The inhabitants of Canton are, I believe, mostly Taoists by religion,
but their lives are embittered by their constant struggles with the
local devils. Most fortunately Chinese devils have their marked
limitations; for instance, they cannot go round a corner, and most
mercifully they suffer from constitutional timidity, and can be easily
frightened away by fire-crackers. Human beings inhabiting countries
subject to pests, have usually managed to cope with them by adopting
counter-measures. In mosquito-ridden countries people sleep under
mosquito-nets, thus baffling those nocturnal blood-suckers; in parts
of Ceylon infested with snakes, sharpened zig-zag snake-boards are
fastened to the window-sills, which prove extremely painful to
intruding reptiles. The Chinese, as a safeguard against their devils,
have adopted the peculiar "cocked hat" corner to their roofs, which we
see reproduced in so much of Chippendale's work. It is obvious that,
with an ordinary roof, any ill-disposed devil would summon some of his
fellows, and they would fly up, get their shoulders under the corner
of the eaves, and prise the roof off in no time. With the peculiar
Chinese upward curve of the corners, the devils are unable to get
sufficient leverage, and so retire discomfited.
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