regarded as a spiritual fetter keeping the soul in the body, and to bind such a talisman upon the wrist is particularly appropriate, since many peoples believe that a soul resides wherever a pulse is felt beating. Moreover, not only does this amulet guard the soul securely within the body but it also keeps evil spirits and demons out of it, and therefore at the ceremonies of the cutting of hair of Siamese children, which is an extremely important and symbolical rite, a magic cord is tied round the wrist of the child to protect him from malignant and foul spectres who would invade him.[10] Accordingly by shrouding his eyes with his wristlet the Ibo priest protects himself against any molestation by the spirit of the corpse. Very similar protective powers are also ascribed to finger rings, and among the Lapps the person whose business it is to shroud a corpse receives from some relative of the departed a brass ring which he must wear fastened to his right arm until the funeral rites are over. This ring is believed to shield him from any onset on the part of the ghost.[12] In the Tyrol a woman—particularly if she be pregnant or in travail—must never take off her wedding-ring, or else witches and vampires will have power over her.[13] In England it is considered to be courting disaster if a woman takes off her wedding-ring, whilst actually to lose the wedding-ring is one of the worst possible misfortunes. It may be mentioned that to-day the Greeks of the Isle of Karpathos (Scarpanto) never bury a body which has rings upon it; “for the spirit, they say, can even be detained in the little finger, and cannot rest.”[14] It is not suggested that anything so horrible might happen as that the spirit should become evil or a Vampire, but certainly it would not be in the full enjoyment of happiness and peace.
Among the Assyrians the Ekimmu might appear in a house. Just as the Vampire, it would pass through walls or doors, and whether it merely glided about as a silent phantom, or whether it gibbered uttering unintelligible and mocking words with hideous mop and mow, or whether it seemed to ask some question that required a response, in any case such an apparition was terribly unlucky. The direst misfortunes followed, certainly involving the destruction of the house, and it was seldom that the owner, if not many of his family as well would not die within very short space of time. It seems, indeed, that the Ekimmu would drain the life out of a household,
