The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-14

: more dirt than a street sweeper A
) slender chain is fastened around the
} waist of boy, and as he grows thi.
cuts into his stomach until he looks
| like fat pillow tied tightly in the
middle.
The Singhalese are like the Chinese
in their high regard for boy babies
) and dislike for girls. There has al
ways been a strange fatality among
female infants which has only recently
been accounted for. For years the doe
tors marveled over the mysterious
death of baby girls within a few days
after birth. Although there were no
!, indications of foul play, it was sus-
pected on account of the well-known
prejudice. Finally it developed that
death was produced by ejecting a straw
into the little one s throat and blowing
into it, causing strangulation.
Habitations and Habits.
In building houses in Ceylon the
roofs constructed first, then put on
poles and raised, the number of rooms
added depending upon the size of the
family. The floors are of hard mud,
and the sleeping platforms are plas-
tered with cow dung to KEEP off vermin,
and because they do not become so
muddy in wet weather. The children
spend most of their time in the street
! and learn to talk in language which
would put Bowery kid to shame.
The men do not like to work by
themselves and generally band together
when doing anything, both from the de-
sire for company and from laziness In
hammering or pounding a group will be
formed, one member of which sings
lnno chant and tho aOH
of each verse all strike in unison. 1t is
estimated that thirty strikes an hour is
fast work. Women do most of the
heavy labor. Several able bodied men
will lift a large stone or heavy burden
to a woman s head and she will walk
off with it. One workman when asked
if he was observing a certain religious
fast, replied that he was not as he was
working and required his food, but that
he was making his wife keep it.
The musical instruments of Ceylon
consist of ivory horns, drums and
"tom-toms, the latter being sort of
tambOurine made of Well-cured sheep
skin tightly stretched over wooden
frame. 1t is struck with the fingers,
and men, women ana children never
seem to tire of it as an accompaniment
to interminable songs. In all temples
HuSe COuCn STILLS are uSci DIS u GlIpCtS
and the average house of worship is as
noisy as a boiler factory. The military
band of a famous Singhalese king was
composed of sixty-four kinds of drums, !
which the historian AYERS produced |
roar like thunder. while the shrleklng !
of numberless conch shells disturbed /,
the repOse of heaven-and all the ,
neighbOrs.
A Demon noctor's Dose
The lower classes of Ceylon de-
mon worshipers They attribute every
sickness to evil spirits, and the priests
have ceremonies to intercept the tor
ments of these evil agencies. In a fever
case an ugly image, supposed to repre-
sent the demon that infests the patient,
is placed at the head of the bed. A
live fowl is then tied to the sufferer 8
feet. A demon doctor wearing rings
on his fingers and toes, then appears
and begins to shout and dance in the
most frantic manner. AT intervals he
halts to shout in the mouth of the
patient to make the demon pass from
her body to that of the fowl. The cere-
mony ends by a mock funeral process
sion passing through the room, inciud-
ing an image of dead body. Thus the
evil spirit is deceived and the sick one
is saved.
The natives of Ceylon are great be-
levers in miracles. \ story is told of
a young girl who remained in trance
for several years in one of the churches
of the interior. Every Friday she suf-
fered all the fortunes of crucifXlon,
and the awed natives even swore that
they saw blood trickling from her
hands and feet. Thousands of pilgrims
visited the place where this miracle was
to be seen. and the report of the mar
velous affair Travelled throughout the
length and breadth of the land. Many
natural objects are given symholical
names, such as q Tree of the Oath, -
Rock of the Peacock, - City of the
Shadow Garden of the
Mystic Flower and House of the
Demons Pleasure
The Buddhist priests wear long vel
ow robes so arranged as to expose the
right arm and shoulder. thus producing
L fine harmony in brown and yellow. \
yellow palm leaf is carried so that the
holy brother may veil his eyes if he
happens to meet anything so evil and
as a woman, but its use for
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