Should a son or a daughter be born on the new moon in April, they will become thieves.  If a person is born under the planet Saturn, he will be slandered, his riches will be dissipated, and his wife, son, and friends will be destroyed.  He will also be at variance with others, and endure many sufferings.  Should he be born under the planet Mars, he will be full of anxious thoughts, be imprisoned, and oppressed with fear from robbers, fire, etc.  He also will lose his lands, trees, and good name.

If a person dreams that a monkey has bitten him, he will die in six months; or if he dreams that bedbugs, in large numbers, are creeping over his body to bite him, he will die in eight days.  Should he dream that a dog has bitten him, he will die in three years; or should he dream that a dead person has appeared to him and spoken to him, he will die immediately.

If a man has a little head, he will become rich.  If he has a large head, he will be poor.  If his forehead is wide, he will live a hundred years.  If he has a small neck, he will be a murderer.  If the second toe is long, he will be a bad man.  If a woman has curly hair, she will not prosper.  If her nose is long, she will have a good disposition.  If her ear is wide, she will tell falsehoods.  If she has a mole on her nose, she will be subject to anger; if on her lips, she will be learned; if on the eyebrows she will be cunning.

I could continue to fill a number of pages with things of the same description, but it will be unnecessary.  I will merely mention one instance more.  On a certain night in the month of November, the people will not look at the moon.  The reason assigned for this, is as follows.  Once, when the elephant-faced god Pulliar was dancing before the gods, the moon happening to see him, laughed at him, and told him that he had a large stomach, an ear like a winnowing-fan, etc.  This so enraged him, that he cursed her.  This curse was inflicted on the night above mentioned.

How does the wretchedness of a people, both in reference to the things of this world and of the world to come, show itself where the Bible is unknown.  If this blessed book was not an inspired book—­if it did no more than remove the temporal miseries of men, how invaluable would it be!  Of how much more value then, is it, in reference to the removal of their spiritual miseries?

O, why is it that Christians have not long since sent this Bible to them?  Why is it that they do not send it to them now?  This is a mystery, which we must leave to be unravelled at the judgment-seat of the last day.  My dear children, you are to stand before that judgment-seat.  Shall any of these heathen among whom I dwell, rise up at that awful season—­stretch out their hands towards you, and say, There stand the children who might have sent us the Bible, but they did not send it; and now we must be lost—­lost for ever!

CHAPTER XX.