A Chinese Superstition

Chinese junks and boats have eyes carved or painted on the bows, which are usually supposed to bea mere fancifnl forru of ornamentation. But they have a real meaning, as a recent traveler found. In going up one of the rivers from Ningpo he was startled one day by seeing a boatniau seize his broad hat and clap it over one of the "eyes" of the boat, whileother boats on thestream were similarly blinded. Looking abont for an explanation, he saw a dead body floating past, ani he was told by the boatmen that if the boat had been allowed to "see" it some disaster would surely have happened either to passensrers or crew before the voyagewas