FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 77 



areas, also, gives evidence that tliis feature of the use of fire was 

 known in very early times. The method may be of extreme sim- 

 plicity or as complex as the Roman thermae or our modern Turkish 

 bath, attended with every luxury. 



The American Indians pretty generally emploj^ed the vapor and 

 hot-air bath. The vapor bath was most common, the hot-air bath 

 being employed by the Eskimo and in California by all the tribes 

 except those in the extreme northeast. The sweat lodge or house 

 was constructed with great care and with religious observances. 

 Sometimes they were of flimsy construction of slender poles covered 

 with skins or blankets, or regular structures covered with sod or 

 earth. Often they were large and formed a meeting place, as the 

 Pueblo kiva. The kiva however, named by the Spanish estufa under 

 a misapprehension of its character, was not used for the vapor bath. 

 The same may be true for other lodges devoted to social and religious 

 life by some tribes. 



The Pueblos in general did not use the vapor bath, but in some 

 cases may have employed the hot-air bath. The method of supply- 

 ing the vapor was the same in all cases. Stones were heated in a 

 fire and removed with sticks or tongs (see handhng) to a small pit 

 inside the entrance of the sweat house. Water was poiu^ed on the 

 stones and the orifice or door closed. Generally more than one per- 

 son occupied the sweat house. After the sweat bath, if a stream 

 were available a plunge was taken. 



A form of sweat bath in which the patient is covered with heated 

 earth is mentioned by Charlevoix. 



The temezcal or vapor bath of the Mexicans was apparently more 

 scientifically constructed than those of any other peoples of the New 

 World. As pictm'ed in the codices and described by the earlier 

 writers on Mexico the temezcal was a rectangular structure of stone 

 having a low door with ventilating apertures placed on either side of 

 it. Built against one end was a rounded oven having a smoke hole 

 in the apex, a fire door and a flue leading into the adjoining chamber. 



The temezcal was dedicated to a divinity and the curative effects 

 of the bath ascribed to supernatural powers. Various infirmities 

 were treated. The bath was pubUc and free, those using it bringing 

 some small offering of wood or pulque. Under Spanish influence 

 temezcals assumed a beehive shape, but examples of the ancient type 

 are still found in use, notably at San Juan del Pyramids.^- 



The southern Alaskan Eskimo, in common with the Indians, make 

 use of the sweating bath, the large conical houses commonly serving 

 for the purpose. It is not known how far beyond the shores of Ber- 



"The above data was secured from an excellent article by Jose Maria Arreola, publisheii in Ethnos, 

 vol. 1, No. 1, Mexico, 1020, p. 28. 



