Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/235

 as much by weird chants, potents, sorcery and incantations as by medicines. It was said that Pau Dah who came from beyond the far ranges of the Himalayas communed with dragons and was a past master of mystic spells. Once he had written a play to be performed for the distraction of fire demons. Whenever a fire broke out in certain districts this play was performed that the demons might be diverted from their job of firing the building to become spectators at the intriguing drama. It was a step upward from the acts of tumbling and sleight-of-hand tricks which fire-fighters usually indulged in. The fire demons must be kept amused to keep them good-natured.

In appearance Pau Dah was gaunt, stoop-shouldered, filthy. He appeared as though he had never been bathed since infancy, if then. Why throughout the East sanctity and philosophy are so closely woven with filth and obscenity will always be an unsolvable riddle. The holy men of China and Tibet are often fit subjects for quarantine. The same is true of the most devout of India. Filth is an emblem