Chapter I: Front Matter

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CURIOSITIES OF SUPERSTITION,

And Sketches of some Unrevealed Religions.

by

W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS,

Author of “Heroes of the Cross,” etc.

“To my mind there is no study more absorbing than that of
the Religions of the World,--the study, if I may so call
it, of the various languages in which man has spoken to
his Maker, and of that language in which his Maker ‘at
sundry times and in divers manners’ spake to man.”--MAX MÜLLER.

“Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.”--STATIUS, _Thebaid_, 661.

LONDON:
J. MASTERS AND CO., 78, NEW BOND STREET.
MDCCCLXXXII.

London: J. Masters and Co., 78, New Bond Street. MDCCCLXXXII.

London: Printed by J. Masters and Co., Albion Buildings, Bartholomew Close.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BUDDHISM, ITS ORIGIN AND CEREMONIES 1

II. MAGIANISM: THE PARSEES 43

III. JEWISH SUPERSTITIONS 68

IV. BRAHMANISM 84

V. HINDU MYTHOLOGY, AND THE VISHNU PURANA 99

VI. IN CHINA: CONFUCIANISM, TAOUISM, AND BUDDHISM 119

VII. AMONG THE MALAYS, THE SLAMATAN BROMOK, THE DYAKS, THE
PAPUAN TRIBES, THE AHETAS 142

VIII. THE SAVAGE RACES OF ASIA: THE SAMOJEDES; THE MONGOLS;
THE OSTIAKS; IN TIBET 155

IX. SOME AFRICAN SUPERSTITIONS 171

X. THE ZULU WITCH-FINDERS 180

XI. ZABIANISM AND SERPENT-WORSHIP 186

XII. POLYNESIAN SUPERSTITIONS 214

XIII. THE FIJI ISLANDERS 230

XIV. THE RELIGION OF THE MAORIES 241

XV. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 254

XVI. AMONG THE ESKIMOS 274

XVII. A MEDIÆVAL SUPERSTITION: THE FLAGELLANTS 279

XVIII. SCOTTISH SUPERSTITIONS: HALLOWEEN 288

XIX. SECOND SIGHT: DIVINATION: UNIVERSALITY OF CERTAIN
SUPERSTITIONS: FAIRIES IN SCOTLAND 300

CURIOSITIES OF SUPERSTITION.