The Blind Girl Sees

"I see men; but they look like trees, walking." (Mk 8:24, RSV)

     Such were the words of a blind man in the process of regaining his sight. Those who have lost their sight, I presume, remember to some extent what the world used to look like. But what about those born blind? Initially, in fact, they would not even know they were blind.

Chased by Mickey Mouse Gas Masks

     What was it like on the home front in England during the Second World War? Well, for a start, they suffered very severe rationing. Also, everyone had to practice using a gas mask. This could lead to farcical results, as this story by a governess of a high society family illustrates:

The Virgin Matriarchs of Albania

     Here's a scenario: imagine you live in a backward society where the male population keeps getting whittled away by blood feuds. What do you do when your family runs out of males? In the boondocks of Albania, among the European equivalent of hillbillies, the problem is solved by the eldest unmarried daughter becoming socially a man.

The Balloon Locomotive

     Due to its weight, a train requires a low gradient, which normally means cuttings and switchbacks in mountainous terrain. However, reaching the top of  mountain is another matter, since removing removing the summit is not an option, and one of the ways of scaling such steep inclines is a funicular. Almost most of you will have heard the term, but how many know what it really means? It is essentially two trains operated on the counterbalance system. The ascending and descending lines form a loop, and the two trains are linked by a continuous cable. As one train goes down, its weight pulls the other one up. Sometimes, at the top, water is added to the descending train to increase the weight. Of course, the locomotive must still be powered - there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine - but gravity significantly reduces the power bill.
     However, in late 1897, in the Austrian Alps, a single rail line was introduced driven, not by steam or electricity, but by a balloon!

The Witches Who Failed to Fly

      It is, of course, well established that the Great Witch Craze of the 16th and 17th centuries, stretching even into the 18th, represented a resurgence of pre-Christian superstitions. They had once been ignored and mocked, but were now being taken seriously. However, I didn't realise just how ancient these beliefs were until I reread Apuleius' second century novel, The Golden Ass. There, the author describes how he watched a Thessalian witch strip naked, rub herself with a magic ointment, and promptly turn into an owl. That was very similar to what witches were accused of doing 13 or 14 centuries later! Some were even trying it out themselves!

The Dubious Delights of the Upper Salween

      Often a reader of earlier publications realises he has stepped into a world which no longer exists. The south western province of Yunnan is home to a greater variety of ethnic groups than any other Chinese province. As the eastern foothills of Tibet, its mountainous terrain is bisected by deep north-south ravines, being the headwaters of some of the great rivers of east and southeast Asia. Into this forbidding terrain, in late 1909 came botanist George Forrest, to explore the region of the Upper Salween, home of the Lisu. Chinese authority was weak in the area, often fading out completely, for this was almost two years before the first Chinese Revolution, and decades before the great transformation of Lisu society. Essentially, the botanist had stepped into a forgotten corner of the world, where poverty, filth, violence, vice, and superstition had held sway for hundreds of years.