actually appear in the shape of an owl. Among the Australian aborigines the owl is regarded as a sex totem of women and is most jealously protected by them.[71] We find too, that the owl is a sacred bird among the Indians of North-West America, and in their ritual dances a solemnity revealed to them, as they suppose, by their guardian spirits, wherein they mime ancient story, the masqueraders often personate by dress, voice, and gesture the owl. “The dukwally (i.e., lokoala) and other tamanawas[72] performances are exhibitions intended to represent incidents connected with their mythological legends… An Indian, for instance, who has been consulting with his guardian spirit, which is done by going through the washing and fasting process before described, will imagine or think he is called upon to represent the owl. He arranges in his mind the style of dress, the number of performers, the songs and dances or other movements, and, having the plan perfected, announces at a tamanawas meeting that he has had a revelation which he will impart to a select few. These are then taught and drilled in strict secrecy, and when they have perfected themselves, will suddenly make their appearance and perform before the astonished tribe.”[73] The owl gives mystic qualities; for in Northern India it is believed that a man who eats the eyes of an owl will be able to see, even as that bird, in the dark.[74] In Nigeria, the owl is regarded with great awe, and the natives tremble even to pronounce its name on account of the ill omen, preferring to speak of “the bird that makes one afraid.”[75] It may be remembered that Vampires are credited with being able to see in the dark, and that in many countries peasants dread to utter the word, employing some elaborate and often not very intelligible periphrasis.
Those whose hair is red, of a certain peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires. It is significant that in ancient Egypt, as Manetho tells us, human sacrifices were offered at the grave of Osiris, and the victims were red-haired men who were burned, their ashes being scattered far and wide by winnowing-fans. It is held by some authorities that this was done to fertilize the fields and produce a bounteous harvest, red-hair symbolizing the golden wealth of the corn. But these men were called Typhonians, and were representatives not of Osiris but of his evil rival Typhon, whose hair
