CHAPTER III.

_PENALTY FOR DEFILEMENT._

The labourer who spat on the pavement of an oracular well—Fate of an European girl who offended the saintly spirit of Loveji Castle—Acts of defilement, whether conscious or unconscious, offend the spirits—The Nowroji Wadia house tragedy—A Damascus custom—Destruction of the land of Logres—Concerts of the nymphs—“The pure one” fountain of Egypt—An Esthonian belief—A curious variant of the belief concerning defilement—Deliberate pollution of wells so as to constrain the rain-god—Albiruni’s interrogatories—Doctrine of negation of knowledge 14-17