THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD.
Where is it? 'At Charing Cross, of course,' says the self-assured
Londoner; and in one sense he may not be far wrong. 'At Boston,' says
the cultured inhabitant of the 'hub' of the universe. 'Wherever I am,'
says the autocrat who essays to sway the destinies of nations. Well, we
all know the story of the Head of the Table, and even if we did not know
it, instinct would tell us where to look. But the centre of the world,
in an actual, physical, racial, and mundanely comprehensive sense--where
is it?
One does not find it so easy to answer the question as did good old
Herodotus, who scouted as absurd the idea of the earth being circular.
'For my own part,' says the Father of History--and of lies, according to
some people--'I cannot but think it exceedingly ridiculous to hear some
men talk of the circumference of the Earth, pretending without the
smallest reason or probability that the ocean encompasses the Earth,
that the Earth is round as if mechanically formed so, and that Asia is
equal to Europe.'
Herodotus found no difficulty in describing the figure and size of the
portions of the earth whose existence he recognised, but then he said,
'from India eastward the whole Earth is one vast desert, unknown and
unexplored.' And for long after Herodotus, the Mediterranean was
regarded as the central sea of the world, and in the time of Herodotus,
Rhodes was accounted the centre of that centre.
It is very interesting, however, to trace how many centres the world has
had in its time--or rather within the range of written history. The old
Egyptians placed it at Thebes, the Assyrians at Babylon, the Hindus at
Mount Meru, the Jews at Jerusalem, and the Greeks at Olympus, until they
moved it to Rhodes. There exists an old map in which the world is
represented as a human figure, and the heart of that figure is Egypt.
And there exists, or did exist, an old fountain in Sicily on which was
this inscription: 'I am in the centre of the garden; this garden is the
centre of Sicily, and Sicily is the Centre of the whole Earth.'
It is a grand thing to be positive in assertion when you are sure of
your ground, and the builder of this fountain seems to have been sure of
his. But then other people can be positive too, and in that vast desert
eastward of India, imagined by Herodotus, there is the country of China,
which calls itself the Middle Kingdom, and the Emperor of which, in a
letter to the King of England in this very nineteenth century, announced
that China is endowed by Heaven as the 'flourishing and central Empire'
of the world.
And yet, once upon a time, according to some old Japanese writings,
Japan was known as the Middle Kingdom; and the Persians claimed the same
position for Persia; and according to Professor Sayce, the old Chaldeans
said that the centre of the earth was in the heart of the impenetrable
forest of Eridu.
This forest, by the way, was also called the 'holy house of the Gods,'
but it does not seem to have had anything to do with the Terrestrial
Paradise, the exact location of which Mr. Baring-Gould has laboriously
tried to identify through the legends of the nations. It is a curious
fact that a ninth-century map, in the Strasburg Library, places the
Terrestrial Paradise--the Garden of Eden--in that part of Asia we now
know as the Chinese Empire, and it is also so marked in a map in the
British Museum.
In a letter supposed to have emanated from the mysterious if not
mythical Prester John, it is written: 'The river Indus which issues out
of Paradise flows among the plains through a certain province, and it
expands, embracing the whole province with its various windings. There
are found emeralds, sapphires, carbuncles, topazes, chrysolites, onyx,
beryl, sardius, and many other precious stones. There, too, grows the
plant called Asbestos.'
And all this was reported to be just three days' journey from the garden
from which Adam was expelled, but as the geographical position of the
province was not specified the information was a trifle vague. Prester
John, however, described a wonderful fountain, the virtues of which
correspond with those of a well in Ceylon described by Sir John
Mandeville, and this is why some people say that the Garden of Eden was
in the Island of Spices.
There is a twelfth-century map of the world at Cambridge, which shows
Paradise on an island opposite the mouth of the Ganges. And in the story
of St. Brandan, the saint reaches an island somewhere 'due east from
Ireland,' which was Paradise, and on which he met with a man who told
him that a stream--which no living being might cross--flowing through
the island, divided the world in twain. Another centre!
In an Icelandic story of the fourteenth century are related the
marvellous adventures of one Eirek of Drontheim, who, determined to find
out the Deathless Land, made his way to Constantinople. There he
received a lesson in geography from the Emperor. The world, he was told,
was precisely one hundred and eighty thousand stages, or about one
million English miles, round, and is not propped up on posts, but is
supported by the will of God. The distance between the earth and heaven,
he was told, is one hundred thousand and forty-five miles, and round
about the earth is a big sea called the ocean.
'But what is to the south of the earth?' asked the inquisitive Eirek.
'Oh,' replied the Emperor, 'the end of the earth is there, and it is
called India.'
'And where shall I find the Deathless Land?' he inquired; and he was
told that slightly to the east of India lies Paradise.
Thereupon Eirek and a companion started across Syria, took ship and
arrived at India, through which they journeyed on horseback till they
came to a strait which separated them from a beautiful land. Eirek
crossed over and found himself in Paradise, and, strange to say, an
excellent cold luncheon waiting for him. It took him seven years to get
home again, and, as he died soon after his return, the map of the route
was lost.
Still, Eirek's Paradise may not improbably have been Ceylon.
The latest location of the Garden of Eden is by a recent traveller in
Somaliland, in the north-east shoulder of Africa and south of the Gulf
of Aden. This is in the neighbourhood of the country of Prester John,
but in its present aspects can by no means be regarded as a Terrestrial
Paradise.
Sir John Mandeville's description of the Terrestrial Paradise which he
discovered gives it as the highest place on the earth--so high that the
waters of the Flood could not reach it. And in the very centre of the
highest point is a well, he said, that casts out the four streams,
Ganges, Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates--all sacred streams. Now, in the
Encyclopaedia of India it is stated that 'The Hindus at Bikanir Rajputana
taught that the mountain Meru is in the centre surrounded by concentric
circles of land and sea. Some Hindus regard Mount Meru as the North
Pole. The astronomical views of the Puranas make the heavenly bodies
turn round it.' So here again we have a mountain as the terrestrial
centre.
In the Avesta there is reference to a lofty mountain at the centre of
the world from which all the mountains of the earth have grown, and at
the summit of which is the fountain of waters, whereby grow two
trees--the Heavenly Soma, and another tree which yields all the seeds
that germinate on earth. From this fountain, according to the Buddhist
tradition, flow four streams to the four points of the compass, each of
them making a complete circuit in its descent.
This central mountain is the Navel of Waters where originated all
matter, and where sits Yama under the Soma tree--just as in the Norse
legend the Norns, or Fates, sit by the great central earth-tree,
Yggdrasil.
According to the Greek tradition, Jupiter, in order to settle the true
centre of the earth, sent out two eagles, one from east and one from
west. They met on the spot on which was erected the Temple of Delphi,
and a stone in the centre of that temple was called the Navel of the
World. A golden eagle was placed on each side of this stone. The design
is preserved in many examples of Greek sculpture, and the stone itself
is mentioned in several of the Greek plays.
With reference to this, Mr. Lethaby, in his Architecture, Mysticism, and
Myth, observes: 'We may see embodied in this myth of the centre-stone
the result of the general direction of thought; as each people were
certainly "the people" first born and best beloved of the gods, so their
country occupied the centre of the world. It would be related how the
oldest and most sacred city, or rather temple, was erected exactly on
the navel. A story like this told of a temple would lead to the marking
in the centre of its area the true middle point by a circular stone, a
stone which would become most sacred and ceremonial in its import.'
And Dr. Schliemann thus writes of a central circle he unearthed in the
palace at Tirynthus: 'In the exact centre of the hall, and therefore
within the square enclosed by the four pillars, there is found in the
floor a circle of about 3.30 m. diameter. There can be little doubt that
this circle indicates the position of the hearth in the centre of the
megaron. The hearth was in all antiquity the centre of the house, about
which the family assembled, at which food was prepared, and where the
guest received the place of honour. Hence it is frequently indicated by
poets and philosophers as the navel or centre of the house. In the
oldest time it was not only symbolically but actually the centre of the
house, and especially of the megaron. It was only in later days, in the
palaces of the great Romans, that it was removed from the chief rooms
and established in a small by-room.'
All which may be true enough, and yet the placing of the hearthstone in
the centre of the house may have had less reference to the earth-centre
idea, than to the fact that in the circular huts of primitive man it was
necessary to have a hole at the apex of the roof. Still, it is
interesting to note that, as in the Imperial palace at Constantinople,
so on the floor of St. Peter's at Rome, and elsewhere, is a flat
circular slab of porphyry, associated with all ceremonials.
Is there any connection between the old central hearthstone and the
Dillestein--Lid of Hell--one meets with in Grimm?
We have seen that the centre of the world is placed in Europe, in Asia,
and in Africa, but who would expect to find it in America many centuries
ago? Yet the traditions of Peru have it that Cuzco was founded by the
gods, and that its name signifies 'navel'; and traditions of Mexico
describe Yucatan as 'the centre and foundation' of both heaven and
earth. We must, however, go back to the East as the most likely quarter
in which to find it, and as the quarter to which the eyes of man have
been most consistently turned.
To successive centuries of both Jews and Christians Jerusalem has been
the centre of the world, and the Temple the centre of Jerusalem. The
Talmud gives directions to those who are in foreign countries to pray
with their faces towards the sacred land; to those in Palestine to pray
with their faces towards Jerusalem; to those in Jerusalem to pray with
their faces towards the Mount; to those in the Temple to pray with their
faces towards the Holy of Holies. Now, this was not merely because this
sacred spot was a ceremonial centre, but also because it was regarded as
the geographical centre of the earth. According to the Rabbis the Temple
was built on the great central rock of the world.
It is written in the Talmud: 'The world is like the eyeball of man: the
white is the ocean that surrounds the wall, the black is the world
itself, and the pupil is Jerusalem, and the image of the pupil is the
Temple.' And again: 'The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the
world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the Temple
in the centre of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies in the centre of the
Temple, and the foundation-stone on which the world was grounded is
situated in front of the ark.' And once more: 'When the ark was removed
a stone was there from the days of the first Prophets. It was called
Foundation. It was three digits above the earth.'
This claim is direct enough, and at Jerusalem to this day in the Dome of
the Rock, supposed to occupy the site of Solomon's Temple, is a bare
stone which, as Sir Charles Warren was assured, rests on the top of a
palm-tree, from the roots of which issue all the rivers of the world.
The Mohammedans have accepted this same stone as the foundation-stone of
the world, and they call it the Kibleh of Moses. It is said that Mahomet
once intended making this the sacred centre of Islam, instead of Mecca,
but changed his mind, and predicted that at the Last Day the black
stone--the Kaabah--will leave Mecca and become the bride of the
Foundation-stone at Jerusalem. So that there can be no possible doubt of
the centre of sacred influences.
Concerning the stone at Jerusalem, Professor Palmer says: 'This Sakhrah
is the centre of the world, and on the day of resurrection--it is
supposed--the Angel Israfil will stand upon it to blow the last trumpet.
It is also eighteen miles nearer heaven than any other place in the
world, and beneath it is the source of every drop of sweet water that
flows on the face of the earth. It is supposed to be suspended
miraculously between heaven and earth. The effect upon the spectators,
however, was so startling, that it was found necessary to place a
building round it and conceal the marvel.'
According to Hittite and Semitic traditions mentioned by Professor Sayce
and Professor Robertson Smith, there was a chasm in this central spot
through which the waters of the Deluge escaped.
Right down to and through the Middle Ages Jerusalem was regarded by all
Christians as the centre of the world; sometimes as the navel of the
earth; and sometimes as the middlemost point of heaven and earth. The
Hereford map of the thirteenth century, examined by Mr. Lethaby, shows
the world as a plane circle surrounded by ocean, round whose borders are
the eaters of men, and the one-eyed, and the half-men, and those whose
heads do grow beneath their shoulders. 'Within this border we find
everything the heart could desire; the sea is very red, the pillars of
Hercules are pillars indeed; there is the Terrestrial Paradise enclosed
by a battlemented wall, and unicorns, manticoras, salamanders, and other
beasts of fascinating habits are clearly shown in the lands where they
live. The centre of all is Jerusalem, a circular walled court, within
which again is a smaller circle, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.'
Even when the earth was recognised as a sphere, the idea of Jerusalem
being the centre was not given up. Dante held to it, and veracious Sir
John Mandeville endeavoured thus to explain away the difficulty: 'In
going from Scotland or from England towards Jerusalem, men go always
upwards, for our land is in the low part of the earth towards the west;
and the land of Prester John is in the low part of the world towards the
east; and they have the day when we have the night, and on the contrary
they have the night when we have the day; for the earth and sea are of a
round form, and as men go upward towards one point they go downward to
another. Also you have heard me say that Jerusalem is in the middle of
the world; and that may be proved and shown there by a spear which is
fixed in the earth at the hour of midday, when it is equinoctial, which
gives no shadow on any side.' Ingenious, if not convincing!
The Greek Church still regard Jerusalem as the middle of the world, and
Mr. Curzon tells that in their portion of the Holy Sepulchre they have a
magnificently decorated interior, in the centre of which is a globe of
black marble on a pedestal, under which, they say, the head of Adam was
found, and which they declare to be the exact centre of the globe.
The Mohammedans generally, however, regard the Kaabah at Mecca as--for
the present, at any rate--the true centre. This stone is supposed to
have been lowered directly from heaven, and all mosques are built to
look towards it. Even in the modern schools of Cairo, according to Mr.
Loftie, the children are taught that Mecca is the centre of the earth.
The Samaritans, however, look upon Gerizim as the holy mountain and
centre of the religious and geographical world. And the Babylonians
regarded the great Temple of Bel, according to Professor Sayce, as the
house of the Foundation Stone of Heaven and Earth.
Gaya, again, is the Mecca of the Buddhists, where Buddha sat under the
tree when he received enlightenment. This tree is the Bodhi tree
described by Buddhist writers as surrounded by an enclosure rather of an
oblong than of a square shape, but with four gates opening to the four
cardinal points. In the middle of the enclosure is the diamond throne
which a voice told Buddha he would find under a Pipal tree, which
diamond throne is believed to be of the same age as the earth. 'It is
the middle of the great Chiliocosm; it goes down to the limits of the
golden wheel and upwards it is flush with the ground. It is composed of
diamonds; in circuit it is a hundred paces or so. It is the place where
the Buddhas attain the sacred path of Buddhahood. When the great earth
is shaken this spot alone is unmoved. When the true law decays and dies
it will be no longer visible.'
According to Sir Monier Williams, a stone marked with nine concentric
circles is shown at Gaya as the diamond throne, and the Chiliocosm is
not the centre of the world alone but of the Universe.
But in China, also a land of Buddhists, we find another centre, and in
India there is an iron pillar at Delhi, dating from the fourth century,
supposed by the Brahmans to mark the centre from their point of view.
And in Southern India the Tamils have the Temple of Mandura, in the
innermost sanctuary of which a rock comes through the floor, the roots
of which are said to be in the centre of the earth.
The Indian Buddhists, of course, denied that China could be the Middle
Kingdom, as the place where Buddha lived must necessarily be the centre.
Nevertheless, the centre is now found by Chinese Buddhists in the Temple
of Heaven at Pekin, where is one circular stone in the centre of circles
of marble terraces, on which the Emperor kneels surrounded by
circles--including that of the horizon--and believes himself to be in
the Centre of the Universe and inferior only to Heaven.
But in the sixth century a certain Chinese traveller, called Sung-Yun,
went to India for Buddhist studies, and he made his way by the Pamirs,
the watershed of the great Asiatic rivers Indus and Oxus. And of this
country he wrote:
'After entering the Tsung Ling mountains, step by step, we crept upwards
for four days, and reached the highest point of the range. From this
point as a centre, looking downwards, it seemed just as though we were
poised in mid-air. Men say that this is the middle point of heaven and
earth.'
This was written more than thirteen hundred years ago, and men to-day
still call this part of Asia the Roof of the World.
INDEX.
INDEX.
A
Aaron's rod, 25
Aeschines, 18
Agricola, 29
Albertus, 84
Animal instinct of cure by plants, 161
Anthropomorphon, 84
Architecture, Mysticism and Myth, 193
Ahmed, Prince, 42
Aristotle, 153
Arthurian legends, 23
Asterodia, 2
Australian legends, 8, 20, 21
B
Baaras, root of, 80
Bacchus, 73
Bacon, 68, 85
Baring-Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 37-39, 60, 61, 88
Barth, 52
Benjamin's sack, 49
Beryl, the, 48
the spirits of the, 48
Bhasa, 71
Bion's Lament, 124
Black Kaspar, 48
Bodhi Tree, 199
Book of Days, 73, 75
Brand's Popular Antiquities, 97, 100, 107
Breton legends, 8
British Guiana legends, 8-20
Britomart, 50
Browne, Sir Thomas, 28, 29, 83
Browning's, Mrs., Dead Pan, 80
Buddha's foot, 11
'Bull-roarer,' the, 17, 18
Bushman legend, 63
C
Cagliostro, 51
Cain in the Moon, 62
Cambuscan's mirror, 49
Camelon, 27
Capnomancy, 13
Cat and the Well, 6
Catoptromancy, 50
Celestial Paradise, 189
Chaldaeo-Babylonian legends, 92
Chaucer, 49, 62
Chinese legends, 20, 95
Cingalese legends, 11
Circaea, or Enchanter's Nightshade, 81
Circe, 82
Cleopatra, 79
Clover leaf, the, 130
Coles' Art of Simpling, 86
Columbus, 107
Columella, 84
Conway's Demonology, etc., 24, 71, 72, 85, 95
Cornish legends, 66-103
Cox and Jones's Tales of Teutonic Lands, 2, 3, 7, 9
Cronus, 8, 9, 20
Crusade legends, 129, 136
Crusades, the, 13, 93
Cupid, 124
D
Danae, 5
Dante, 62
Davy Jones, 114
Dawn Myths, 2, 5, 6
Dee's, Dr., Spherical Speculum, 48, 50
De Gubernatis, 72
Dekker's Wonderful Year, 147
Delphi, 19
Demeter, 19
Demosthenes, 18
Dessoir, Max, 56
Devil's Kettles, 95
Devil's Punch-bowls, 95
Devonian legends, 65, 122, 127
Dioscorides, 134
Divination by smoke, 15
Divining-rod, the, 30-32
Dove and the ark, 24
'Duffy,' 114
Dutch legend, 96
E
Earth-man, 79
Eden, the Garden of, 190
Eastern idea of, 191
Icelandic idea of, 191
Mandeville's, Sir J., 192
Somaliland, 192
Prester John's, 190
Ellacombe's Plant-Lore of Shakespeare, 149
Endymion, 72
Esquimo legend, 67
Esthonian legend, 73
Eucharist, the, 24
F
Fairy-lore, 12, 13
'Fairy-ring,' the, 12
Feast of Demeter, 16
Fian, Dr., 27
Fleur de lys, the, 130
Flying Dutchman, the, 96
Folk-lore methods, 15, 16
Bible, 88
Friend's Flowers and Flower-Lore, 147
G
Ganymede, 67
Gargantua, legend of, 8
Garlic (or 'Poor Man's Treacle'), Pliny on, 170
Bacon on, 170
Eastern belief in, 170, 173
Garrett's Dictionary of India, 89
Gaya and Buddha, 199
Gerarde's Herball (1597), 81, 128
Gerizim, 199
German legends, 60, 93, 94
Gesta Romanorum, 42
Glam (the moon), 72
Goldsmith's Citizen of the World, 50
'Good folks,' 12
Goodrich's, Miss, experiments in crystal-reading, 53-55
Gordon-Cumming's, Miss, Wanderings in China, 64
Greek legends, 3, 4, 10, 19, 21, 60, 67, 82, 127
Grimm, Fairy Tales, 6, 66, 129
H
Hades, 19
Hamlet, 41
Harpocrates, 124
Hartmann, Dr. Franz, 46
Hephaistos, 2
Hera, 19
Hermes, 82
Herodotus, 29, 30, 63, 73
Hesiod, 9
Highland superstitions, 10, 12, 13
Hindu legends, 20, 68, 71
Holcroft, the actor, 116
Holinshed, 27
Holy Spirit, symbol of the, 24
Homa, 87, 88
'Hot-cross buns,' 77
Hussin, 6
Hutton's Jacob's Rod, 39
Hydra, the, 93
I
Icelandic legend, 95
'Ink-pool,' the, 48
Israfil, 196
J
Jack and Jill, 61
Jacques Aymar of Lyons, story of, 37, 38
Jacob Boehme's tin cup, 49
Jamieson, Dr., and the Moon, 60
Jason and the Golden Fleece, 21
Jewish legends, 60, 90
Jobson, Richard (divining-rod), 34
Jonah, 115
Jonson's Tale of a Tub, 145
Josephus, 65, 81
Judas Iscariot, 62, 107
K
Kaabah-stone, 198
Kaffir legend, 20
Kingsley's Water-Babies, 105, 111
L
Lane's Magician, 51
Lang's Custom and Myth, etc., 4, 8, 14, 17, 21, 30, 34, 66, 82
Lao's looking-glass, 50
Leek, the, in Welsh tradition, 171
Legends:
Australian, 8, 20, 21
Breton, 8
Bushman, 63
Ceylon, 11
Chaldaeo-Babylonian, 92
Chinese, 20, 95
Cornish, 66, 103
Devonian, 65, 122, 127
Dutch, 96
Eskimo, 67
Esthonian, 73
German, 60, 93, 94
Greek, 3, 4, 10, 19, 21, 50, 67, 82, 127
Highland, 12
Hindu, 20, 68, 71
Icelandic, 95
Jewish, 60, 90
Kaffir, 20
Lenormant, Francois, 93
Lid of Hell, 195
Malay, 8
Maori, 62, 63
North American, 8, 62
of British Guiana, 8, 20
of St. Cecilia, 129
of St. David, 171
of St. Patrick, 131
of St. Peter, 109
of the Crusaders, 129, 136
Persian, 125
Roman, 124
Russian, 94, 110
Scandinavian, 61
Sicilian, 73
Syrian, 93
Talmudic, 92
Zulu, 8
Lethaby on Architecture and Myths, 193
Levi, house of, 25
Lhasis, 80
Lien Chi Altangi, 50
Lilly, John, 59
Linnaeus, story of, 33
Lotus legends, 128
the Buddhist, 127
the Egyptian, 128
Lucian, 59
Luna, 63, 73
M
Magic, 23
Magellan, 107
Malay legends, 8
Mandrake, the, 78, 83
anthropomorphon, 84
or Devil's Apple, 85
or Stone Apple, 85
Mandura, 200
Maori legends, 62, 63
Mecca, 198
Medea, 67
Merlin's mirror, 49
Michael Scott, 11
Middle Kingdom, the, according to Herodotus, 189
Eastern idea of, 189, 197, 200
Jewish tradition of, 196
Jupiter's, 193
Mecca, the, 199
Mexican tradition of, 195
Prester John, 198
Midsummer Night's Dream, 62
Milbanke, Lady, 39
Mister Storm-Along, 119
Mohammed, legend of, 126
Moonfolk, Lucian's, 59
Moon-lore, Australian, 67
Bushman, 67
Egyptian, 67
English, 70, 74, 76
Eskimo, 67
Greek, 67, 87
Maori, 67
North American Indian, 67
South African, 67
Moon, the, 2, 58
Moon-worship, 76
Moonwort, 153, 154
Conway, Moncure, 155
Culpeper, 154
in Divine Weekes, 154
in legend, 153
Moses' rod, 25, 26, 29
Mother Carey's chickens, 97, 104, 109
Mueller, Max, 9
Mythology, Chinese, 63
Eskimo, 63
German, 133
Greek, 10, 78, 121
Hindu, 63, 87
Scandinavian, 116
Vedic, 72
N
Nautical superstitions, 98, 100
Navel of the World, 193
Nebuchadnezzar, 28
Neptune, 93
Nether Lochaber, 12
Nikke, 96
North American legends, 8, 62
O
Odin, 73
Odysseus, 82
Old Nick, 93
Onion among the Romans, 167
as food, 164
Homer on, 167
in The Arabian Nights, 165
Juvenal on, 165
Malagasy use of, 166
Mohammedan legends of, 167
myths, 168, 169
Napoleon and, 174
of the Greeks, 163, 165
of Herodotus, 166
Pliny on, 165, 167
Shakespeare on, 163
Sinclair, Sir J., on, 175
Ophelia, 148
Othello, 80
P
Paracelsus's magic mirror, 43, 44
Paradise, the Garden of, 190
Parkinson the Herbalist, 151
Penelope, 49
Persian legend, 125
Peter the Hermit, 13
Pharaoh, 25
Pleiades, the, 21
Pliny, 132
Plutarch, 73
Pope Leo X., 107
Poseidon, 19
Potato, the, as food, 184
Buckle on, 177
Christopher Columbus and, 176
folklore of, 183
Gerarde on, 177
in Scotland and Ireland, 181
in Shakespeare, 179
introduction into Europe, 176
Sir Francis Drake and, 177
Prince Zeyn Alasnam, story of, 42
Proctor, R. A., 60
Prose Edda, 71
Prospero, 70
Pryce's Mineralogia Cornubiensis, 32
Pseudosia Epidemica, 83
Pyromancy, 47
Pythagoras, 84
R
Rashi, 77
Red Riding Hood, 5, 6
Rhabdomancy, 28, 39
Rhea, 19
Riley's Book of Days, 64
Rink, Dr., 63
Rod, Moses', 25, 26
of the house of Levi, 25
the, 23
the divining, 30, 32
Roman legend, 124
Romeo and Juliet, 79
Rona in the Moon, 62
Roof of the World, the, 100
Rosemary, 123
Roses, Feast of the, 125
Rue as a disinfectant, 162
as salad, 152
derivation of, 150
in Aristotle, 153, 159
in Drayton, 153
in Ellacombe's Plant-Lore of Shakespeare, 149
in French perfumery, 152
in Milton, 151
in Parkinson, 151
in Pliny, 157
in Shakespeare, 149, 153
in Spenser, 151
in Warburton's works, 152
Ruskin's Queen of the Air, 4
Russian legend, 94, 110
Ruth, 150
Ryence, King, 50
S
St. Brandan, 117
St. Cecilia, legend of, 129
St. Christophoros, story of, 26
St. David, legends of, 171
St. David's Day, origin of, 171
St. Joseph, legend of, 127
St. Nicholas, 93
St. Patrick, 131
St. Peter, legend of, 109
St. Peter's Day, 110
St. Ursula, 2, 3
Satan, 79, 85
Saturn, 8, 19, 20
Scandinavian legend, 61
Schliemann, Dr., 194
Sea chanties, 119, 120
Septuagint, the, 49
Shakespeare, 2, 62, 79
Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick, 92
Shelvocke's voyages, 106
Shew Stone, 50
Sicilian legend, 73
Sidney, Sir Philip, 72
Solomon's Temple, 196
Soma, 63, 87, 89, 90, 193
Song of Sixpence, 5
Sorcerer's Root, 78
Spring Myths, 10
Stormy petrel, 99
Sung-Yun and the Pamirs, 200
Superstitions:
Accadian, 16
Aztec, 16
Bushmen, 21
Chinese, 75
Greek, 16
Highland, 10, 12
Jewish, 16, 76
Nautical, 98, 100, 117
Peruvian, 16
Red Indian, 16, 20
Sicilian, 16
Syrian legend, 92
T
Talmudic legend, 92
Tannhaeuser, 3
Tylor's Primitive Culture, 5, 65
Tempest, the, 70
Theal's Kaffir Folklore, 18
Thiselton-Dyer, 31, 34, 64, 78, 100, 131, 145
Thistle, the, 132
Stewart, Dr., on, 135
of Dioscorides, 134
Timbs, 79
True Thomas of Ercildoune, 3
Tutenganahau, story of, 20
Tweed, the, 10
Tylor, 6, 65
Typhoeus, 117
U
Ulysses, 42
Urim and Thummim, 49
V
Vampire, the, 70
Vedic Agni, 2
Venus, 30
Venus's looking-glass, 49
Verne, Jules, 59
Vervain of the Druids, 158
Friend on the, 159
of the Greeks, 158
Thiselton-Dyer on, 158
Virgin Mary, 106
Von Buelow's Christian Legends of Germany, 26
Vulcan's mirror, 49
W
Warburton, 152
Warts, the cure of, 160
'White Rose Day,' 125
Winslow, Forbes, 76
Winter's Tale, The, 149
Winter Myths, 10
Witches' broom, the, 70
Witches' Mannikin, 78
Wolf and Seven Little Kids, 6, 7, 9, 66
Wurmbrand's Visionen im Wasserglass, 53
Y
Yama, 193
Yggdrasil, 193
Z
Zafarana, 73
Zeus, 19, 67
Zillah, legend of, 126
Zulu legend, 8
_Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, London._
Footnotes:
[1] Farrer: Primitive Manners.
[2] Lang: Custom and Myth.
[3] Lang.
[4] See Custom and Myth.
[5] In 'The Cruel Brother: A Tragedy.'
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
The misprint "Lihgtning" was corrected to "Lightning" (page 68).
The misprint "Catroptromancy" was corrected to "Catoptromancy" (index).
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.
Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate
both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as
presented in the original text.