Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/691

Rh wave towels about, or sweep the ghost out with a besom, just as in old Rome the heir solemnly swept out the ghost of his predecessor with a broom made specially for the purpose. In ancient Mexico professional "chuckers-out" were employed, who searched the house diligently till they found the lurking ghost of the late proprietor, whom they there and then summarily ejected.

The favorite "beat" of the ghost is usually the spot where he died. Hence, in order to keep him at least from the house, the Caffres carry a sick man out into the open air to die, and the Maoris used to remove the sick into sheds. If a Caffre or Maori died before he could be carried out, the house was tabooed and deserted. There are traces in Greece, Rome, and China of this custom of carrying dying persons into the open air.

But in case the ghost should, despite all precautions, make his way back from the grave, steps were taken to barricade the house against him. Thus, in some parts of Russia and East Prussia an axe or a lock is laid on the threshold, or a knife is hung over the door, and in Germany as soon as the coffin is carried out of the house all the doors and windows are shut, whereas, so long as the body is still in the house, the windows (and sometimes the doors) are left constantly open to allow the soul to escape. In some parts of England every bolt and lock in the house is unfastened, that the ghost of the dying man may fly freely away.

But, if primitive man knew how to bully, he also knew how to outwit the ghost. For example, a ghost can only find his way back to the house by the way by which he left it. This little weakness did not escape the vigilance of our ancestors, and they took their measures accordingly. The coffin was carried out of the house, not by the door, but by a hole made for the purpose in the wall, and this hole was carefully stopped up as soon as the body had been passed through it; so that, when the ghost strolled quietly back from the grave, he found to his surprise that there was no thoroughfare. The credit of this ingenious device is shared equally by Greenlanders, Hottentots,