Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/83

 The art of the horse, pig and ox stealer is called t‘ai mên 擡門, lifting the door. He carries, besides his fuse and other weapons, a tube of water which is poured into the wooden hinges of the door to keep them from squeaking. When a pig is the object of theft it is given hua chiao 花椒 or red pepper; this benumbs its mouth so that it cannot squeal, and is thus more easily carried out of the place. When an ox is stolen, as soon as it is outside the door, a man takes hold of each horn and another takes the tail; the man behind pricks the ox with a goad, making it run furiously and heedless of all obstacles away from the house. Horses are taken off in a similar manner. In stealing ducks or chickens the necks are seized and tied; while cats are put in a sack.

Thieves are naturally very superstitious. Many of them carry on their person the wooden image of a dog with an iron band round its nose, to keep it from barking or biting, as dogs are their chief fear and natural enemy. They are very much afraid of any combination of words having fan 飯 and fa 髮 in them. Even to eat rice is known by them as ch‘ao fên tzŭ 𢴿粉子. Their chief object is to avoid detection; one might almost say that the only sin is the loss of face on being caught. They also have a superstitious dread of the following words: ti chu 抵注 to get up against; ch‘uang tao 撞到 to knock against, and k‘ung shou 空手 empty-handed: a thief if he enters a house will do all in his power to carry something away with him, however small, as it is most unlucky for him to leave empty-handed; ma tzŭ, 馬子, an enemy: the master of the house is the natural enemy of the thief; liang 亮, light: their works being evil they hate the light. Each clique has a particular call by which it is known; some mew like a cat, others blow a bamboo whistle; others have a call like wu hu, while others have a song. Any householder hearing these sounds close by gives a warning to his household, and calls out for the thief to come in and he will give him a "light for his pipe;" with the mention of light the thief very often departs. In entering a tea shop they call for water, not for boiling water or hot water as other people do, as these expressions are used by them to indicate that trouble is coming. They also hate the words pu shun shou 不順手,