THE JAWS OF DEATH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 49

THE JAWS OF DEATH.

I When Tennyson wrote, ■ Into the jaws of death, Into the mouth of hell, .Rode tha »ix hundred, he probably had in his mind some old woodcut or stained-glass window, wherein was depicted in the realistic fashion of mediaeval times a monster either in human form or in the likeness of a dragon with distended jaws, showing enormous fangs and sharp-pointed teeth, into whose cavernous mouth, vomiting flames, fantastic devils were casting aouls in the form of naked children. Nor was this monstrosity a mere fanciful figment of an artist's brain ; it seems to have represented a i real belief, which we fiad embodied in a j prayer addressed to St. G-aorge qooted in Mr j Thistleton Dyer's " Ghout World," as taken j from an Old English manuscript book of j devotion of the time of Edward VI, which ! rnoa thus : " Judge for me when the most hedyous and damnable dragons of helie shall be redy to take my poore soule and ecgloute it into theyr infernall belyes." Neither can we regard this uncomfortabla belief as resulting from some monkish legend invented for the sake of terrifying the dying into giving to the church large gums by way of ransom, for this rude image and tho snpsratitions attaching to if. have apparently a curious pedigree, embodying one of those widespread beliefs thg origin of which in lost in the night ot ages, but which appear in slightly varied forms in tbe most unexpected quarters, among races wholly unconnected ethnologically. Among the myths of most barbarous racea we find definite ideas aB to tbe destination of the soul after death, and o[ the peril-i which surround it before it can reach that happy land, the abode of deceased ancestors, who have attained to it by the same perilous road. At tbe meeting of the Briti&h Association at Oxford (1891) Professor Tylor brought forward four of these after-death perils in a very intere&ting paper, entitled "The Diffusion of Mythical Beliefs as Evidence in the History of Culture," in ! which he showed the existence .of a belief in these same perils in countries as widely separated as Japan, Mexico, Persia, and Europe, and threw upon a screen representations almost identical from Mexican, ' Japanese, Buddhist, and old German pictures, drawing from the similarity of the scenes depicted the inference that there must have been some sort of intercourse between these countries in the remote past. The four scenes brought forward represented (1) The crossing of a stream by a dangerous bridge ; (2) tbe passage of the soul between i two mountains which clash together ; (3) I the climbing up a mountain set with sharp , knives ; (4) the dangers from a wind carryI ing knives with it. Three of these four ghostly terrors may bo found in the myths

of many other countries besides those named! by Professor Tylor, the two first being thef* most widely distributed. The perilous cross-, ing of a river after death was a belieff among Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, but they provided a boat and a ferryman* for the convenience of the souls, who wera required to pay for tho accommodation witb an obolus placed in the mouth by pious relatives. This fee is not unknown in lesa classical countries, being found, I believe, ia Peru and Japan, India and Fiji, whilst the boat is often replaced by a much more dangerous mode of transit, this being usually a, bair bridge, or one so sharp as to resemble tb.B blade of a knife. The perilous bridge off the dead is found in the legends of tha Eskimos, among the Bhamanß of Siberia, and in Australia, in eaoh case accompanied by the second of Dr Tvlor'a dangers, the clashing rooks, under somewhut varying forme, but always, aa I think, making a link with the medifeval representations of " The Jaws of Death." Among the Eskimo, the angakos or sorcerer who would visit Sedna, the goddess who lives underground, or in the depths of the ocean, presiding over ono of the oonntrieu to which souls go after death, must first pass the srsisßufc (the dwellings of the happy dead) and thencross an abyss in which a wheel as slippery as ioe is constantly turning round. Arriving at tho house of Sedna, he finds it guarded by terrible animals, sometimas described aB seals and sometimes as dogs; and when within tha house passage he has to cross an abyss by means of a bridge as narrow as a knife edgo.f The descriptions given by Siberian shamans of their visita to Erlik, the Siberian Pluto, approach still nearer to the soul perils as illustrated in the Japanese and Mexioan paintiDgs. These nhamans give what may be called pnntomimic reprasentations of what they sea in a state of trance, wherein they are supposed to visit the abode of the dead, to solicit from Erlik some favour for the living. In this imaginary journey they are ! supposed lo ascend an iron mountain, not indeed studded with kniven, as in the Japanese and Mexioan representations, but bo difficult to climb that it is covered with the bones of shamans and horses which hava failed to reach tha summit. After climbing tho mountain the shaman rides up to a holß which leads into .the underground world — " the jawe of the earth.". On entering he finds a sea, over which is stretched a hair. The passage aoross this hair bridge is represented pantomimioally by tottering from side to side, aud sometimes appearing on the point of falling. At the bottom of the sea he sees the bones of many shamans who have falleD, for " a einful soul cannot cross the hair bridge." Riding up to Erlik's abode, he is met by dogs, and the porter will not let him past till appeased by presents, when ha admits him to the house of Erlik, who ; aalufcea him with the words: "Those that : have feathers fly not hither ; those that have \ bones walk not hither. Thou blaok, illsraelling beetle, whence comeafc tbou 1" In the end the shaman makes the lord of. hell drunk, and obtains from him thafc which he desires; after which he returns in triumph, and, waking from his trance, tell* those who have employed him that hia journey has ' bean succoeafr<l. It is cartainly remarkable I that races so remote from civilisation, and which would saem to have had no connection with s>ny nation of awtiquity likely to have I conveyed ?,o them these religions myths, j should yet reproduce beliefs such as we are ' accustomed to associate with the classical i rnces of Europe aud with ancient Egypt. ! But if it is strange to find these shreds and patches of classical myth among racea so remot* as the Eskimo and the wild tribea ol Siberia, it is still more strange to be confronted with them in Australia aud in th« islands of the South Pacific—lands certainlj out off from all communication with civilised J races long beforo tbe dawn of history. Yet j we find Australian medicine men pretending ; fco posßes» the power of going up to heaven I through a hole in the sky by means of a cord thrown up by themseivss after the most approved manner of Indian jugglers, this cord representing the bridge by which the souls of the dead cross tho watery abyas in old-world legends.—-A. W. Buckland, in the I Antiqaary. BABJMIEAEINtt IN AN INCUBATOR, Dawn Whitechapel way, at the East .Scd Mothers' Horne —an institution which ie doiag widespread good among the poor mothers —Dr Oursham Corner has haan .rearI ing babieß by means of the inonbator for I some considerable time, and hearing that I was interested in the affair (writes a representative of Casselt'fi Saturday Journal), tha j doctor very kindly took me over the estato" I llahment aud explained tha working of hu ! celebrated raachiue. i "WEAK ONES BY PREFERENCE, i " The main part of ray scheme," said th< j doctor, "is to take in hand all the very weak babes that I possibly can —that is to way, all those which, in ordinary circumstances, would have very little chance of living more than a few days. I put them into ray incubator, and there they remain. I Oar patients consist of all sorts of babies, | We had one that; weigh&ci only 2£lb when it waa born. A child of this w»lght has ; rarely been known to live, but this particni (ar ono was placod in the machine, and if we j did not send it forth healthy and strong like ' the others, at all events we prolonged its ' life." WHAT AN INCUBATOB IS LIKE. I was now favoured with a sight of the wonderful contrivance. To look at it very much resembles a little coffin with a glass lid —thia latter being provided so that tha | nurses can see how the tiny patient is gutting | on. Over the boiler, which is at the bottom of the box, is suepanded a pretty basket like a doll's bed, and into this the baby is plaoed. I Once the patient is inside, the lid is closed down and the rearing process begins. A thermometer which runs into the chamber indicates the atato of the atmosphere, which ia kept at a uniform temperature of between 80deg and SOdeg, and along the sides of the

machine are little air holes, just as you might find in a pigeon box. PREPARING FOB THE OKDEAti. " What we do first of all," said Dr Corner, •'is to wrap the baby up lightly in cottonjwool, twisting little bits round its arms and legs. Then its eyes and month are cleaned, the Object of this being to lessen any shock to the system. This done, it is put straight away into the incubator and kept there for a Jength of time depending on its vitality. The Child lives there all day and all night ; we never take it cut. We have had a child in for a month, but sometimes a few days dnffice. The great point is that it remains in the incubator as long as it derives benefit from it ; but as soon as signs of great im- j pro vena en t are manifested the machine is cooled down and the baby is given some fresh air. "It is fed by means of a syringe with gradations indicating from 10 to 60 drops. If the child is very feeble it is fed every half hour, but if it is fairly strong tha syringe is used at intervals of two hours. We give them five drops of brandy to hElf an ounce of milk and water. A BOON TO POOH MOTHERS. " There are dozens of children running about the East End who were reared in our Incubator, but one of the maia things to obBerve is, not that it nourishes, but that it imparts an equable warmth. Many struggling mothers in Wbitechapel send their weaklings to us to be reared. You see, they really cannot do it themselves, poor creatures ! For one thing their aurronndiDgs are often of the most awful dsscription, while for another, in order to obtain natural warmth Tor a child, they have to smother it up in blankets, which is bad for the child's health. Why, a restless baby in the incubator is a thing unknown, the reasons beiDg (1) that its limbs are never cold, and (2) that ie isn't irritated by a burden of clothes." I NOT SUCH A PUNT LOT. " I suppose you have some babies that arß born to become professional skeletons 1 " " Now, that is where the public are mistaken. Generally speaking the babies of the Bast End are a fine lot; the East Endera must have been strong children, or they could never live under the trying conditions In vogue to-day. We weigh all' the babien as they come' in. The smallest one that we ever had that survived turned the scale at 41b. The average weight of a child at birth Is from 51b to 61b, but we had one that weighed 151b." 11 Then this must be the placa where the professional fat men come from 1 " " Ah I I cannot say anything about that but if you take two babies, one a weakling j and the other very fat and heavy, you will »cry often find them to weigh about the lame at seven years of age." The doctor having to hurry away at this janctnre, I tamed to the lad y superintendent and inquired how tha parents liked to see their children shut up in boxes like so many fowls. " JUSTLY BECOMING POPULAB. " Well," she replied, " they didn't relish it much at first. They thought the machine too much like a musical box. One poor soul was terribly distressed about it, and cried bitterly, but they appreciate it now. Yon can often tee the father on one aide of the machine and the mother on the othur, both gazing -with fond eyes on the mite insido. But you can't expect them to do anything Wee than appreciate it. How can a woman attend to her family and her work as well ? I have known 17 children in one family here in the East End." " Do the youngsters ever get mixed ? " " No ; we take good care to avoid such a catastrophe as that, and put them in different coloured backets to make sure of their Identity. Sometimes we mix them for fan, but the mothers always discover the deception. If we mixed them and couldn't sort them again we should never be forgiven." " I suppose you witness many amusing incident* 1 " " Quite the funniest thing is the awe which the thermometer inspires in the patients. They imagine it can raveal how much they have had to drink. A favourite potion down here is hot old beer mixed with allspice and gin. So when we hold the thermometer in our hands and ask a patient how much she has had to drink, she very often replies : " • Oh, it's no use my telling you a lie. You've got that 'ere thermometer to tell you.'" AN EAST END TRAGEDY. The life of these poor souls usems to be one round of agony. Its awful uncertainty can ecarcely be realised by those in better positions. A little stranger had just arrived in the family of a man -who had been many snonth3 at sea. His vessel happened to arrive on the evening of my viait, and he called So ¥cc his wife and the new addition. Having been assured that all was well, he was told that if he came in the morning ho could see bis dear ones. With that he went away, but he was never to return. He dropped dead within two hours I