Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/382

374 In connection with this strange belief in the efficacy of red broadcloth, it may be interesting to quote an idea current in the Awagarh district. The people have it that the common broadcloth (banat) is not made in England, but in an island in the sea by a race of people with the bodies of men and the heads of horses. They bring cargoes of this cloth in ships, which they anchor off the shore. The purchasers lay down the money in an appointed place, and the cloth-dealers leave their goods in exchange. On one occasion the purchasers tried to cheat, by leaving plated or gilt brass coins. When the next cargo of broadcloth came it was found to be made of paper.

The superstitions and ceremonies connected with sickness or charms to avert calamities are of course numerous. The following is an account of what actually occurred in Benares in August, 1879, during an outbreak of cholera, and is quoted from a letter received at the same time: "Cholera is very bad just now in Secrole, a part of the city near the Government offices. In connection with it I heard the other day of a curious custom called 'Chillonwa' (passing on or pass over). Noticing one night a number of men with bamboo-staves sitting at the cross-roads near the house, I asked what they were waiting for, and was told that they were watching for the 'Chillonwa,' to prevent its coming into their village. It seems that the people in Secrole thought that if they killed a buffalo and a calf and carried the heads away and put them down in a neighbouring village the disease would leave them and cleave to that village. The villagers around naturally objected to this mode of transplanting the disease, and there was very nearly a pitched battle. Yesterday morning, when going about another cholera-stricken part of the town, I came upon a place where a good deal of grain had been burnt on the ground; and, on asking what it meant, the people said that oil had been poured over the grain, which was then set on fire in the hopes that the disease would depart in the smoke."

There would seem to be some sense in this latter ceremony, as the fumigating and disinfecting powers of the smoke are well known. Fire as a purifier has probably been used from time immemorial. A friend, who has a thorough knowledge of the habits and customs of the natives, recalled to mind that when he was a boy, in Calcutta, he and