66 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



"frequently cut gashes in the trunk (of the mango tree) and build 

 fires beneath the limbs, thinking that the tree will be induced there- 

 by to produce a good crop."^" 



The Panamiut Indians (Shoshonean stock) of Inyo County, Cali- 

 fornia, harvest piny on nuts by means of fire. They pile the cones 

 up in a mound and put brush on the outside and set fire to it. The 

 cones are pitchy and burn freely, and during the process the nuts 

 roast and come out of the cones and fall to the bottom of the pile, 

 where they are gathered. Subsequently they may be better roasted. 

 Circles of stones, which a^-e the fireplaces for this harvesting, are 

 found in the pinyon groves. ^^ It will be surmised that these trees 

 are in a sense cultivated through the physical effects on the soil 

 about them of the visitors. In some cases obstructions are cleared 

 away in making a camp, and in other respects the tree is benefited. 



In British Central Africa, in the Shire River region, fires are nec- 

 essary to clear away the bush (grass), which would become an 

 impassable jungle otherwise. These fires, set by the natives, have 

 been observed in parts of Africa from the early ages by travelers. 

 The ground is cleared for garden plots. Frequently the fire jets out 

 and rages over vast tracts of territory. ^^ 



A similar process is observed among the Cocopa Indians on the 

 Lower Colorado River. An important article of food of these Indians 

 is grass seed. After harvest the Indians burn off the dry grass to 

 clear the land of rubbish, so that when the new grass springs up the 

 harvest may be facilitated. The Indians believe that the grass is 

 benefited by burning, and their idea appears to be good This is a 

 case of unintentional fertilization. It also may be seen that a con- 

 tinuation of this process may work a change in the habits of the grass, 

 leading in some respects to its domestication. 



Forest clearing by fire is repeated in many parts of the world. 

 This is a characteristic method of early agriculture of limited extent 

 not furnishing a complete basis of subsistence. An example is seen 

 in the fire clearing for manioc plantation by the Roucouyenne In- 

 dians of French Guiana. The natives cut the trees at the approach 

 of the dry season, and later burn them.^^ 



The Natchez Indians cut down canes to make a field. When the 

 canes were dry they set fire to them.^" On this precarious method 

 of Agriculture the Maya cities of Central America flourished. Their 

 decay and changes of base have been attributed to the rapid growth 

 of grass on the cleared ground, preventing work with crude native 

 tools, and the necessity of going farther and farther from the cities 



88 W. E. Safford. Useful Plants of Guam, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., vol. 9, 1905, p. 315. 



M Information by Dr. Edwin Kirk. Nov. 18, 1912. 



«8 A. Werner. The Natives of British Central Africa, London, 1906, pp. 9-12. 



«9Le Tour du Monde, vol. 40, p. 1021s vol. 44, p. 87. 



»« Du Pratz. Histoire de la Louisiane, quoted by J. R. Swanton in Bull. 43, Bur. Amer. Ethnol., p. 76. 



