only a few, substituting English names for
Chinese, with a word or two in explanation.

"The cash-sword" is made of a large
number of old copper coins, strung together
in the shape of a rude sword, and kept
straight by a piece of iron running through
the whole length. It is supposed to have
great effect in frightening away ghosts and
evil spirits, and in hastening the recovery of
sick people. It may be found chiefly in houses
where persons have suffered violent deaths or
have committed suicide; and not unfrequently
it is hung up by the bed-side of inner-rooms.
As the copper coins may have been cast
under the reigns of different monarchs, it is
imagined that the presence of the several
sovereigns will afford a guarantee against
misfortune of any kind.

"An old brass mirror" may often be
observed in the chief apartments of rich
people; standing there for the purpose of
enticing away foul and malignant demons.
The notion prevails that it has the virtue of
healing any one who may have become mad
at the sight of a fiend. The demoniac has
only to look at himself in the brazen mirror,
and he is immediately cured.

There is also "the Han jade-stone." Of
this the story goes that, under the Han
dynasty (that is, about the opening of the
present era), when a wealthy person died, each of
his mourning friends dropped "a jade-stone"
into his coffin: and, at this date, should any
one be fortunate enough to obtain one of
these rare buried jades, he may consider
himself secure from the power of devils and the
fury of fire.

"The jade-stone seal" is something
analogous; but is used principally as a guard
against sudden fright. Very frequently it is
worn by infants as frontlets or armlets, to
show if the child be well or ill; the former
being indicated by the clean appearance of
the stone, the latter by a dark shade. Short,
pithy sentences are sometimes cut upon them.

There is also "a peach charm." On the
first of the new year, a sprig of peach
blossoms is stuck up over the door of the
house, saying to the vile spirits that roam
about creation, "Hitherto shall ye come, but
no further." Yet, one of their own poets has
said:—"If your own thoughts be free from
impurity, of what need is this peach-charm?"

"The tiger's claw," real, artificial, or
pictorial, is another common charm against
sudden starts and frights.

"A three-cornered spell" is a paper with
magical letters fancifully written upon it,
folded in a triangular shape, and sewed on
people's dresses, to ward off sickness and
spirits. Every temple has a good supply of
this cheap article, and there is a great run
upon it. The paper generally is yellow; the
writing is of red ink, and, to add due
importance to the fragment, it is stamped with
the temple-seal. Many are used as cures for
the sick, by being burnt and having the ashes
thrown into a medical liquid, which compound
draught is quaffed by the patient

It has been said above, that they have also
appendages of a felicitous or hopeful class.
Such is "the Hundred-family Lock." A
father has a son and heir born to him, and his
best wish for his offspring is, that he may
enjoy a long andf happy life. So he goes
the round of his personal friends,—to obtain
from one hundred separate individuals, each
three or four small copper coins, called cash.
With this collection he purchases a neat lock,
which he hangs round his child's neck, for
the purpose of locking him to life; and it is
presumed that these one hundred
contributors will stand security for the child's
reaching a good old age. There is the "neck
ring lock," likewise used for the same object,
both by grown women and children.

Gourds made of copper, or of the wood of
those people's coffins who have attained old
age, are worn as charms for longevity,—the
former are slung round the neck, the latter
round the wrist. This fancy is traced to the
tradition that, in ancient days, gourd-bottles
were carried by old men on their backs.

In Chinese houses, in collections of old
furniture, in their carvings, and in their
pictures, the peach figures very prominently.
It is another charm for long life, called
"Longevity peach."

A fabulous animal, which goes by the name
Ke-lin, is believed to have appeared at the
birth of Confucius, and other sages. The
body resembles that of the deer, the tail that
of the ox, and it has only one horn; but its
nature is said to be tame and kind. An
image of this fabulous creature, or its
picture, is worn by children as a bespeaking of
great and good luck. Often a figure or
painting of this unicorn is met with
presenting a child. This form is particularly
respected by married people who wish, or
expect, to be blessed with clever children.

Phylacteries are in common use with the
more religious orders. These consist chiefly
of tiny girdle books, and slips of paper which
are stitched up in different parts of the
dress, or slung on the belt, or pasted on
the walls and doors. They seem to contain
Sanscrit or Thibetan words, much in use in
Buddhist writings. Besides these talismans
in writing, there are different forms of the
three characters which the Chinese use to
represent the grand total of good luck;
Fuh, family increase; Lull, official emolument;
Show, long life; to carry either or all
of these about the person, or to have them in
the house in pictures and wall-scrolls, is
considered remarkably lucky, and predicative of
certain felicity.

Such superstitious and romantic notions
have their counterpart in the absurd and
grotesque fancies that still lurk among the
people of Great Britain; for example, the
finding and nailing up of a horse shoe, &c.
And, as to the practice of divination in