HOW ECLIPSES OF THE MOON IMPRESS SAVAGES.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1623, 27 February 1885, Page 5

HOW ECLIPSES OF THE MOON IMPRESS SAVAGES.

The Greenlandcrd have a personal apprehension iv tho matter, and believe that the moon rummages their houses for skius or victuals, aud destroys thuse persons who hare not observed due sobriety. The {South American Uiiiijuitoe.3 try to help the darkened star against a dog that has worried it till its light has been coloured red, aad extinguished by its streaming blood , and they shoot arrows into the sky to drive away the dog. (Jharlevoix gives a similar acoouut of the Guaram, except that with them a tiger takes the place of a dog j and in the language of the Tupis the literal translation of tho word eclipse is, " The j tguar has euteu tho suu." So in Aiia, tUe Tuuguses believe au evil spirit has swallowed the earth's satellites, aud they try to frighten it away by shots at the darkened disc. In Sumatra and Malacca, the fear is aroused that a great snake will swallow the suu and the moon ; aud the Nagaa of Assam set up a great drum- beating, as if in battle, to trighteu away the devouring monster. Among the American tribes are some who believe that eclipses are a warning of tho approaching disappearance of tho suu, and the fall of the moou at the end of the world. Tho Tottawattamies tell of a demon in the shape of au old woman sitting in the moon weaving a basket, on the completion of which the world will be destroyed. A dog contends with the womao, tearing the basket to pieces every once iv a while, and then an eclipse of the moon takes place ; others imagine that the moon is hungry, sick, or dying at these times, while the Alfuras, of Curam, think he is asleep, aud make a great uproar to awake him.