Note 147 — Chapter I · THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.

“Should a stranger visit it in the morning and inquire of any Hindu by whom it was constructed, he will have considerable difficulty in eliciting a straightforward answer. The Râja, it is said, was of such a delicate constitution that he could never at any time take more than a few morsels of the simplest food; hence arises the belief that any one who mentions him the first thing in the morning will, like him, have to pass the day fasting.”147 When we wonder at people suffering bondage of this kind, we must not forget that similar beliefs prevail in our own country. “In Buckie there are certain family names which no fisherman will pronounce. The ban lies particularly heavy on Ross. Coull also bears it, but not to such a degree. The folks of that village talk of spitting out the bad name.”148