The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-21
FORTUNE TELLING
IN CHINATOWN.
THE ALMOND-EYED OWNERS OF
SAN FRANCISCO.

At Least Fifty of Them Who Do n
Prosperous Business With Curious
Tourists, Trusting Chinese and
SuperstftiOus Natives-Their Vari-
Gus Observation-Disclosures People,
ClergSmen, Physicians and Under
takers barred.
From the New York Post.
Few tourists pass through San Fran
cisco without having explored the mys-
teries of Chinatown, the largest in the
United States, and few consider that
they have accomplished this until they
have heard what fate holds in store
for them from at least six different
wise men" and by as many methods
of divining. In fact, it is an amuse-
ment in which the old residents of
Frisco never tire, for almost every
Chinese prognosticator has his regular
white customers, many times men of
high position, who claim that the
"Chink" fortunes bring luck.
There are at least fifty fortune tellers
in the forty blocks of 'Friscos China
town, and they all seem to make a good
and also a big man among his own peo-
pie, is old Wong Gong, the most aris-
tocratic prophet that ever deserted his
native soil. Wong is an astrologer
clairvoyant physiognomist, palmist, and
all-round wizard, and he holds forth
in the weirdest sort of little den in
the most exclusive portion of the quar-
ter. He hangs his sign at the entrance
of the Chinatown palace Hotel"
a t.
the floor on the level with the sidewalk
foreground stories of mystery. His
transparent sign inhames your curios-
ity and invites you in.
A rap upon the yellow-and-red dec
GRATED door brings a response. The
Rembrandt which meets your eye as
you enter is wen worth the price of
the fortune. At a round table in the
center of a room about ten by twelve
feet sits the twin of the doctor in
''The First Born" A small kerosene
lamp radiates light for a space of per-
haps two feet, and sends queer shad-
ows over the remaining portion of the
room. You are already fascinated by
the mystery of it, as you inhale the
faint odor of incense, and look about
at the odd assortment of pictures.
Presently you are recalled to earth
by the soft voice and flowery speech
of the revealer, asking whether you
will have the past or the future,
whether you want him to read your
palm, or just to choose your own flu
ture by selecting sticks. There is one
popularity in all the various methods
of Chinese fortune telling-you must
ask plainly just what you want to
know. You announce the subject and
the prophet will do the rest. And a
great many times it depends upon the
color of your eyes and hair, and the
tilt of your nose, whether the answer
be propitious or no. One old fellow
in a communicative mood told me that
he would never tell any redhaired
persons fortune. Titan locks and bur-
nished copper do not appeal to the ar
tistic soul of the Chinese. Priests, min
listers, and doctors are tabooed, also
undertakers, if by chance their iden-
tity and profession are disclosed. Their
money, according to the Chinese idea,
will hoodoo the purse.
Buying Prophecies at Retail.
Tourists visiting Wong generally take
fifty cents or a dollars worth of past
or. future, but those who know are
| more apt to dicker for a quarter s
worth, for fortunes in Chinatown are
sold singly or in quantity like fish or
vegeta bles-10 cents a question, three
for a quarter or seven for a half-and
it is vastly more fun than buying 1t in
wholesale quantities.
The stick process of divination goes
something like this: The customer is
requested to choose from a small Jar
full of sticks which are about a foot
long, pointed at the ends and painted
red at the tips. The symbols and
Chinese characters upon these sticks
determine your fate. There are in all
twenty-six of the sticks, each one rep
resenting a block upon the shell of a
terrapin, certain species of which,
from a Chinese point of view, is sym
bolic of all that is good. Some of the
spots painted upon the sticks are as
ISOLATED with words strongly express
sive of evil. as "fend," dragon"
devil" etc. Others are spirits of dead
friends-"God, heaven, earth, fire, wa
ter" etc.
After choosing a required number of
sticks, they are deftly gathered up by
the taper fingers of the diviner, who
has in the meantime placed a slip of red
paper before him and has prepared
the brush and pot of paint of Chinese
ink. Then, as he looks over the SYM
bols and sorts the sticks, he mumbles
a sort of prayer, meanwhile writing on
the red slip The prayer, as near as
it can be translated, goes something
like this: May the felicitOuS star
answer to it's change without resting
May it dispel diabolical influences and
bind monsters, preserve life and pro-
tect the person. In wisdom intelli-
gence, splendor and purity, may the
heart and spirit have rest and peace.
May the three souls of which man is
constituted endure forever"
A Chinese Compliment.
You are then requested to state your
question. Perhaps you wish to know if
you will travel. Very well. A long jar
gon lot of mysterious letter paint
ing, the revealer all the time as Sc
rious as a statue Finally he answers
that you will travel or otherwise, and
he is ready for the next question. If
you happen to strike Wong's fancy he
will tell you that you have a red
heart" one of the highest compliments
that Chinaman can pay.
Wong himself is a queer character, a
mixture of native shrewdness and Irish
barney. He speaks three languages,
but is master of none. His patois of
howery English, occasionally breaking
into the most popular slang. is spok an
with Confucian dignity and great Sc
robustness. During his twenty years
of fortune telling in San Francisco
Wong has made a great many Ameri
can friends, among them quite a few
celebrities, of which he is very proud.
Methods of DivinatiOn.
The street fortune tellers are also
most interesting characters. About ev-
Some tell with the sacred fish, others
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