In the "clean village of Broek," near Amsterdam,
those special doors may still be seen. And in certain towns of Umbria,
such as Perugia, Assisi, and Gubbio, this opening was common, elevated
some feet above the ground, and known as the "Door of the Dead."
I find in a list, printed by Liebrecht, of popular French superstitions,
amounting to 479 in number, condemned by Maupas du Tour, Bishop of Evreux
in 1664, the following: "When a woman lies in of a dead child, it must not
be taken out by the door of the chamber but by the window, for if it were
taken out by the door the woman would never lie in of any but dead
children." The Samoyedes have the superstition mentioned in the text, and
act exactly as Polo describes.
["The body [of the Queen of Bali, 17th century] was drawn out of a large
aperture made in the wall to the right hand side of the door, in the
absurd opinion of cheating the devil, whom these islanders believe to
lie in wait in the ordinary passage." (John Crawfurd, Hist.
