I 



FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 59 



became elaborated and reached in various lines towards radio. 

 People of as low grade as the Tasmanians were very skillful in smoke 

 signaling.^" 



Xenophon speaks of the signal fires among the Carduchi Kurds." 

 Herrera, speaking of the conquest of Cortez, says that the Mexicans 

 discovered the Spanish army from the top of the hills, and firing the 

 beacons to give the alarm, 100,000 men drew together.^^ 



The Apaches of southern Arizona were accustomed to signal at 

 night by setting fire to the stems of large plants. The dry stems 

 burn readily, the flame spreading like a flash." Special day smoke 

 signals are also used by the Apache. A special signal demanded by 

 the law of the Iroquois League was required of a messenger approach- 

 ing a village at night. He should build a little fire or carry a torch 

 so that there should be no doubt as to his peaceful intent.^* 



While smoke and fire signals were generally used in America 

 and other parts of the world, the Plains Indians had developed an 

 elaborate code by interrupting the smoke column or obscuring the 

 fire at intervals by night. The code has been fully described by 

 Col. Garrick Mallery.^^ 



The Eskimo of Kadiak Island have a curious custom. There is a 

 place at each village where visitors stop to signal the village. As 

 they wait they work on an unfinished lamp which is always there 

 and such lamps become the property of the brides of the village. ^^ 



There has been an astonishing growth in the usefulness of light in 

 the direction of signals, until there is now what may be called a lan- 

 guage of light. Most of this growth belongs to the present age, 

 where culminations in technical lines fiu-nish the basis for endless 

 experiment with all classes of mechanisms and materials. 



Aside from the tribal fire signals, by which various intelligence 

 was conveyed, the chief use of this method was for lighthouses. 

 These were, in Europe, at first beacons of wood placed on headlands 

 and lighted when shipping was expected. With increased commerce 

 established, beacons were organized in order to give continuous 

 night service. This was difficult with wood and coal employed. 

 The subsequent history of the lighthouse in Europe deals with the 

 application of science to produce finally the great system of marine 

 light signals now in use. 



^"H. Ling Roth. Aborigines of Tasmania, Halifax, (England), 1899, p. 84. 



'•Anabassi, book 4, ch. 1, sec. 2. 



"General History of America, vol. 3, p. 124, London, 1725. He also says that the Otomies used 

 signal fires, vol. 2, p. 253. 



"Information by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka. 



"Information by J. N. B. Hewitt. 



w Sign Language Among the North American Indians, 1st Ann. Rept., Amer. Bur. Ethnol. 1879-80, 

 pp. 536-541. 



M Information by Miss Alice C. Fletcher. 



102837—26 ^6 



