8 BULLETIN 141, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



about the size of a candle and is incased in palm spathe. It appears 

 to be the successor of torches made by the Caribs from the ''gum 

 of a sandal," .described by De Rochfort before 16G5. (Fig. 5, Cat. 

 No. 219403; Dr. J. Walter Fewkes; 11.8 inches (30 cm.) long). 

 Figure 6 is a resin torch from the Gaboon River, Africa-. It is 

 Tvrapped in palm leaf and tied with a pliable strip of some plant. 

 (Cat. No. 164872; A. C. Good; 37 inches (94 cm.) long). For a 

 large .resin torch from the Congo see Plate 4c. Figure 7 is a resin 

 torch of palm spathe inclosing a mass of fiber saturated with resin. 

 The spathe casing is fastened at intervals with wooden pins. In 

 several parts of Siam resin-soaked fiber is used as torch filling. In 

 Burma rattan wood soaked in rock oil was used as a filler. (Cat. 

 No. 175977, Trong, Lower Siam; Dr. W. L. Abbott; 22.4 inches (57 

 cm.) long). Figure 8 is a dammar torch wrapped in pandanus leaf. 

 (See pi. 4&.) (Cat. No. 76727, Singapore; 16.5 inches (42 cm.) 

 long.) The largest resin torch which has come to notice is from 

 Loango, French Congo. It is a cylinder of compact resin wrapped 

 first in palm leaf and incased in basketry consisting of strips of cane 

 interwoven with a continuous spiral of rattan. This torch was used 

 in fishing, traveling, and in fetish rites. (PI. 4c, fig. 1, Cat. No. 

 152631; Carl Steckelmann; 52 inches (132 cm.) long.) A cylindrical 

 mass of resin folded in pandanus leaf and resembling the Burmese 

 specimen, shown on Plate 3, Figure 2, is from Siam. The resin is of 

 reddish color, not homogeneous, and burns with a bright yellow light 

 quite smoky and with a pleasant odor. (PI. 4c, fig. 5, Cat. No. 

 178243, Siam, C. E. Eckels; 13% inches (35 cm.) long). Another 

 Siamese torch, short and thick, is shown in Figure 4. It is covered 

 with thick rugose leaf and filled with resin-coated fiber. It is held 

 in shape by loops of rattan. (Cat. No. 235901, Siam; Government" 

 of Siam, 1907; 161^ inches (41 cm.) long.) Figure 2 is a smaller 

 resin torch from the Philippines. It is filled with granules of resin. 

 The wrapping is pandanus leaf in several thicknesses to facilitate 

 combustion. The binding is a spiral of rattan simply fastened off 

 at the ends. (Cat. No. 232826, Moros of Mindanao, P. I. ; Maj. E. A. 

 Mearns, U. S. Army; 28 inches (71 cm.) long.) Plate 4c, Figure 3, 

 is a resin fetish torch from the Gaboon River, Africa, collected also 

 by A. C. Good. 



A widespread form of illumination which is classed as a torch 

 is the candlenut device. Meats of the candlenut are strung on a 

 strip of bamboo and the top meat being lighted burns down to the 

 next below, and, so on. On account of its universality among the 

 Polynesians the torch has been assigned as a characteristic culture 

 appanage of this race. It has, however, a wider distribution than the 

 Aleurites triloba^ the tree furnishing the nut. This is seen in a 



