FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTUKE 



27 



supposed to be vSpanish early sixteenth century. It was obviously 

 not used for personal warming, but would serve for cooking and for 

 warming water. The illustration shows tw^o small holes cut in the 

 wall of the vessel. ^ 



In Mexico particularly the brazier reached a marked development 

 unaffected b}'' European influences. 



In speaking of the clan house, Fiske states: "A lighted brazier 

 stood in the middle, and before tasting the food each person threw a 

 morsel into the brazier as an offering to the lire god""" (pi. 8, fig.l). 



Simple pottery braziers are still continued in use in Mexico. In a 

 cliff dwelling of Arizona the writer discovered a coiled pottery bowl 

 containing ashes and charcoal which was evidently a brazier"'' (fig. 1). 



The fire pots and brazierlike fire containers which may be for 

 either warming or cooking are considered simple stoves. They pos- 

 sess the essential feature of 



stoves, namely, the fire. Gen- > 



erally charcoal is the fuel burnt 

 in them. They are in most 

 cases baked earthenware, and 

 the form is subject to individ- 

 ual and racial craftsmanship 

 (pi. 8, fig. 3). 



The Phihppine pottery bra- 

 zier is a graceful vessel with 

 flaring rim and narrow foot, 

 polished and decorated with 

 stamp designs. It has several 

 small round holes a short dis- 

 tance above the base, showing that some of the requirements for 

 draught have been observed. This brazier was made and used by 

 the Tagals of Union Luzon. 



Accompanying the use of tea and tobacco are numerous minor uses 

 of fire, which take their origin from the boxed-in fire and brazier. 

 These have their highest expression in Japan, where art in utility is 

 a characteristic. These consist in the simplest form of a tray of 

 natural fine-gi-ain wood having gi-asping openings on two sides. In 

 this is placed a porcelain bowl half filled with white ashes, forming a 

 bed on which the charcoal is placed. This form is really a small 

 hibachi. Another form is a wooden box with handle having compart- 

 ments for the fire, pipes, etc., and drawers for the tobacco. This 

 outfit is designed to be carried about for the smoker's convenience. 



* C. C. Willoughby. Indian Burial Place at Winthrop, Massachusetts, Papers Peabody Mus. Amer. 

 Arch., vol. 11, No. 1, 1924, p. 22. 



"John Fiske. The Discovery of America, vol. 2, 1892, p. 267. 



" Culture of the Ancient Pueblos of the Upper Qila River Region, New Mexico and Arizona. Second 

 Museum-Qates Expedition, Bull. 87, U. S. Nat. Mus., Washington, 1914, p. 3. 



102837— 2G 4 



Fig. 1.— Pottery brazier, containing charcoal 

 and ashes. cliff dwelling, tularosa river, 

 New Mexico 



