wooden wand is always kept before her holy picture in the cabin. It
often happens that the fish-dragons play in the seas. They are two
giant fish who spout up water against one another till the sun in the
sky is obscured, and the seas are shrouded in profound darkness. And
often, in the distance, one may see a bright opening in the darkness.
If the ship holds a course straight for this opening it will win
through, and is suddenly floating in calm waters again. Looking back,
one may see the two fishes still spouting water, and the ship will
have passed directly beneath their jaws. But a storm is always near
when the fish dragons swim; therefore it is well to burn paper or wool
so that the dragons do not draw the ship down into the depths. Or the
Master of the Wand may burn incense before the wand in the cabin. Then
he must take the wand and swing it over the water three times, in a
circle. If he does so the dragons will draw in their tails and
disappear.

When the ashes in the censer fly up into the air without any cause,
and are scattered about, it is a sign that great danger is
threatening.

Nearly two-hundred years ago an army was fitted out to subdue the
island of Formosa. The captain's banner had been dedicated with the
blood of a white horse. Suddenly the Queen of Heaven appeared at the
tip of the banner-staff. In another moment she had disappeared, but
the invasion was successful.

On another occasion, in the days of Kien Lung, the minister Dschou
Ling was ordered to install a new king in the Liu-Kiu Islands. When
the fleet was sailing by south of Korea, a storm arose, and his ship
was driven toward the Black Whirlpool. The water had the color of ink,
sun and moon lost their radiance, and the word was passed about that
the ship had been caught in the Black Whirlpool, from which no living
man had ever returned. The seaman and travelers awaited their end with
lamentations. Suddenly an untold number of lights, like red lanterns,
appeared on the surface of the water. Then the seamen were overjoyed
and prayed in the cabins. "Our lives are saved!" they cried, "the Holy
Mother has come to our aid!" And truly, a beautiful maiden with golden
earrings appeared. She waved her hand in the air and the winds became
still and the waves grew even. And it seemed as though the ship were
being drawn along by a mighty hand. It moved plashing through the
waves, and suddenly it was beyond the limits of the Black Whirlpool.

Dscho