Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/344

314 posed that they dreaded being counted individually, an idea which gave rise to the popular couplet shouted by all urchins:

They believed that a hare's foot brought bad luck. I, like other boys, have been pursued many a time for throwing a clod of earth or some other missile into their creels and shouting, "There is a bad's fit in your creel!" but I will leave it to my audience to decide whether it was solely from superstition that they resented the outrage.

A third popular idea was that they would not cross a line drawn across the road in front of their path, but would make a detour or climb the wall to avoid stepping over it. I never saw the experiment made, so I cannot vouch for its truth. I know I firmly believed it, but it had to be done right in front of an advancing column of fishwives, and all my experimental researches into their superstitions were conducted in a safer strategical position at the rear. , M.D., F.R.S. Edin.

297. Sun Worship: rites on the first day of the new year. Red powder offered. The worshipper tastes of all the food offered.

299. Taboos during small-pox.

300. Sacred Pool at Amritsar. Legend of a holy man walled up in a chamber beneath the pool. [Dedicatory Sacrifice?]

301. Worship of the Sami tree. It has scarlet thorns. Worshipt by the old Rajputs before war, when they also shot at a dummy foe, and held athletic games.

304. Omens taken from floating lamps regarding the safety of friends absent upon a voyage.

306. Worship of the Asoka tree: it gives offspring.

307. Saharanpur: Sacred song of the Sweepers.