During the whole of this night the continual roaring of the cataract — the dismal moaning of the gale through the trees — the pattering of the rain, and the profound darkness, affected my spirits to a degree which nothing had ever before produced. Wet, half famished, and chilled to the heart with the dampness of the place, and nearly wild with the pain I endured, I fairly cowered down to the earth under this multiplication of hardships, and abandoned myself to frightful anticipations of evil ; and my companion, whose spirit at last was a good deal broken, scarcely uttered a word during the whole night.
At length the day dawned upon us, and rising from our miserable pallet, we stretched our stiffened joints, and after eating all that remained of our bread, prepared for the last stage of our journey.
I will not recount every hair-breadth escape, and every fearful difficulty that occurred before we succeeded in reaching the bosom of the valley. As I have already described similar scenes, it will be sufficient to say that at length, after great toil and great dangers, we both stood with no limbs broken at the head of that magnificent vale which five days before had so suddenly burst upon my sight, and almost beneath the shadows of those very cliffs from whose summits we had gazed upon the prospect.
THE SUPERSTITIOUS SEAMAN
Thomas Gibbons
(from "Tales That Were Told". 1892.)
MYTHS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE OLD SEA-FARERS
" Superstition! howsoe'er disguised,
Idol, saint, virgin, prophet, crescent, cross,
For whatsoever symbol thou art prized.
Thou sacerdotal gain, but general loss!
Who from true worship's gold can separate thy dross?"
Lord Byron.
"The superstition in which we were brought up never loses its
power over us even after we understand it."
Lessing.
"Our Sea Daddies taught us these things; and they had listened
to the tales told by their grand-fathers, who, in turn, had bought
brave winds from the Lapland witches, and knew good or ill fortune
by every point in the shipman's card."
Two Travellers.
THERE is but a plank between a sailor and eternity; and perhaps the realization of that fact may have had something to do with the broad grain of superstition at one time undoubtedly lurking in his nature. But whatever the cause, certainly the legendary lore of the sea is as diversified and interesting as the myths and traditions which have haunted the imagination of landsmen ; and it is not surprising that sailors, who observe the phenomena of nature under such varied and impressive aspects, should be found to cling with tenacious obstinacy to their superstitious fancies. The winds, clouds, waves, sun, moon, and stars have ever been invested with propitious or unlucky signs; and seamen have perfect faith in the weather lore and traditions acquired during their ocean wanderings.
We know by experience with what solicitude the mariner looks for a fair wind to speed along his craft, and this anxiety must have been more marked before the adoption of steam as a propelling power, when ships were often detained by contrary wind for weeks at the harbor's mouth. At such time the superstitious sailor would endeavor to obtain a fair wind by buying one; and, not many years ago, it was customary for a prudent skipper to purchase a favorable breeze before putting to sea. The selling of winds has prevailed since the early days of the world's history. It is mentioned by Pomponius Mela, a. d. 45, that certain Druidesses on the coast of Gaul could raise storms and tempests by their incantations. In the "Discovery of Witchcraft," 1584, Reginald Scot affirms that "no one endued with common sense but will deny that the elements are obedient to witches, and at their command, or that they may, at their pleasure, send rain, hail, tempests, thunder and lightning."
Shakespeare, in "Macbeth," alludes to the superstition:
First Witch. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger;
But in a sieve I'll thither sail.
And like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, I'll do.
Second Witch. I'll give thee a wind.
Third Witch. And I another.
First Witch. And I myself have all the other.
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
r the shipman's card,
I will drain him dry as hay;
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid:
Weary seven nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine;
Though his bark cannot be lost.
Yet it shall be tempest toss'd.
Look what I have.
Second Witch. Show me, show me.
First Witch. Here have I a pilot's thumb.
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
The possession of a pilot's thumb by witches and others would seem to indicate their power of controlling storms; and it frequently occurred that a dead man's hand and other human relics were carried to sea as charms against shipwreck. It was customary to suspend a child's caul in the cabin of a ship to save it from sinking, and these curious membranes were much sought after by credulous mariners.
The Persians and Athenians offered human sacrifices "to invoke the sea gods and invite the wind"; and sacrifices were made to Boreas and Jupiter by the Greeks and Romans. It was a widespread superstition that Finns and Lapps were leagued with the Devil and they were supposed to have the power of provoking storms and contrary winds. In Dana's excellent book, "Two Years Before the Mast," is a story of an old seaman who had sailed in a ship that was so long beset by head winds that a Finn on board was suspected of being the cause. He was accused and threatened by the captain, and so completely terrified that he produced a favorable breeze within a very few hours. Lapland was especially noted for its witches, who caused storms by incantations. Congreve refers to the superstition: "I'll marry a Lapland witch as soon, and live upon selling winds and wrecking vessels." In Ireland and Denmark, also, witches sold winds to mariners; and an English state paper of 1634 records that nineteen women were under trial for conjuring up a storm against a government ship.
The navigators of the middle ages obtained a blessing on their ships before starting on a voyage, and days were set apart for feasts and prayers, when the sailors would prostrate themselves before the altars and pray for favorable winds. This custom is by no means extinct; and it was common, seemingly, with many nationalities. It is observed on the island of Capri, in honor of Madonna di Carmela, by the coral fishers previous to the departure of their fleet every spring. A somewhat modified form of the ceremony is observed by the Canton and Foochow sailors, who call at the island of Pootoo, in the Chusan Archipelago, on their passage up and down the China sea, where they pray for
fair winds and a prosperous voyage. Kwun-ing is their chief divinity, seemingly amalgamated with the "queen of heaven," and as a goddess her peculiar delight is to save those persons in danger by sea. She can assume thirty-two different shapes and proceed to as many different parts of the world on her missions of mercy. In Buddhism she holds the highest place as a savior of mankind. The same deity is also worshipped by Japanese sailors, and during a storm they occasionally throw money into the sea to induce her to give them fair weather and a favorable breeze. Chinese sailors observe various customs for producing a fair wind. On leaving port they attract the attention of their divinity by the loud beating of gongs, the burning of firecrackers and incense sticks, and casting food offerings upon the water. This, likewise, wards off the influence of evil spirits. When starting on a voyage they consider it unlucky, and portentous of bad weather, to expectorate over the bow of their vessel. A favorable breeze can also be obtained by holding a cap high up against the wind; but the lives of a boat's crew would be endangered by repeating the word wind while so engaged. The Chinese have a strange custom of painting eyes on the bows of their craft, large and small, which are supposed to have the gift of sight by the superstitious.