The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-10-23
DESTINY REVEALED.
HOW THE FUTURE is READ BY CHI
NESE SOOTHSAYERS


Sticks at a Cost of / Cent-MOre Elab-
crate and Proportionately More Expen-
sive Methods.
In every Chinese community there
will be found one or more soothsayers
or fortune tellers, who, in return for q
small coin, will send fate seeking
Chinaman away either happy Or miser-
able. The Chinese quarter in New York
supports three of these fortune jugglers,
who manage to make fairly good 1iv-
ing out Of their patrons. In this country
the sOOthsayer is not so important q
parsonage among Cinnamon as he is in
China, for the influence of "Melican"
man has affected even stolid John.
Many of them boast of their Indifference
to the auguries of the 'luck" sticks.
In China the lower classes never
take any step of importance without
consulting their favOrite sOothsayer, so
that he exercises considerable influence
among his customers. The Chinese fes-
tival on their New Years day is the
great day to take peep into the future,
and the Chinese come into New York
from all the neighboring towns which
are not strong enough in Cinnamon to
support a fortune teller. One of the
sOOthsayers plies his trade on the side
walk in hot weather Another has his
headquarters close to the Chinese the
alter, while the third is in the josshouse
i'll Mott street. Every josshouse has it's
fortune telling appliances, which are
kept III front of the altar ready for the
use of the wOrshipers There are sew
eral kinds of apparatus used to tell for
tunes. One of them consists Of two
pieces of wood, which are round on one
side and fiat on the other.
When some SuperstitiOus Chinaman de-
sires to have his fortune told, he pays 10
cents to the sOothsayer, and asks the seer
what prospect there is for him in the
near future. The man Of fate mumbles
an incarnation over the two pieces of
wood, and then throws them upon the
ground. Upon their position depends the
fate of the anxious customer. If they
both lie with fiat side up, it is a mod
erately bad sign and calls for great eau
ton on the part of the fortune seeker in
his conduct during the coming year.
When one is round side up and the other
fiat side up, the augury is extremely
favorable, and the Chinaman goes on
his way rejoicing. If both turn round
side up, the outlook is exceedingly
gloomy and something terrible may be
expected to happen soon. The idea is to
SO frame the question that the position
of the sticks will give all answer one
way Or another. The customer asks, for
instance, whether tomorrow will be a
good day or not to open a laundry bust
ness. If the answer is unfavorable, he
names a month ahead and awaits the
verdict of the sticks upon that PROPOSE
ton He continues until he gets one up
round and one fiat and makes his plans
accordingly.
The instruments found in the joss
house are those most generally used and
consist of a large number Of bamboo
strips in handsomely carved cylindric-
al box. Each strip is about ten inches
long and quarter Of an inch wide.
They are all polished to high degree
of smoothness and squared off at one
end, the other end being round. The
strips are all numbered from one up
ward, generally running as far as so.
Sometimes there are 100 in box, but
rarely more. In this case the augury
costs IN can+S hut a fan and some loss