60 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It is said that the Mexicans had lighthouses on the lake erected 

 on towers and heights. The one on Mount Tocitlan was a wooden 

 structure to hold the flaming beacon." 



In the ancient centers of commerce the problems of light signals 

 for mariners was met and famous lighthouses erected at important 

 coast points, as the Pharos of Rhodes, of Alexandria, etc. The 

 Romans built lighthouses around the coasts controlled by them. 

 One of these ancient structures is now within the limits of Dover 

 Castle, England .^^ It is also stated that lightships were used by the 

 ancients. 



In the days of the Vikings night beacons, wood fires, were built 

 on hill tops or rocks at times when ships were expected to return. 

 Then came the coal-fire beacon, of which the earliest known is in 

 Sweden and was built in 1202. The coal was burnt in an iron basket 

 hoisted high by means of a long lever. The first continuously 

 tended light in Sweden was in 1635.^^ 



The ancient Persians built structures which were called fire towers. 

 One of these, of quadrangular shape and having ramps running diag- 

 onally around the four sides to the top, is figured in restoration by 

 Babelon.^" These towers were connected with fire worship, and may 

 be regarded as high altars. Altars in high places, as have been dis- 

 covered at Petra and other places in Asia Minor and S}Tia, were 

 beacons at the time of sacrifices. The same may be said of the fires on 

 the summit of the Mexican teocalis. It is possible that fight towers, 

 which have been called lighthouses, have a more particular signifi- 

 cance in cult. 



Signaling by beacons is of almost world-wide occurrence. Beacons 

 are lighted on special occasions, as the Eve of St. John, or the like, 

 and serve to represent survivals from pagan fire observances. They 

 were lighted in time of war to convey information as to the enemy, 

 or in rejoicings for victory. One of the forerunners of the telegraph 

 relied on fire signals at night. To this day the Weather Bureau uses 

 lanterns for warning of the approach of storms. 



The complexity of light signals used by railroads and in maritime 

 commerce is enormous. The utility of glass and the skill in making 

 it in various colors have contributed largely to the variation of light 

 signals. 



FIRE HUNTING 



Before the finesse of trap or snare hunting appears to have been 

 carried on by stalking and driving, where the quarry was surrounded 

 and driven by bodies of men pursuing methods not greatly in advance 



" H. H. Bancroft. Native Races, vol. 2, 1875, p. 567. 

 ^'Harper's Diet. Class. Lit. and Antiq., p. 1225. 

 M Science Service. Science, vol. 58, July 6, 1923, p. vii. 

 •'Manual of Oriental Antiquities, London, 1839, p. 173. 



