Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 24.djvu/563

Rh sun-toughened skins, so that there is a direct personal argument to support the sentimental objection. Then, again, you may find lead in your soil-turning. There is not the smallest hesitation in the books on a question like this. If you go on and build you will lose slaves and goods. But, for all the lead that is there, the turned-up earth may smell of beans, or may have the fragrance of the sacred lotus itself. This is a most happy omen. The dwellers in a house raised on such land will be most fortunate, and the soil round about is the best possible for cultivation. In such a dilemma there is nothing for it but to call in a Sayah and pay him to work out the problem, to make a resolution of forces for you. There are certain amateur ways of arriving at a conclusion by means of split bamboos and heaps of paddy, but they are apt to be fallacious and afford no real satisfaction to a well constituted mind. It is not surprising to be told that sand is not a good foundation on which to raise a house, or that a soil which is mainly composed of small stones is undesirable; but when it comes to the slope of the ground, or the friability or stiffness of the earth, none but a thoroughly reckless man will trust to his own unaided intelligence.

At any rate, whether you get the advice of an expert or not, it is imperative that you should carefully turn over all the ground where the new building is to be. Having done this, it is a matter of reasonable precaution to make offerings to the earth-spirit. Acquaintance with this Phra Phum and his belongings is no light matter, and is likely to be as good as an annuity to the man who has mastered the details. As he is an earthy spirit he is especially liable to mortal failings, and notably possesses a very short temper, which will brook no deficiency in reverence. It will not do to be ignorant of the names of his father and mother and of his nine children. Forgetfulness of his possessions is equally likely to cause trouble. There must be no hesitation as to the proper titles of his house and the tower on it, his cattle-shed, his granary, his bridal chamber, his thrashing-floor, his lands, his garden, his monastery, and his three chief servants. Remissness in any one of these particulars is apt to make an offering dangerous rather than otherwise. This offering, by whomsoever brought, must be set down at the extremity of the toes of the Phra, who thereupon graciously takes up his broom and sweeps the place clean, and gives the pious votary his blessing. If an ignorant or presumptuous man should place his gifts near the head, the earth-spirit would curse him with terrible imprecations, and brush everything away, worshiper and all. Negotiations with this deity are therefore rather ticklish work, but it is perilous to leave them undone. The site being settled, and things made right with the guardian spirit of the earth, the next thing to be done is to dig holes for the reception of the posts. It is necessary to begin with that for the chief post, and the hole for this must not be dug square, but in the form of a triangle. This may imply more work, but that can not be helped. When the hole for the