Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/514

 A Laos going on a journey must hunt him out a wise man, one who can read, and ascertain a lucky day for starting; this is done by consulting a kind of astrological table. A day of the week being found to coincide properly with a day of the moon and with the nativity of the pilgrim, offerings are duly made to the spirits, to ensure, if not their good-will, at least their neutrality; then with a feeling of security the journey is undertaken. No imaginable exigency of business could induce a Laos to depart from this method; and the occasional impetuosity of a foreigner arouses in a Laotian a sleepy kind of compassionate wonder. The commander entering upon a campaign can move only upon a lucky day and after making the necessary offerings, which is a ceremony involving delay and careful attention just in proportion to the importance of the expedition. Traders traveling by boats cannot enter or leave the mountains through which the river winds without a prayer and an offering of wax tapers, flowers and incense to the mountain-spirits; a neglect of this ceremony may entail the loss of a boat in the rapids, or indeed any calamity.

Twice a year offerings are made to the spirits of the river for having defiled the water by bathing and by throwing refuse into it. Toy boats and rafts are made, upon which are placed flowers, betel-nut, seri-leaf, incense and lighted