hours of cautious
hunting. We then returned to the
village, leaving to our attendants the