day, when the
fingers were rubbed with a linen cloth. He whose skin peeled off
first, was declared to have spoken falsehoods; and he not only lost
his cause, but was compelled to pay a penalty to the king. At the
Maldive Islands, offerings were made to the sea when a voyage was
about to be undertaken. Sacrifices were also offered to the winds,
which was done by setting fire to a new boat, and consuming it to
ashes. But if one was too poor to offer a boat, he threw into the
ocean several cocks and hens; for it was the opinion that there was in
the water a god that ate such things as were offered in sacrifice. One
was warned not to spit against the wind when at sea. The ships and
other vessels belonging to the people of these islands were
consecrated to the gods of the sea and the winds.

Superstition in China was, and still is, both general and absurd in
the extreme. The Chinese profess to have an uninterrupted genealogy of
their kings for a period of twenty-four thousand years; but,
notwithstanding their pretensions to antiquity, learned men suppose
that these people are descendants of the Egyptians. On this difficult
question, however, we do not propose to enter, and therefore proceed
to notice a few of their ridiculous customs and notions. They have
been idolaters for ages, and pay divine honours to numerous
gods--particularly to Fo, who was deified and worshipped for more than
a thousand years before the Christian era. The Chinese say that Fo was
a king's son. As soon as the infant god was born, he could speak and
walk. When young, he had four philosophers to instruct him, and at the
age of thirty he began to work miracles. Report has it that he was
born eight thousand times, and that his soul had passed through the
bodies of many different animals. The doctrine of transmigration of
souls was part of the people's creed, and this doctrine is still
believed in by the people generally. Cang-y was the god of the lower
heavens, and had power over life and death. He had three spirits
constantly attending him, the first of whom sent rain to refresh and
nourish the earth; the second was the god of the sea, to whom all
their navigators made vows before going away with ships, and performed
them on their return home; and the third presided over births and war.
The great Chinese reformer, Confucius, was born four hundred and fifty
years before Christianity was preached. As soon as he was born, two
dragomans came to guard him ag