ABSTRACT
The client then consults the oracle by picking up a bamboo tube full of slips, from the altar. That it may give a true decision it is waved over the incense before the Goddess a number of times, and the supplicant again performs the nine.fold prostration. Kneeling, the container is shaken up and down until it is seen that one of the slips is rising above its fellows and eventually falls to the floor. Its number is taken, but not finally accepted until confirmed by the casting of the two objects used in divination. These are usually of wood, boat shaped, and rounded on one side whilst being flat on the other. If both fall the same way, the omen is good, but no answer attends one round and one flat. If the slip is confirmed in this way, its number is entered in a notebook. The other slips are disregarded as having no significance. Mathematically it should work out that one throw in three turns up in this way as either two rounds or two flats give a favourable answer. When nine definite replies have been recorded the worship is complete, except for a final burst of firecrackers in the central court outside the sanctuary. The expansion of gas on the explosion is supposed to drive off spirits which are part of the atmosphere, but it is a moot point if the demons dislike the noise as much as the Chinese appreciate the racket. Prescriptions or fortunes are issued by the temple attendant corresponding with the numbers on the slips.
