The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-06-20
SuperstitiOns which Influence the
MOBgOlians.

"Some years ago, " said Edward S. Bed
| loe, ex-consul TO Annoy, 1.-THE steamer Nam
| Chow sailed from Singapore in the straits
for Annoy. She carried several hundred
| Chinese as passengers. On the second day
out the captain from his position on the
| bridge saw a great commotion among his
| Chinese passengers forward and sent the
mate to find out the cause of the disturb
| ance, which arose seemingly without rea-
| son 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 strangest lot
| of heather l have ever met. can not make
them out. They say that just before the
disturbance began, what they call blue
| devil came down on deck. They declare
they saw him, and that he said the steamer
was going to be wrecked, and nearly all on
| board lost
THE captain was visibly annoyed, but
he said little. He had sailed too long in
Chinese waters to be thrown off his bal
ance by any queer freak on the part of
lot of Chinese deck passengers, but his
Scotch blood was too full of belief in Sec
ond sight not to give him feeling Of relief
when the harbor of Annoy was reached in
safety. Within 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 passengers, not one was
booked or could be induced to 60 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 Chinaman would
put his foot on the steamer for love or
/
but shrewdly set to work to find way
out He consulted the local authorities,
and in q few hours he had every Chinese
priest in Annoy down on the steamer beat
ing tomtoms, burning joss sticks and rails
| ing a general hullabaloo 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 "a hours the
missing members of the crew and the nor
NAL passenger list put in an appearance,
and the Nam Chow sailed. Within 48
hours the propeller shaft broke, pounded
hole in the bottom of the steamer--it
was at highland of the 400 odd souls
aboard only 35 were saved.
1.-THE Chinese continued DR.. Bedloe,
fare firm believers in the transmigration
of souls. The dogs in the streets may con-
tain the spirits of ones departed ancestors,
and they treat all animals it'll the great
| est circumspection
II once went with party on tiger
hunt several days journey in the interior.
We arrived at last in the tiger country and
made inquiry at village if there were any
tigers In the neighborhood. The head mag
istrate, 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 other
wise, but could learn nothing, and SO pro-
ceeded further into the country. We had
proceeded but few miles before q runner
came from the village we had just left
with a message from the magistrate. He
begged our most humble pardon, but
would the illustrious and most benevolent
gentlemen be so kind as to return at onceP
He had been mistaken in saying there
were no tigers In the neighborhood. There
was one, and 1t was a very bad and most
dangerous one. Just after our departure
1t had entered the village seized a young
woman and made off with her into the
jungle. Would we be so condescending as
to hunt up the tiger and kill himP
1--WE returned, got on the track Of the
tiger, and with strong force of heaters
succeeded in killing him after about four
hours of cautious hunting We then re-
turned to the village, leaving to our at
teDdants the task of skinning the tiger
and bringing in the hide. The old magis-
trate could not abase himself enough for
the falsehood he had told us but his apol-
ogy was the most remarkable feature He
gave us good meal of curried chicken,
bamboo sprouts, fish and some excellent
tea, and as we ate he told us the following
story:
One cannot be too careful about ami
mails said he. They may be good ami
mails, and ones own parents might have
passed into them. Think how sad it would
be if one should kill relative, thinking
it was tiger! This tiger which you killed
today had never done us any harm, only
taking goat or dog once in awhile, and
we thought him good tiger until today,
when he seized the daughter of Sung Tsao.
We had bitter experience in this village
once which shows the truth of what say.
Our village had been guarded for many
years by good tiger. He gave warning
of his first visit by stopping outside the
village and roaring, to give US time to get
into our houses and out of the way. Then
he came in leisurely, looking around, and
Selling goat made off. We knew az once
he was good tiger and did not attempt
to drive him away. Once or twice a week
hO Nouit N'iiS oiit BSp u EOut VI uOHi al
ways roaring before he came and after he
had gone. He generally came in the day
time, while bad tigers usually come at
night,
One night we heard our good tiger
foaring fearfully outside the village, but
he would not come in, staying outside and
roaring fearfully. We knew that some
thing was wrong and we went outside
and listened We heard the rushing of a
fearful flood in the river, and we had bare
ly time to escape to the hills before the
flood came and washed the village away.
Then we knew that our good tiger had
come TO warn us and recognized that he
held the soul of great philanthropist who
4 baA io1 1xr 70, he, ba