The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-03
SUPERSTITION SAVES COAL.
1t Lies An China and Near the Coast,
But Is Not Mined.
From the London Chronicle.


From the London Chronicle.
Because of superstition one of the rich
est coal beds in the world lies unworked
This Will not be the case long after the
great powers have partitioned China, for
the mine lies near the city of Annoy in
that unfortunate country, and It may be
Imagined that modern greed will not hes
ttate to go AFTER the coal.
Fengshul comes with birth and is new
er-ending. 1t attends every important act
and combines the functions of fortune.
fate and destiny One may not undertake
an enterprise unless that spirit favors ".
1t sets the time for marriage, and 1t
must be propiated before burial
The compound is made of words that
mean wind and water, or that which can
not be seen and that which cannot be
grasped. No amount of speculation or re-
search by foreign inquirers has resulted
in making much more of 1t than this def
milton. Since 1t thus symbolizes what the
human mind cannot easily comprehend
the Chinese not only accept 1t without
question, but as a reality pertaining to
their own life and governing II.
Annoy needs little fuel except for cook
ing, but the supply hardly satisfies the
most sparing use of wood. In some places
women and children by hundreds find a
means of livelihood by gathering stems,
sticks and leaves. and in digging for
roots, which Will always bring good prices
in copper cash. The work has become
almost an industry in the adjoining prov
ince. where the searchers for fuel trudge
miles for it daily. On the way to the hills
where they gather 1T they have made a
path which has become so worn that II
exposes a coal bed along most its entire
length. Outcroppings elsewhere In the
same section show coal at hand over a
vast area, ready for use and to be gath
cred at infinitely less trouble than the
wood adbtained from the hills.
But doctors have declared that there
must be no disturbance of the coal beds
The people bow, as If to an inspired law.
1t rs permitted to deforest some of the
hills for fuel, and they are kept contin-
ually stripped by the thousands who
make "a living by gathering wood and
carrying lit back to the settlements. The
spirits generated by the wind and water
and which occupy and envelop the earth
exact this burden upon toiling millions,
who bear 1t patiently and without COM
plant.
It is an essential purpose Of Fengshui
to preserve the harmonies of nature 1t
aims at placid conditions. The welfare Of
the people is best Ito be served, so far
as anything approaching philosophy en-
ters into this sort OF calculation by leav-
ing things as they always have been In
order that the spirits of earth and air
may forever move In the currents to
which they have become accustomed. so
that there may be no distraction of an
noyance to provoke or ruffie them. II
they are driven out9 OF their course
through human agency, the penalty Is
exacted in human suffering.
Hence all possible precaution is taken
TO avoid that which win disturb them
and the Interpreters Of Fengshui must be
consulted on every occasion II may well
be that the high regard which the Chi
nese have for precedent, their intense
conservatism, and the quality OF self
satisfaction which enables them to feel
superior to the outside affairs or even to
their own mishaps is engendered by the
faith that makes them fahalists