Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/547

Rh 46. A criminal tribe in Madras consecrate their "jemmy" to Perumal before setting out, and crave his aid.

47. Sacred Arms at Amritsar.

48. Marriage by Capture in the House of Taimur. 60. Same in Tibet (and a trace of matriarchate).

49. Khamars.—Worship of Muchak Rani, a small oblong stone, daubed with red lead. They marry it every three years (formerly it was once a year) with many ceremonies to a bridegroom who is supposed to reside in a cave, into which they drop it.

53. Two boys' games.

86-94. A variety of children's games, with the rhymes sung at them. Mention is made of the following curious fact: "On the 3rd of Sawan the women swing each other as a sort of religious ceremony." [Similar to the αίώρα in Greece.]

95. Aboriginal houses.

96. Menstruation.

97. Details as to the Nat tribe.

99. If a woman loses her sons, she gets the nose of a newborn son bored, to pretend he is a girl. The nose-ring is worn till marriage, when it is removed by the bride's mother.

8. Kumaun Sorcery.—Mode of "medicine" for disease, as practised on the writer's cousin. A formula is given. The usual noise is made. A light is lit, and must be kept burning during the whole period of treatment. A net is brought, and cut bit by bit by the family and bystanders (symbolical). Cow's urine used for purification by a Brahman.

9. South Mirzapur; Aborigines; Death-Ceremonies.—Trace of the deceased shows itself in the footmark of a rat or weasel. Offerings of food to deceased spirit. Worship of the soul of the deceased, done (with offerings) in the family cooking-house (so elsewhere). The Bhuiyars put up the ridge-pole of the house always on a Friday. After it is put up, if a bird sits on it, or a crackling noise is heard in the wood, it is very unlucky. If this happens, they take down the ridge-pole, and will not use it again. [Cp. Hesiod, Op. 742 μηδε δόμον ποίών ανεπίξεστον καταλειπειν μή τοι εφεζογένη κρώζη λακερυζα κορώνη: .] — Kharwars. No one sits on the threshold of the house, or touches it (so others). At marriages, they tie on house-doors and wedding-shed a string of mango leaves, which, after the wedding', is thrown into a running stream. In epidemic of cholera and small-pox they hang before the door an old shoe or old broom.

11. Almonds used as money.