Νηρηίδες, of which ἀνερᾷδες seems a corruption. The notion that the apparition of the anerades' portends speedy death may be derived from the fact that the rivers are the places where dangerous fevers are caught at night. The δαίμονες seem to be a tradition of the old Greek satyrs.95
The evil eye, called here μάτι (a corruption of ὀμμάτιον), is an object of much dread, the evil effects of which may, however, be counteracted by a fumigation with burnt olive-wood, or by palm branches given in church at Easter and blest by the priest.
At funerals they break a pitcher of water over the grave at the moment of interment. They also place on the mouth of the dead person a piece of ancient Greek tile, on which the priest inscribes the mystic sign called pentalpha, and the words Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικᾷ. This is supposed to prevent the dead from returning to earth as vampires, the belief in whose existence is very general in the Tui'kish Archipelago.
At Rhodes, the vampire is called καταχανάς; at Mytilene, βροκόλακο. There is no readier or more effectual way of getting rid of an importunate or tiresome Mytileniote than to say to him, "May the vampire take you." He immediately crosses himself, and withdraws.
I was told, that once in Rhodes a dead woman returned to earth in this unpleasant shape; upon which, the priest of her village laid on the ground one of the dead woman's shifts, over the neck of which he walked, held up by two men, for fear the vampire should seize him. While in this position, he read verses from the New Testament, till the
