Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-04

LUCK CHARMS

areas and such enlightened countries
as Great Britain, there are many peo-
pie who still place their implicit trust
in a charm to bring them good fortune,
and in not few cases will expect 1t TO
heal them of diseases. These amulets
take curious forms, sometimes the
limbs of human beings, but more fire.
quently parts of the bodies of animals,
says a student of these matters, writ
ing in Tit-Bits.
The tongues of animals have been,
and are still, favorite amulets. A tongue
cut from living fox is said to ward
off disease of all kinds, but as the per-
son carrying one will surely die If he
happens to meet a fox at any cross
roads the charm is seldom used. The
tongue of the vulture plucked out with
iron and hung about mans neck in
new cloth will bring him what he de-
sires and some Indians believe that If
they do not bite off the tip of the tongue
of any wild animal they kill they Will
not have good luck in hunting.
Feathers of birds, too, have also been
used from earliest times to insure luck.
good and evil. If the feathers of a Vul-
ture are burned the smell drives away
serpents and other evil spirits. If the
feathers of the right wing of black
bird are hung up in the middle of the
house on a red thread which has never
w
in that house until the wing has been
taken down. Eskimos court good favor
by fixing a bunch of feathers from the
golden eagle at the bows of their boats.
Fiends can also be frightened away
by means of vulture'S heart bound up
in a lion or wolf skin. The head of a
kite bird worn on the breast, according
to our forefathers, brought the love and
favor of all men and women, while il
the heart OF an owl was laid on the
left side of a sleeping woman she
would confess to all the wrong she had
done. If woman wore the heart of a
turtle dove wrapped in the skin of a
wolf she would ever after be faithful.
The Irish believe that to nail a bat
over the house door prevents the ma
gician from entering. A saying which,
curiously enough, is still current is
that if one picks his teeth with the nail
of the middle toe of an owl he never
will have the toothache.
In former days the goose was con-
sidered TO be a sacred bird, and even
now in some parts of Asia 1t is still
regarded with superstitious awe. The
devout cherish fond fancy that geese
perform an aerial pilgrimage to the
hottest of lakes in the Himalayas every
year, transporting the sins of the
neighborhood, returning with a new
stock of inspiration for the encourage
ment of the people.
The natives of Bernia in West Africa
keep the bones and nails of elephants
as charms for good luck The people
of upper Egypt prize very highly the
tufts of hair from the name of the
hyena, and the skin of this animal will
secure for the possessor love and faith
fulness of a husband and wife as we'll
as the favor of the great.
The Singhalese believe the monkey
to be entitled to sacred honors, and
that any house built on the bones OF
one of these animals will be cursed
The visitor to Mourzak in Central
Africa will be somewhat surprised to
see the heads of asses arranged round
the gardens of the natives. These are
placed there to ward off evil spirits. A
frogs foot hanging over a doorway in
some parts of the states will indicate
that the inmates desire to be protected
from witchcraft, while the Chinese
sleep quite peaceably at night if an
image of a cat is on the roof of the
house.
Sufferers from govt have been known
to wear tied round their legs a blue
ribbon which is studded with shells OF
gray snails. This is said to allay the
pain. Lord Bacon says "a band of
green periwinkles tied about the calf o.
the leg" or wearing on the finger rings
made Of seahorse teeth" will cure
cramp. So firm is the trust Of the ma
tives in these charms that in some
parts of the world they are never
known to take medicine. In Central
Africa, for instance the natives simply
cut their nails and, tying them to the
back of a crawfish, throw the crusta-
cean over their shoulder into the river
or sea without looking at it, believing
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