The Mirror of Kong Ho | Page 4

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the utter absence of all leisurely dignity on the part of those controlling
their movements, and of the almost unnatural self-opinionatedness
which led them to persist in starting at a stated and prearranged time,
even when this person had courteously pointed out to them by
irrefutable omens that neither the day nor the hour was suitable for the
venture, I have already written. It is enough to assert that a similar want
of prudence was maintained on every occasion, and, as a result, when
actually within sight of the walls of this city, we were involved for
upwards of an hour in a very evilly-arranged yellow darkness, which,
had we but delayed for a day, as I strenuously advised those in
authority after consulting the Sacred Flat and Round Sticks, we should
certainly have avoided.
Concerning the real nature of the devices by which the ships are
propelled at sea and the carriages on land, I must still unroll a blank
mind until I can secretly, and without undue hazard, examine them
more closely. If, as you maintain, it is the work of captive demons
hidden away among their most inside parts, it must be admitted that
these usually intractable beings are admirably trained and controlled,
and I am wide-headed enough to think that in this respect we
might--not-withstanding our nine thousand years of civilised
refinement--learn something of the methods of these barbarians. The
secret, however, is jealously guarded, and they deny the existence of
any supernatural forces; but their protests may be ignored, for there is
undoubtedly a powerful demon used in a similar way by some of the
boldest of them, although its employment is unlawful. A certain kind of
chariot is used for the occupation of this demon, and those who wish to
invoke it conceal their faces within masks of terrifying design, and
cover their hands and bodies with specially prepared garments, without
which it would be fatal to encounter these very powerful spirits. While
yet among the habitations of men, and in crowded places, they are
constrained to use less powerful demons, which are lawful, but when
they reach the unfrequented paths they throw aside all restraint, and,
calling to their aid the forbidden spirit (which they do by secret
movements of the hands), they are carried forward by its agency at a
speed unattainable by merely human means. By day the demon looks
forth from three white eyes, which at night have a penetrating brilliance

equal to the fiercest glances of the Sacred Dragon in anger. If any
person incautiously stands in its way it utters a warning cry of
intolerable rage, and should the presumptuous one neglect to escape to
the roadside and there prostrate himself reverentially before it, it seizes
him by the body part and contemptuously hurls him bruised and
unrecognisable into the boundless space of the around. Frequently the
demon causes the chariot to rise into the air, and it is credibly asserted
by discriminating witnesses (although this person only sets down as
incapable of denial that which he has actually beheld) that some have
maintained an unceasing flight through the middle air for a distance of
many li. Occasionally the captive demon escapes from the bondage of
those who have invoked it, through some incautious gesture or heretical
remark on their part, and then it never fails to use them grievously,
casting them to the ground wounded, consuming the chariot with fire,
and passing away in the midst of an exceedingly debased odour, by
which it is always accompanied after the manner of our own earth
spirits.
This being, as this person has already set forth, an unlawful demon on
account of its power when once called up, and the admitted uncertainty
of its movements, those in authority maintain a stern and inexorable
face towards the practice. To entrap the unwary certain persons (chosen
on account of their massive outlines, and further protected from evil
influences by their pure and consistent habits) keep an unceasing watch.
When one of them, himself lying concealed, detects the approach of
such a being, he closely observes the position of the sun, and signals to
the other a message of warning. Then the second one, shielded by the
sanctity of his life and rendered inviolable by the nature of his
garments--his sandals alone being capable of overturning any demon
from his path should it encounter them--boldly steps forth into the road
and holds out before him certain sacred emblems. So powerful are
these that at the sight the unlawful demon confesses itself vanquished,
and although its whole body trembles with ill-contained rage, and the
air around is poisoned by its discreditable exhalation, it is devoid of
further resistance. Those in the chariot are thereupon commanded to
dismiss it, and being bound in chains they