The Malays Of Sumatra, Too, Have Great Faith In The
Efficacy Of Certain "Stones, Which They Pretend Are Extracted From
Reptiles, Birds, Animals, Etc., In Preventing Them From Being Wounded."
(See Mission To Ava, P. 208; Cathay, 94; Conti, P. 32; Proc.
As.
Soc.
Beng. 1868, p. 116; Andarson's Mission to Sumatra, p. 323.)
[1] These names in parentheses are the Chinese forms; the others, the
Japanese modes of reading them.
CHAPTER IV.
CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS.
Now you must know that the Idols of Cathay, and of Manzi, and of this
Island, are all of the same class. And in this Island as well as
elsewhere, there be some of the Idols that have the head of an ox, some
that have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some of
divers other kinds. And some of them have four heads, whilst some have
three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some that have
four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more faith in those
Idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the others.[NOTE 1] And
when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols in so many
different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so their
forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will leave them
to their children, and these to the after generations. And so they will be
handed down for ever.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 498 of 1350
Words from 133198 to 133451
of 370046
