Disease is also transferred in an actual physical way. Thus, in Ireland, a charm or curse is left on a gate or stile, and the first healthy person who passes through will, it is believed, have the disease transferred to him. So, in Scotland, if a child is affected with the whooping cough, it is taken into the land of another laird, and there the disease is left.[61] Similarly, in Northern India, one way of transferring disease is to fill a pot with flowers and rice and bury it in a path, with a stone to cover it. Whoever touches this is supposed to contract the disease. This is known as Chalauwa, which means “passing on” the malady. This goes on daily in Upper India. Often when walking in a bâzâr in the early morning, you will see a little pile of earth decorated with flowers in the middle of the road. This usually contains some of the scabs or scales from the body of a small-pox patient, which are placed there in the hope that someone may touch them, contract the malady and thus relieve the sufferer. In 1885 it was officially reported that in Cawnpur small-pox had greatly increased from the practice of placing these scales on the roads. At the instance of Government the matter was investigated, and it was found that in the early stages of the disease, the Diuli ceremony is performed at cross-roads; and that at a later period the crusts from smallpox patients mixed with curdled milk and cocoanut juice are carried to the temple or platform of the small-pox goddess and are dedicated to her.[62]
One morning, in a village near Agra, I came by chance on two old women fiercely quarrelling. On making inquiries, I found that one of them had placed some small-pox crusts from her child on her neighbour’s threshold. The people agreed that this was a wicked act, as it displayed special animus against a particular person. If they had been placed on the cross-road, and any one had been unlucky enough to touch them and contract the disease, it would not have mattered much—that was the will of God.
Some time ago an indigo planter, near Benares, was astonished by a respectable native friend asking the loan of one of his geese. On inquiry he ascertained that his friend’s son was suffering from bowel complaint, and that he had been advised by a native physician to get a goose, place it in the boy’s bed, and that the disease would be communicated to the bird, with the result of curing the patient. This remedy was known in Italy. One of the prescriptions of Marcellus runs:[63] “To those who are suffering from a colic. Let them fasten a live duck to their stomachs, thus the disease will pass from the man to the duck, and the duck will die.” In the same way when any one wants to set their neighbour’s household at variance, a quill of a porcupine, which is supposed to be a quarrelsome animal, is thrown over the wall. On this principle in Italy a short and simple method of setting people by the ears is to buy some of the herb Discordia and throw it into a house, when the result is sure to be a vendetta.[64] In the Indian Hills, in case of illness a stake is driven down into the earth where four roads meet, and certain drugs and grains are buried close by, which are speedily disinterred and eaten by crows. This gives immediate relief to the sufferer.[65] Here the idea apparently is, that the disease is transferred to the crow, a sacred bird, and in close communication with the spirits of the sainted dead. So in cases of cattle disease, a buffalo’s skull, a small lamb, fire in a pan, vessels of butter and milk, wisps of grass and branches of the Siras tree (Acacia speciosa) are thrown over the boundary of another village and are supposed to carry the disease demon with them. This often causes a riot.[66] In the same way, killing buffaloes and putting their heads in the next village removes cholera, and by pouring oil on grain and burning it, the disease flies elsewhere in the smoke. This seems to be one of the principles which underlie the general practice of fire sacrifice.
Scapegoats.
This brings us to the regular scapegoat. At shrines of Sîtalâ, the small-pox goddess, sweepers bring round a small pig. Contributions are called for from the worshippers, and when the value of the animal is made up, it is driven by the people into the jungle, pursued by an excited crowd, who believe that the creature has taken the disease with it.
General Sleeman gives an excellent example of this custom.[67] “More than four-fifths of the city and cantonments of Sâgar had been affected by a violent influenza, which, commencing with a violent cough, was followed by a fever and in some cases terminated in death. I had an application from the old Queen Dowager of Sâgar, to allow of a noisy religious procession for the purpose of imploring deliverance from this great calamity. The women and children in this procession were to do their utmost to add to the noise by raising their voices in psalmody, beating upon their brass pans and pots with all their might, and discharging firearms where they could get them. Before the noisy crowd was to be driven a buffalo, which had been purchased by general subscription, in order that every family might participate in the merit. They were to follow it out eight miles, where it was to be turned out for anyone who would take it. If the animal returned, the disease must return with it, and the ceremony be performed over again. I was requested to intimate the circumstances to the officer commanding the troops in cantonments, in order that the noise they intended to make might not excite any alarm and bring down upon them the visit of the soldiery. It was, however, subsequently determined that the animal should be a goat, and he was driven before the crowd. Accordingly, I have on several occasions been requested to allow of such noisy ceremonies in cases of epidemics, and the confidence the people feel in their efficacy has, no doubt, a good effect.”
Demons Scared by Noise.
This incidentally leads to the consideration of the principle that evil spirits are scared by noise. In the first place this appears largely to account for the use of bells in religious worship. The tolling of the bells keeps off the evil spirits which throng round any place where the worship of the regular gods is being performed. Milton speaks of—