BRIBING THE DEMONS.
The rich inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, it is almost needless to say, make an exorbitant display at funerals. They invite as many relations and friends as they can, in order to muster an imposing procession, and the mourning dresses worn by the whole party are at the cost of the family of the deceased, who are also bound to provide them for several days together with splendid repasts. A great number of musicians are hired for the occasion, and also of weepers, for though most people in China are pretty well skilled in the art of shedding tears, there exist mourners by profession, who have carried it to still greater perfection, and are absolutely inimitable at sobs and groans. They follow the coffin in long white robes, hempen girdles, and dishevelled hair; and their lamentations are accompanied by the beating of gongs, by the sharp and discordant sounds of rude instruments of music, and the discharge of fireworks. The sudden explosion and the smell of the powder are supposed to be efficacious in frightening away the demons, and hindering them from seizing on the soul of the defunct, which never fails to follow the coffin; and as these malevolent spirits have also the reputation of being extremely covetous and fond of money, people endeavour to get on their weak side. They let fall, for this purpose, all along the road, sapecks and bank-notes, that the wind carries away in all directions; and as the demons in China are by no means so cunning as the men, they are taken in by this device, and fall into the trap with charming simplicity, though, the supposed bank-notes are in fact only bits of white paper. Whilst they are engaged in pursuing these deceitful appearances of riches, the soul of the defunct proceeds quietly and comfortably after its coffin without any danger of its being stopped by the way.
HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER.
To sprinkle the holy water was, in ancient times, the cant phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation of a certain class of weapons, as there is no resemblance whatever between them and the aspergillum used by Roman Catholics. The specimen we have here sketched is a demi holy-water-sprinkler—to speak in the language of the time—"with gonnes at the ende." This awkward weapon, prior, in point of date, to the invention of the matchlock, and, therefore, not later than the time of Edward IV., was made to hang at the saddle-bow instead of a mace. The iron cap at the end is furnished with a spear-like blade, and opens on an hinge, or is held in its place by a hook. It contains four short barrels, each of which is fired by a match, and its touch-hole is protected by a sliding piece of wood.
In using this weapon the intention was first to fire at the enemy with the "gonnes at the ende," and then to club him on coming to close quarters. To effect all this, however, in a satisfactory manner, much time must have been lost, and many accidents, no doubt, were liable to happen to the person who used such a weapon as this, which was almost as dangerous to the man who possessed it, as to the enemy against whom he directed it. The lid at the top must first have been opened, and not only so, but must have been kept open all the time the weapon was used as a gun, and then, previously to closing with the foe, it must have been necessary to secure it, lest, in brandishing the instrument as a club, the open lid should strike against the head of the man who wielded it. No wonder that this dangerous compound of club and gun soon went out of fashion, and survived its invention only a very few years.
FIRST TEA-DRINKERS PUZZLED.
The first brewers of tea were often sorely perplexed with the preparation of the new mystery. "Mrs. Hutchinson's great grandmother was one of a party who sat down to the first pound of tea that ever came into Penrith. It was sent as a present, and without directions how to use it. They boiled the whole at once in a bottle, and sat down to eat the leaves with butter and salt, and they wondered how any person could like such a diet."
COLUMN AT CUSSI.