The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, August 27, 1884, Page 6

— DARK MADAGASCAR. Strange Customs and Superstitions— A Picturesque Dance. A correspondent of the Springfield Republican, writing from the interior | of Madagascar, says: One of the most curious customs practiced by the Sakalavas is a kind of incantation and dance, called the Sala- manga, to induce the spirit of evil, enh they believe possesses every one who is ill, to leave the body in which it has entered. To drive out this spirit many forms are gone through under the direction of a sorcerer. In all Sakalava towns there is a place ar- ranged for the driving out of evil spir- its. A platform about seven feet long and three feet broad is supporte: twenty-five feet in the air by a straight up-and-down ladder constructed on one of the poles. ‘Two more perpendicular poles stand at either end of the plat- form, and about twelve feet from it. At the tops of these last two poles charms are tied, and on the ground leaning against them, two wooden idols are placed. When a spirit is to be driven out, wood is brought to this | place and arrangements are made for building fires round the circle inclosing the scaffolding and idols. Oxen and bullocks are also brought and secured near the scaffolding, the number depend- ing upon the rank of the sick person. As night approaches the invalid is brought out, arranged in full dress, and hoisted upon the platform. The cattle are then killed and their blood smeared over the two idols, and also over the bodies of the people collected about the place. As the sun goes down the fires are lighted, and drums and bamboos are beaten. A circle is then formed around the scaffolding and idols, and the people, shouting and screaming, begin to circle around ina kind of dance, first slowly, then faster and faster, until they are nearly crazy. At the same time spears are thrown high in the air and the idols are struck at again and again in order to force the gods to act. All have on their dr ornaments, and the sorcerer, under whose direc- tion the affair is being conducted, usually wears avery high hat, gorge- ously trimmed and decked with leaves and flowers. As the dance continues the screaming suddenly stops, and wo- men and girls begin to sing in a mo- notonous refrain. After the general dance the people fall back out of the ring, and a woman of rank, throwing off nearly all her clothing, in the circle of fire and dance, keeping time bamboos, which make a This performan often several times before the given up. Upon one oce to keep in the good graces of the peo- ple, your correspondent was obliged to take partin this d: An i i who does not get ar er peated attempts to d out the spirit, is of treated 2 most bar- barous manner; poison is cither admin- istered or a spear driven through the This last cure from misery is sorted to by request of the beg to the drums a terrible din. peated is kalavas have another peculiar and picturesque dance which takes place by moonlight—usually upon the rhts of the full moon. Drums are aten, Damboos and horns are blown, and the whole villa, is turned out. All the men then form in an open 5 serves us akind of parade © music continues and the 2men_ in their actions dance begins, th representing the various movements assumed in battle. There is the at- ck, the conflict, the pursuit and the victory. All shown b: Kind of actiag. Their spears, which are very long and bri antedly hurled up in one hand, while a colored s kind is waved in the other. Tome the whole performance was strange and exciting, and, undoubtedly, it is very inspiring to the savage Sakalavas. Later in the evening the women and children join in the dance, and singing and chanting begins. Upon these war- dance nights a large amount of native rum is consumed, und sometimes sev- eral people are killed. This dancing, singing and spreeing always lasts thro} out the whole night. In this land, where superstition, treachery and murder predominate, it is not strange that funerals are con- stantly occurring, and that the strang- estand most revolting performances are indulged in upon these occasions. The first funeral which I witnessed was that of a man of no particular rank or position. As the corpse was being carried along it was followed by a rabble of mourners, who were all screaming and yelling. At intervals along the road the corpse was placed on the ground and a series of athletic games were commenced, in which spear exercise was the most prominent. en the place of burial was reached the corpse was thrown naked into a shallow grave and then covered up with earth. A large pile of rocks was then placed over the grave. Some pieces of silver and a few other articles were buried with the body in order to give the ghost a start in the next world. When people of rank are buried the ceremony is more extensive and somewhat different. At the death of a chief the great bulk of his cattle are killed and his wives are obliged to cut off their hair and otherwise disfigure themselves. ss A coilin is made by cutt somewhat longer : a log aan ihe corpse. This 1wise, hollowed out ad i z until the sucecedin atown or fou! t Whenever rson of mor shed. pe id | ht, glisten in the moon- | ble liquid is then divided among those present. Each receives the liquid in | his hand and quickly rubs it all over | his body. After this revolting per- | formance the body is wrapped in & kind of cloth and buried with various ceremonies. ——_—_—_——- A New Surgical Lamp. One of the newest adaptations of electric illuminations is in the shape of _avery small lantern, which can be introduced into the mouth, throat, and in some cases, the stomach, for the purpose of aiding surgical and dental operations which cannot be carried on without light and for which it has been extremely difficult heretofore to obtain light by mirrors or other means. Ex- periments have been making for some years to perfect apparatus of this kind. Since 1881 E. ‘I. Star, an expert in electrical science, has been working at intervals upon minute electrical lamps, and at last succeeded in getting highly satisfactory results. Patents have been obtained. ‘The instrument has been critically examined by dentists and surgeons and has already been used in practice. The rate primarily consists of a delicate glass bulb, from which the air | bas been withdrawn and as nearly a perfect vacuum created as possible. | The bulb varies in shape, being | spheroidal, flat and compass-shaped, and also cylindrical, with a conical termination. Througi the thin walls of the lantern run the conducting wires, conrected by acarbon arc, on which the electricity centres, and which thus becomes the place of light. The glass lantern is very small, the cylindrical | Shaped being scarcely half an inch in | length, and with a diameter not nearly | so great as that of an ordinary lead- pencil. The compass-shaped lamp is | about one-quarter of an inch thick, and has a diameter of an inch, while the spheroidal seems scarcely larger than la good sized pea. The lamp is at- | tached to a handle, from seven to nine inches long, and about half an inch thick, through which run the wires con- | necting with the battery. The handle | and the lamp can be separated, and | thus but one handle is necessary for use with the different forms of the lamps. The intensity of the power, | and hence the brilliancy of the arc of j light, can be regulated by moving | along the handle a ring which connects with the wires. The handle has several joints and its positions can be arranged in almost any way so as to adapt it to the shape of the cavity which it is pro- posed to illuminate. Mirrors can also be fastened to the lamp and light re- flected to places where the lamp can- |not be introduced. To prevent the | too great diffusion of light and the radiation of heat, the lamp may be partially covered with a hard rubber | or gutta-percha case. n the lamp is plainly itate the d en- much cess of the upper } seen. This will great]; | work of surgery and dentistry, a jable an operator to cone | more thorough diagnos | the use of any other means | known. Piaced behind the teeth, 3 intense lightrenders not only the teeth, but even the gum above, high] sparent. If the teeth are good | decayed, no lines will be visible—but | the presence of a filling or of the mere beginning of decay may at once be seen. When the lampis placed within the | mouth and the lipsare closed, the entire front structure of the mouth is brought to view. The bone and tooth forma- | tions are easily discover: and even | the interior of the nasal ‘the same v yy the instrument is | great ue in the treatment of obstetri- jeal disease, and in studies of the stomach. No unpleasant se tions are experienced by patients, even in | cases of protracted use, no other effect | being noticeable than that which fol- | lows the drinking of a hot cup of coffee. The difliculties in bringing this appli- | cation of the electric light to practical use were due principally to the fact that none of the electrical manufactur- ing companies in Americz make the sht kind of a lamp, Mr. Starr tried them all, and not getting what he wanted in the very best shape, was compelled to goto Europe. More than a score of different lamps. carbons and means of conveying power had to be tried before the best was found.—Phila- delphia Press. penaicae eee Women i California. A young lady friend of these topics writes back from California: “I want to expose a fraud. You know the newspapers have been for years telling about the great preponderance of men over women in this section; how many rich bachelors there are, and how im- possible it is fora girl to stay anywhere over twenty-four hours without an offer of marriage. Indeed, one paper said that every pretty girl held a con- tinual levee, in which suitors took turns, the same as a barber shop. Now, I have been here six months, and I want to denounce such statements as false. ‘There are more men here than women, itis true; but if my judgment goes tor anything. the most of them | have run away from marital bonds S ewhere and come out here to have a peaceful time, away from the rous sex that has caused their y _ A woman is of less consequence e than anywhere in the world. Th | Cc of the washing and i work at about the irls and women | There is | | e he wo some- Very gloomy. | as a bad pen anda s Tale of the Hotel Register. The hotel register an interesting study. The caligraphy or cacography, as the case may be, furnishes its quota to the store of the student of human nature. The mere registering of one’s name is simple enough; but the manner in which it is done, the writing upon the book, often tell a tale, however un- conscious the writer may be that he is furnishing a paragraph to the observer Mr. Grandison Rake has been detained down town, toying with chips until his | stake has petered out, or has, perhaps, imbibed far too freely to encounter at ‘early morn the partner of his woes, so he registers ‘‘Granison Rake, St. Louis,’’ although a resident of the city, taking | care to make his autograph as illegible aky hand will enable him to do. He does not deceive the clerk, who stows him away under the roof, as a matter of course. As arule, Americans register their names simply, without indicating that they have or not a “handle” to them. The signer may be honorable, major, judge, or colonel, but he does not, in his republican simplicity, see fit to herald his dignities. If with his wife, he registers ‘‘and wife,”’ or ‘‘and lady,” although some hotels object to this Englishman is more particular, and, when with his better haif, inseribes her and himself as ‘‘Mr. and Mrs.” Each nation has its peculiar hand- writing. An agglomeration of thin and thick strokes is characteristically Amer- ican, while the Briton’s strokes are of the same thickness throughout, and conse- quently more legible. French, Spanish, and Italian handwritings are minute, and often degenerate into an unde- to notify whom it may concern that they are barons or counts. Celebrities contribute tothe hotel's collection of autographs. ‘‘Mme Voce d’Oro and maid” have their names put down by the impresario or by the clerk, while Uy great beer drinker, blots the a& pattern for llustrat- crewel work, tht he habit of A. to their ate their rank S to their ic some dist i preserv seeks to F s or o. Ani i incogn siunce oft wall j ed in York two years Goldw i inipo les of theL the lynx-cyed and kee ot New York by re Mrs. i g what common, ———-- ¢ <= The Women Who Buy Shoes. be re: I babe in must fit in g | coal a perfect penance. Poor who grow n shoe the exa t length of his little . But the foot not only works down down also; there is no room engthening toes, so the joinis ed up and there is a lateral ead of a pushing down. uence is the foot becomes 2 toes are cramped, the heel are pus expansic The co broad, flattened, ural beaut se of that o: lost. This 1D is all the fault of the mother, who will | net buy the child’s shoe long enough.” --Chieago Tribune. $< —__—_ Seaside Servants. The servant question is the black beast of housekeepers at the seashore as well as in town—perhaps a little blacker. Servants who go there in search of places are generally of the uppish and good-for-nothing kind, who are looking for a summer-outing more than for good, honest work. There is something demoralizing in the air of a watering-place, and the very best of them are not proof against it. Some people try to avoid trouble by taking servants with them, but that scheme generally ends in failure. Said a gentleman who took a cottage at the shore last May: ‘I had so much trouble with cooks last season that I concluded to take one down with me this time. It worked very well for two weeks, but the love of idleness and the board-walk, to which her kind is sub- ject, overcame her by that time, and one day she coolly informed my wife | that if she did not like her way of do- ing things she might do them herself. Of course we sent her off instantly, and, as I had been wise enough to hire her by the week, she only got her wages up to the time she left. ‘We had a short interval of peace, | But, ag} my wife doing the cooking. that wasn’t what she went to the sea- shore for, we looked up a cook in the Village. The second experiment was big, black, and burly, with a temper. Before a week had ed she turned on my wife, who had ventured to offer a suggestion as to how somethir hould be done, h bl | Said: “Now, loc pleases when IT" meddle v mel j out, I do: You hear ted it and my v reply. My arrival give the black cess me ?? That set- red not latter designation as too vague. The | cipherable scrawl, but all are careful | of the stage and of the drama seldom | Sparafucile, the great tenor, and | that, alth beautiful voice gift of God,” as Mme. Patti is wont to inscribe in albums, 2 tenor’s | handw y not. Ameri- her | nnd crows by the day, | nkle thickened, and the nat- | stipulation, du otiations, that she should have at east an hour on the be: nfter- noon—her health rivilege of going out Ve conceded bo she seemed to be a goo: sortof a Tr vant. Fora fewd hing went on smoothly. as four sleeping rooms on tle s i story, all opening intoa small y wife and I occupy one of the reoms, our 15-year-old boy nd one of the back rooms w ned to the cook. One ni 3 er warm, we left our room pen and hung & curtain over ut 11 o'clock, ju: ter I had falle sleep, I was startied vy « succession of the most uncanny, blood-curdling s I ever heard, and je od bed some one rushed into o right into my arms, and 1 trembling and shaking and moan |} @ way that made m first thought was i somebody had otten into my boy’s room and ad been frightened out of hi op and had run into ours, but when he re- plied to my call that nothing was the matter with him I put my hand to the head of the intruder, who still trem- bled in my arms, and felt the woolly | hair of our cook. By thi ) had lighted a lamp, and she 7S | tableau was unique and striking. | course I promptiy disengaged my arms | and as I did so the girl fell over on the bed in an epileptic tit. She told us af- terwards that she was subject to them, and that she always ran out of her room when she had one. She was care- | ful not to tell us when she c . how- ever. We packed her off, and have since then been taking our meals out the best plan after all.""—Philadelphia Times. ee Some fifty newsp: | ada have declared in favor of | independence. It is true that | this is buts small proportion of the whole press of the Dominion, but it em- braces a number of widely circulated and influential journals. ee Cooking on the Hook. r the mountain a hundred feet down Gardiner rushes Inthe woods, nea jerest, is a warm near the ater ace from ben flowi the astep hook, Thave | seen it done it myself, cook¢ | > and as |t wer sulphur | ig that | able.— a - Heaithfuiness of N al Gas. st cak- ng poisoneus, of it in the atmos- the. Its ir, and | ing of and th: phe tes t g yhere, even woul do no ginate rm. ‘J in confound or in the ts, where it hugs the floor close- ly, being heavier than air. Such gas produc sphyxia in the course of a few minutes. Natural gas is the ‘-fire- ’? of mines which floats over the ads and can be inhaled with comparative impunity. It is composed cent. hydrogen yas proportions of ol sring, of course, in di In but a few instances earbonie oxide, which is deadly poison, | found t, and so far only in almost inappreciable volume—less than 1 per cent.—Pitisburg Dispatch. $< Rising Young Man in S. C. A young man in Spartanburg, S. C., | who is ambitious to serve in the State Legislature, has written a two-column article for a local paver, in which he sets forth his ‘-views’’ in this fashion: «These moneyed powers must be check- mated and curbed, or else the fiery horse of superb individual splendor will disarm the weary charger, aad mount triumphantly the hilltops of op- pressing and feudal centralization, while we can but stand inthe valley below and pray God to abate the com- ing storm, and, holding to the delusive phantom of vain hope, resort to capri- cious change to hold back the resistless avalanche of damnable and headlon, discrimination. Now, Mr. Editor, have said enough to demonstrate be yond all speculative doubts that we can make this a grand old state if we | will but give all lezitimate inducements | to factories and curb the bits of the iron horse of extortion.’’—Exchange. The Marquis of Lorne, it seems, is | now trying to arrange it so that Ameri- can cattle can be tuken to England and fattened there. As it is now they must be killed at once lest they should spread disease among the domestic cattle. The Cigarette. time my wife | W NEW H Wo FECT “IN EVERY 30 UNION SQUARE NE | F id P OME SEWING E. Walton & DOMESTIC MACHINES. c J R Ine very st th S No EQUAL we le price and qual NEVER OUT OF ORDER po W YORK <i. walk Made to Order = the q rs the q 1 Fast Time VOWASHI kest to with NGTON. sALTIMO! li her other New York and without change of cars. DAILY to Cincinnatti Through Day Cars, Parlor Cars and Pal- The Ohio & Mississippi From St. B, £0 R Randon e and Louisville. Sleeping Coaches, Is now Running a Double Daily line. Or TRAINS. With Railway PALACE SLEEING CARS Louis to New without change. Leaving on NYLEWRR. cla >EABODY, Ge k ss of pas- i VICTIMS morning express via the | ng express, via | Pom aay i be brated Jor! oe describe evi et in your case. Especial Gigs is “ener ver makes no difference w hat have taken, or who has faiieh cure you Attend pdt, 2 for it saps Life's V igor and leary (7) _ J _ Lut a in warranty of cure given tg (=) Z2 -_ = re ery Case wn: Consult the Old Doctor. and Parlors Private. A letter, or call may save fering and shame, Books, &c., sent everywhere at cure from Exposure. “Hourn.ti 8; Sunday, toll Address letter F. D. CLARKE, M. D., 817 Locust St., St. Louls, ity pari LLON SKIN CURE bf 1fic cure for Salt Rheum, Serofula, Scanihead, Tetter, Hives, end tan ng, Ringwor unbu a the cut ous om, by ‘Sxudation = ‘sy’ bot by ee cretion, whercby every particle of disease a = nm. Inordinate itching of the skin is bathing the parts, , Cuts, Ulcers oF Sores, ne » as Papilles For Piles, go prompt in soothing and Lealing Cure. Itdocs notsmartor barn. 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