harmlessly upon him. Rushing to the door the shepherd was just in time to evade a second clutch. Hardly knowing what he did he clambered up a large tree in the courtyard, and looking down he saw that the horrible figure was standing in the doorway glowering with rage, but did not appear able to advance beyond the threshold. All night the poor wretch clung there, and as the day broke the spectre vanished into the recesses of the building. It was early when various persons came to inquire how the bold man had fared, and finding him half distraught with terror they soon learned what had happened during the night. The next proceeding was to examine the base of the statute, and when this had been cautiously done it was remarked that a curious black vapour rose from the ancient fissures in the stone. The local authorities investigated these circumstances, and gave instructions that the pedestal should be broken down to discover what was lurking beneath it. After digging a little depth they found the body of a tall man of most hideous appearance, fetid and desiccated, covered with a green pile, just as the shepherd had described. The magistrates immediately commanded that a pyre should be built. The corpse was set thereon, and torches applied at every corner. The Vampire writhed and whistled with a screeching sound; blood poured from it in streams, and the bones crackled sharply. Once the body had been consumed, the hauntings entirely ceased but it was long before the temple lost its sombre reputation.[42]
It will be seen that the Chinese beliefs are finked with the Babylonian ideas on the one hand, for as the Ekimmu was driven from the Underworld by hunger and thirst, when no offerings were made at the tomb, and it came forth to wander on earth and attack those whom it might devour, so ghosts enduring the Buddhist purgatory of physical want are obviously imagined to seize living persons that they may refresh and energize themselves with human blood. Again, as in Western Europe to-day, so in China, the Vampire is most powerful for evil between sunset and sunrise. His dominion commences when the sun sinks to rest, and he is driven back to the lair of his grave with the first rays of the dawn. One prominent feature of the European Vampire, a circumstance which affords an additional reason why he is dreaded and shunned,
