Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/236

 of sanctity. And in many sections of India the most bestial acts are consummated in the temples. It is an amazing fact that the true history of all religions could not be written in detail without the author being arrested as a purveyor of prurient and salacious literature. Much would be revolting.

Pau Dah wore a matted, straggly gray beard and his sun-scorched face was almost black. His costume was a sort of cassock of gray which hung in uneven ragged fringe about his bare legs. Around his neck was a long string of tiger claws, fang-like teeth, bits of bone, shells and gaudy beads. It was his chain of charms, the emblem of his wizardry, which he claimed was fully a thousand years old.

Hung Long Tom sent for Pau Dah to be brought to his garden. He had no faith in the old charlatan but still he decided to give his restorative powers a trial. After all what do we know about any medicine? In numerous cases the patient recovers not because of the medicine but in spite of it. The Shrine of