The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-05-28 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

Peeps at Other Ocraatries.  CHINESE CHARMS.  The Chinese are great believers in charms, and the list of such objects includes every variety of magical invention for warding off sickness, disease, calamity, fire, and demoniacal possessions. We select a few, substituting English names for Chinese, with a word or two in explanation, as given in an exchange. "The cash-sword' is made of a large number of old copper coins, strung together in the shape of a rude sword, and kept straight by a piece of iron running through the whale ,q,tl). It is supposed to have great effect in frigh .! away ghosts and evil spirits, and in hastc. the recovery of sick people. It may be found chiefly in houses where persons have suffered violent death, or have committed suicide: and not unfrequently it is hung up by the bedside of inner rootns. As the copper coins may have been cast under the reigns of different monarchs, it is imagined that the presence of the several sovereigns will afford a guarantee against misfortune of any kind. "An old brass mirror" may often be observed in the chief apartments of rich people, standing there for the purpose of enticing away foul and malignant demons. The notion prevails that it has the virtue of healing anyone who may have become read at the sight of a fiend. The demoniac has only to look at himself in the brazen mirror, and he is immediately cured. There is also "the Han jade-stone." Of this the story goes that, under the Hon dynasty (that is, about the opening of the present era), when a wealthy person died, each of his mourning friends dropped a •‘ jadestone " into his coffin; and, at this date, should anyone be fortunate enough to obtain one of these rare buried jades, he may consider himself secure from the power of devils and the fury of fire. "The jadestone seal " is something analogous, but is used principally as a geard against sudden fright. Very frequently it is worn by infants as frontlets or armlets, to shew if the child be well or ill; the former being indicated by the clean appearance of the stone, the latter by a dark shade. Short, pithy sentences are sometimes cut upon them. There is also "a peach charm." On the first of the new year a sprig of peach-blossoms is stuck up over the door of the house, saying to the vile creatures that roam about creation, "Hitherto shall ye come, but no further." Yet one of their own poets has said, "If your own thoughts be free from impurity, of what need is this peach charm ?" " The tiger's claw," real, artificial, or pictorial, is another charm against sudden starts and frights. "A threecornered spell" is a paper with magical letters fancifully written upon it, folded in a triangular shape, and sewed on people's dresses to ward off sickness and spirits. Every temple has a good supply of this cheap article, and there is a great run upon it. The paper generally is yellow; the writing is of red ink, and, to add due importance to the fragment, it is stamped with the temple seat. Many are used as cures for the sick, by being burnt and having the ashes thrown into a medical liquid, which compound draught is quaffed by the pa4ient.  PECIILLAB GODS OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDHRS. 'Returning to the village we entered an idol-house. The god (will it be credited?) is the central side post, stouter than the rest, and crooked! Like the other posts, this god helps to sustain the roof, and yet is an object of daily worship! To the crooked post —utterly destitute of ornament—three green cocoanuts and a sacred leaflet were offered morning and evening. On these occasions the worshipper (with whom we conversed) goes through his incantations, and, husking the nuts with a stick kept for the purpose, drinks the water and eats the kernel and then puts newly-plucked nuts in their place! This is all supposed to be done with the permission of the god. Besides, the divinity is believed to have devoured the essence, so that only the refuse is in reality left. Like the dogma of transubstantiation nearer home, this doctrine requires a considerable amount of faith. Each new act of worship necessitates the tying of a fresh leaf round the post, and another round the arm of the worshipper. Four old cocoa-nuts lay at the foot of this queer post-god. In another idol-house we saw, on a swinging tray, a smooth round pebble worshipped as a god. Offerings of green cocoa-nuts lay near it, with the sacred leaflet. We thought of the words of Isaiah, "Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot; even to them heat thou poured a drink offering--thou hat offered a meat offering."—"Juttingsfroin the Pacific," by W. Wyatt Gill, B.A. 

Article type: NotIncident