20
per cent, more than they would be if separated. Reindeer horns bring
from $4.30 to $6.70 gold per pound ($9 to $14 of the local money);
these horns weigh from two to ten pounds each, from thirty to forty
being packed in a single case. For stag horns, if of superior quality,
much higher prices are paid, sometimes as high as $9 in gold per ounce;
the weight of these horns runs from four to fifteen pounds. Wild sheep
horns are cheaper, fetching from $3.60 to $5.75 gold per ounce.*
Horns
of various kinds find use as amulets in Spain, more especially for
donkeys or mules; one of these is a deer's horn through which has been
passed an iron loop for suspension. Usually when several of these
animals are driven into a Spanish town from the country, only the
leading donkey bears such an amulet, or perhaps two of the animals.
They are almost exclusively employed by the peasants, the dwellers in
the towns rarely having recourse to them, and the peasants are
generally very loath to sell them, probably from the fear that ill-luck
may result from parting with one. Bone amulets fashioned into the form
of a horn are worn by children in Seville, Granada, and other Spanish
cities, as charms against the Evil Eye and against the ailments
incident to teething. In parts of Andalusia the superstition exists
that if an envious or otherwise evil glance falls upon a child, the
full force of the malevolence is spent upon the guardian amulet, which
will break under the strain, but saves the infant from harm. Another
child's amulet in this country is a boar's tusk, sometimes mounted in
silver, and one specimen from Seville with chains attached was asserted
to have been worn by a woman as a lactation amulet.f
"Consul General George E. Anderson, of Hongkong, "Deer and Keindeer Horns in China," in Daily Consular and Trade Reports, February 5, 1914, p. 469.
tW.
L. Hildsburgh, "Notes on Spanish Amulets," Polk Lore, Vol. XVII, 1906,
pp. 454-472. See PI. IV, Fig. 1, and PI. VII, Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 16.
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