Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/344

330 the sick and avert calamities, and this power he delegates to such of the priesthood as command his favor. Such delegated power, however, is held on sufferance, and not in fee-simple. It is not only necessary that a priest gain favor with his royal highness to get this power, but he must retain said favor in order to hold the power. This has created a vast army of priests, who are the willing tools of the high priest; and he is thus enabled to wield the most absolute and despotic sway over the minds of the people.

The system has the most elaborated code of demonology, and it is likewise patterned after the political constitution of the empire. The head devil lives in the sea, and has been honored by the Chinese people by being adopted as their national emblem. The dragon flag, which floats from every staff, from the dome of the royal palace at Pekin to the mast-head of the humblest Chinese boat, testifies to the high esteem in which the chief devil of Laou-tse's followers is held. Then the multitude of lesser devils is so great that no man can number them; and these are on the track of every man, woman, and child, seeking in all methods their injury. To watch the movements of this devil host, and to frustrate their designs, is the province of the Taouist priests.

Here we have a decidedly interesting state of things. The very earth teeming with malicious demons! Man everywhere exposed to their attacks, and but one avenue of escape, viz., through the interventions of the priests! Is it a matter of surprise, therefore, that this priesthood wields such absolute power over the minds of the people? They live on the fat of the land. They are consulted on all occasions, and their instructions are obeyed to the letter by their deluded followers. It is not to be wondered at that these priests look with disfavor upon the advent of Europeans; that they fill the minds of the people with such antipathy to all change from the established order. They are wise enough to forecast their own overthrow with the advent of a deeper intelligence.

The priests are celibates, perhaps with the thought that, if they were to prove unequal to the task of managing a wife, their prestige in devil manipulation might suffer. They keep aloof from the common life around them and live in mountains and unfrequented and isolated places, that they may the better impress their own superiority over their fellows.

The priests are called upon by the people when it is discovered that a home or village is infested by a devil. Devils have the power to materialize themselves into a piece of waste paper or dirt in order to get into the houses unobserved. These devils are not credited with a high order of intelligence. Chinese architecture is governed by this conception. The doors or main entrances are put in unexpected angles and niches in the walls, with