The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-07
QUEER ANIMAL sUpERsr1r1oNs.
.,, 2. .I Play Important Part in Many Religious
 of the World

Play Important Part in Many Religious
 of the World.
 The pig plays part in many be- liefs" Mr.s .Hickson, who ~traveied much in the Celebs and adjacent is- lands, says the London Globe, found~a tribe who believed that the whole earth is borne by a pig belonging to the god Mak-a-wa-lang, who dweIls in the under world, and that the frequent earthquakes in that region are caused by the pig rubbing itself against the i trees. | Some of the inhabitants, however, 1 assert that the world does not stand on the pig itself, but on a number of piles, and it is against these that the porker rlbs itself, with. such terrible results. Another example of pig sup erstition is found in the mythology of the East, from which one learns that when the earth was hidden away by l the malice of a giant the god Vishnu took upon himself the form of a great boar This animal had fiery tusks with which it routed the earth up from the depths of Patalas. putting it once i more in it's proper place. This cicum- stance places the pig high in the esti- nation of a large portion of the people of Asia by associating it with his third Avatar, in comTnemoration of which the god is sometimes represented in Hindu temples with the head of a pig.
 Animals generally, however, have not insignificant positions in. the realms of sfTTNof ssn Belgium, to kill stork is considered one of the greatest misfortunes that could happen to a man, for ill%luck is certain to follow him through life. In the Ural Mountains the peasantry be- lieve that if a wolf sees a mar before the man sees the wolf the man will be struck dumb and remain so as long as the wolf lives. The Eslkimos con- slider that bad fortune will follow a hunter unless whenever he kills polar bear he cuts the animals nose and throws it on the ice. The Lapps, too, believe that the bear is invested with supernatural powers, and consequent ly never mention his name, speaking of him as Gods dog" or "the old man in the fur cloak" The screeching of an owl or the killing of one, as well as the croaking of 8 raven, or the crow ing of a hen, are also sometimes re- garded as indications of coming cal- amity.
 But some of the most interesting superstitions are connected with death In some country districts of England and Germany there is an idea that if the bees swarm upon rotten tree there will be a death in the family owning or living on the property with in a year. In Greenland when a child dies the natives bury live dog with it, to be used by the child as guide to the other world, because, they say, dag can find it's way anywhere.
 A prettier custom prevails among the Seneca Indians when a maiden dies. A young bird is imprisoned until it first begins to sing, and then they kiss it and set it at liberty over the girls grave, believing that it will not fold it's wings nor close it's eyes until it has flown to the spirit land and delivered its burden of affection to the depart ed one. In this way it is not uncom- mon for a score of birds to be set loose over the same grave. The Mojaves say that all the dead who are not cremat- ed are turned into owls, and the screeching of one of these birds at night they imagine to be caused by the spirit of some dead Mojave.
 And in the Mohammedan creed anil mals have place. Among the be- liefs of the followers of the Prophet is one that eleven animals were admitted to Paradise. These were the dog Khatim, of the Seven Sleepers of Ep- hesus; Balaam's ass; Solomon's ant, the particular one which reproved the sluggard; Jor1ah's whale, Ishmael's ram, the camel and Saleb, the cuckoo of Belkis, the OK of Moses: AL Borak, the animal which conveyed Mohammed to heaven; the ass on which Christ rode into Jerusalem, and the one on which the Queen of Shelba rode when she paid her famous visit to Solomon. This is not, however, by any means the only superstitious belief concern ing Paradise. For instance, many of the South Sea Islanders believe that heaven can only be inherited by per sons whose physical forms are perfect Where this idea prevails man will do rather than submit to amputation. It would seem that John Chinaman's pig tail owed it's existence to the belief to the belief that it would form a con- vient handle by which one day he would be lifed into Paradise.
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