Page 219 - Malay sketches

MALAY SUPERSTITIONS

up the scene of the robbery, when all the details
would be re-enacted in the liquid glass under the
eyes of the gazer, who would there and then
describe all that he saw. I had heard all this
before, only it had been stated to me then that the
medium through whose eyes the vision could alone
be seen must be a young child of such tender years
that it could have never told a lie ! The Arab,
however, professed himself not only able to conjure
up the scene, but to let me see it for myself, if I
would follow his directions. Unfortunately, my
grey-eyed friend failed to keep his promise, and I
never met him again.
A local Chief, however, declared his power to
read the past by this method, if only he could find
the truthful child. In this he appeared to succeed,
but when, on the following day, he came to disclose
to me the results of his he said that a
skill, difficulty
had arisen because just when the child (a little boy)
was beginning to relate what he saw he suddenly
and two
became unconscious, it took the astrologer
hours to restore him to his normal state. All the
mothers of tender-aged and possibly truthful
children declined after this to lend their offspring
for the ordeal.
My friend was not, however, at the end of his
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