Staying one night in a missionary: out-station among aborikines, I noticed that there were 9 number of young unmarried women in the congregation, and asked afterwards why they had not been given to husbands. I was informed that these young women were very particular in their choice and would not marry unless the men seeking them were above the ordinary. The people who told me this stated that those who are too particular in their choice, often have no choice in the end, and quoted two Miao proverbs on his question, (1) He (she) determined to chose the lacquered plate and got broken plate lacquered over.
(2) He (she) would have nothing but the ornamental cup and got, merely a broken cup rivetted to-wether, We advised the young hill damsels not to wait for the lacquered plates. ese brought in a tiger's skin, hoping for a sale. To my astonishment: there were no stripes on the body. The people explained that this was a young tiger whose skin had not yet changed, The colour of the skin was reddish gold, more like the skin of a deer than of a tiger. I was very sceptical about the matter, but as final proof the people showed the markings on the head, which were very like the wang marking on a tiger's head. They said that the tigers were two, and that the older one' had escaped. I was assured that had the smaller beast lived a while longer, the stripes would have developed in the ordinary way. 1 was too ignorant to explain the mystery. All the tigers T have seen have been striped. I am sure T do not know what animal the skin shown me represented. don't think there was any attempt
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.