El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-23

popularity believed to have been CON
structed by the devil, and Tertulllan
said that he was so good a natural
philosopher that he could carry sieve
full Of water without splitting drop
The external galleries Of the towers
of the cathedral of Notre Dame. IN
[ Paris, literally swarm with SculpIureo
devils Most noted Of the whole dlaboh-
cal crew is one that has played no small
part in French literature, its fame hay
ing spread TO all parts of the world.
The evil creature serving the archltec-
tural purpose Of q Sargoyles' leans
upon the parapet, surveying the city as
if with intense satisfaction its eX-
preston marvellous portrayal OF
demoniac JOY.
superior knowledge Dangerous.
The possession of superior knowledge
was dangerous in days of old; at all
events, to exhibit it was unsafe In the
thirteenth century, when Roger Bacon
threw the image of a rainbow upon a
screen by means of a glass prism, ne
performed an experiment with which
every child nowadays is familiar. But
his audience, never having beheld such
a phenomenon, fled in terror, and the
philosopher narrowly escaped beng
prosecuted and burned for wItehcraft-
still Are Believed In.
Even at the present time, IN CIVIL
lied countries. there are plenty Of peo-
pie who believe in devils Idle minds
still find mischief for Satan TO do But.
to discover this form Of superstition
in active and general operation, one
must visit such relatively unenlght-
ened land
No religion has ever been able to get
along without devils The ancient
Egyptians went to the grave literally
papered and painted over with the
ritual requisite for successful en-
counter with the devil spirits waiting
to oppose their passage into the abode
Of blessedness-
Devil Worship Oldest OF All.
Devil worship Is the most primitive
form of religion, and hence one IS
not surprised to find among savage
peoples ceremonlals which have no
other object than the Precipitation OF
evil spirits. Among the natives of Aus
tralia one meets with devil dancers"
who wear plumed headdreSSeS,- and
whose faces. in lieu Of masks, are
thickly covered with white paint Civ
ing them a peculiarly Erisly aspect
Apart from these adOrnments. they are
entirely naked; but an imitation or
clothing off such II may be termed
is made by painting lines on the front
Of their bodies and things which are so
arranged as to suggest in an odd ana
striking way the effect Of a civilized
evening dress coat
Devil Dance OF the WOki.
The Apache indians have a devil
dance OF their own, in which the per
formers wear very fantastic maskt
and head gear But one must visit the
MOki. in their own country in ths
southwest TO see the business of devil
dancing elevated to a really artistic
plane
The principal devil Of the Mokt
is the Great Plumed Snake. which
oddly enough is also the god that
controls the rains. He is the arch
enemy Of the sun, who is the beneficient
divinity par excellence Once in
long while con the occasion of an
ecliDseJ he actually succeeds in swaI-
lowing the sun, but is. compelled 10
disgorge- Several centuries ago, when
this tribe of indians dwelt in cliff
houses along the Rio Verde, the snake
brought about a deluEe. and later on
he so afflicted the Noki in other ways
as to Oblige them 10 migrate north
ward into Arizona, where they now re
side
The principal ceremonial Of the year
in AIoki Land is one in which tremen-
dous fight is represented between the
devils, headed by the Plumed Snake,