Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/212

 On entering a tea-shop it is very unlucky to upset your own tea or to see a tea-cup upset by another.

Boatmen, when starting on a journey, always choose a lucky day for the crew to come on board, the sacrifice to be made and the boat started. The sacrificial chicken is intoxicated before it is killed, wine being poured down its gullet; when slain, the blood is sprinkled on the prow of the boat and the feathers stuck to it as a witness of the transaction. On the journey demons are seen in the head winds and adverse currents, and when it is difficult to pull the boat over a rapid; rice is then thrown overboard to feed the hungry ghosts. The boatmen will rarely tell you how far they are from a certain place, lest the demons should know of their whereabouts, while the distance is generally given as so many stages. They will never tell you where they intend to stay for the night or how far away is an anchorage, lest the demons should waylay them. The custom of boatmen whistling and howling for the wind is a curious one and probably has to do with the idea that the spirits are in the wind and are helping them. In the bottom of each boat there is one division lower than the others, called the t‘ai p‘ing ts‘ang, into which all the leakage water in the bottom of the boat is expected to flow, to be ladled out into the river; no one may shout or swear while in this division lest the boat should be wrecked. The words kuai (拐), and ch‘iung (傾), are used to take the places of huai (壞), wreck, and tao (倒), to empty out. The exact number of trackers should never be counted for fear it should bring disaster. Boatmen never tread on the front of the boat, and care should be taken to avoid this as much as possible by any one. Boatmen always sleep across the boat and never dress standing on their bedding.

Woodmen employed in the forest never call any of their comrades by name before breakfast. Nor are they called to breakfast lest one of them should be called upon to die before the evening. Anyone daring to dress standing on his bed, or knocking his chopsticks together may be fined to the extent of food and tea for a meal, as these things indicate that the axe-head may slip off and kill someone. The water in which