The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-09-30
STRANGE TALES FROM FAR-OFF COUNTRIES
Travel Yarns Gathered
by Correspondent
laskin.

The best place I know of to hear
good stories is in the smoking room
of an ocean going steamer-not one
of the big Atlantic ferries with its host
of Iuxury-loving passengers, but a
rough and ready craft that has it's
beat on the outer edges of civiliZa-
tons haunts, and carries people who
have had experience in unfrequented
places. If you have never been to sea
in such a ship, and would like to hear
some of the quaint tales these remote
travellers fell, draw up your chair and
listen. We were speaking of the baf-
fling secrets of the mysterious East,
when the scientist joined the group
and said:
''Once when I was in little village
in the interior of Siam, the wife of a
prominent native was taken suddenly
and seriously ILL., 1t soon developed
that the unfortunate woman was
marked for death, which was all the
more to be regretted on account of her
husband being absent from home. 1t
was learned that the quickest time in
which he could return was three days,
and the doctor said the afflicted wo-
man could not possibly live that long.
The next thing I heard in connection
with the case was that an old witch
had promised to keep the invalid alive
during the three days. The wizardess
warned them to use all haste in reach
ing the husband because her power to
sustain life would not possibly last
beyond the time she had fixed.
INVALID WENT TO SLEEP.
''In making her preparations to ac
complish this extraordinary result the
sorceress paid no attention to the in
valid at all. In fact she did not even
enter the room occupied by the sick
woman. First she boiled a small pot
of rice. uttering mysterious incanta-
lions over it as she mixed fluids and
other ingredients with it. After this
strange brew had been made to her
satisfaction, she bound the vessel con-
tanning it with a white cloth, then
summoned a young girl about sixteen
years old. and told her to hold the pot
as high over her head as she could
reach. The girl obeyed the command
as the witch began to sing a sort of
mystical refrain. The result on the
sick woman was immediate. She pass
ed from her contortions into an easy
slumber- AS hour after hour wore on
and the girl and the witch continued
their strange performance, we wonder
ed If they meant to keep up that sort
of thing for three days and nights. 1t
soon developed that that was their in
tention. If the chant died down, or the
girl showed signs of relaxation. the
invalid at once stirred in her sleep.
GAS the long struggle continued the
physical strain had a dreadful effect
upon the girl. She turned pale and
her muscles jerked and twitched, as
the burning, merciless eyes of the en-
chantress were fastened upon her. The
droning song continued as the watch
with death wore painfully from day
into night and from night into day.
The woman was kept alive until her
husband returned. but the most in
credible feature of the strange affair
was that when the young girl finally
collapsed from her terrible exertion
and fell TO the ground in a swoon the
sick woman died instantly and her
body became decomposed within few
minutes I have pondered much over
this mystifying case, but have never
been able to arrive at a satisfactory
explanation of it. Such practices are
punishable by law because in almost
every instance the young girls who
participate in these remarkable sean
ces are crippled for life by the torture
Of the ordeal TO which they are put"
POWER OF THE MIND. I
The tea buyer who had spent con-
siderable time among the hill tribes in
northern India broke the silence which
followed the recital of this astounding
story by saying: Such things seem
almost beyond belief, and people who
have never come in contact with them
no HI fCr haia Slr
but 1t is fact that the Orientals have
mysterious faculties of which western
ers have absolutely no conception. In
regard to the story about the witch it
would seem to be a physical 1mpossi-
bility for the young girl to hold out
for such a length of time, but under
the excitement of religious zeal the
mind seems possible of absolutely de- s.
flying the ordinary laws of nature. For
instance, there are religious fanatics
in India who make vows to hold their
arms over their heads Tor the remain
Ger of their lives, and actually do it.
They suffer agonies every moment of
the day and night for years until their ;
bones become set, then the pain final
w ceases.
II once saw what is called trial
by ordeal to settle a dispute between
two men. At first all the parties to
the controversy assembled on the bank !
of a river and two stakes were driven
in the mud several feet below the sur
face of the water. 1t was agreed that
both Should dive at the same time,
grasp a stake below the, water, and re- !
main to the, limit of their endurance.
The one coming to the surface first :
was to be declared wrong and the
other right. 1t so happened that they :
both came up together. and the next
test was to see which one could carry
4 hot iron the greatest distance. Such J
1 foolhardy undertaking was bound to /
MAIN both of them for life. but the 8
iolts actually grasped the red-hot J
metal and started their unique race. 8
After they had gone "a short distance 3
,ne of them swooPed from the torture
md fell fat upon the blazing IRON I