Of recollection that the fire by which the
Houses of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the
over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being
burnt." I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of the
colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may survive. They
appear to be still used by bakers in various parts of England and France,
in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally in some other trades.
(Martini, 135; Bridgman, 259, 262; Eng. Cyclop. sub v. Tally; Notes
and Queries, 1st ser. X. 485.)
[According to Father Crabouillet (Missions Cath. 1873, p. 105), the
Lolos use tallies for their contracts; Dr. Harmand mentions (Tour du
Monde, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of Central Laos; and
M. Pierre Lefevre-Pontalis Populations du nord de l'Indo-Chine, 1892,
p. 22, from the J. As. says he saw these tallies among the Khas of
Luang-Prabang. - H.C.]
"In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In the
year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining Yun-nan was
in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished to enter into
communication with the British Government. He sent a messenger to a
British Officer with a letter tendering his allegiance, and accompanying
this letter was a piece of bamboo about five inches long. This had been
split down the middle, so that the two pieces fitted closely together,
forming a tube in the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end
included the edges of both pieces, showing that they were a pair. The
messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces was to
be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the messenger received
no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were retained." (MS. Note
by Sir Arthur Phayre.)
NOTE 9. - Compare Mr. Hodgson's account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos and
Dhimals: "All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man
is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pain
as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. Hence not
the mediciner, but the exorcist, is summoned to the sick man's aid."
(J.A.S.B. XVIII. 728.)
NOTE 10. - Mr. Hodgson again: "Libations of fermented liquor always
accompany sacrifice - because, to confess the whole truth, sacrifice and
feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be crowned with copious
potations." (Ibid.)
NOTE 11. - And again: "The god in question is asked what sacrifice he
requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck, to spare the sufferer; ...
anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will not try the patience
of my readers by describing all that vast variety of black victims and
white, of red victims and blue, which each particular deity is alleged to
prefer." (Ibid.
