Devils in the Alps.
The inhabitants of the little Alpine village of Claro, in the Canton of Tessin, firmly believe that devils have taken up their residence on a peak of the Alps named Peverotto, 3,000 feet above the village. The shepherds and cowherds refuse to make the ascent with their flocks and herds, declaring that many of them have been injured by stones rolled down on them by invisible devils.
Several gendarmes and a priest were sent to the summit recently. No devils were found, but the priest blessed the mountain in order to scare away any devils who might be in hiding. The shepherds and cowherds are still timid. They keep their flocks on the lower slopes so that they can make a hasty retreat to the village if the devils again attack them.
Chinese Tomb Jade.
On p. 139 of Mr. Mackenzie's paper, "Colour Symbolism," in the last number of Folk-Lore, the author, in referring to Chinese mouth-jades, assumes that their colour was green. It is true that in this country the popular notion is that jade is essentially green; indeed, in some industries "jade" is used as a synonym for a certain shade of green. So far as my knowledge goes, no such intimate association ever existed in Chinese minds. The word yü, used for jade, occurs very frequently in euphemistic phraseology; pages might be filled with a bare list of the commoner expressions in which yü figures. But its meaning is generally "precious," "rare," "beautiful," "delicate," or "gem-like," and when it does convey a colour significance, it is white or a quality of colourless translucence that is indicated. I would not venture to deny that the word yü (jade) by itself ever denotes the colour green or a piece of green jade, but it may safely be stated that such use must be rare. Both Dr.
