82 BULLETIN 139^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Among the rare combats engaged in by the Hopi Pueblo Indians 

 was the destruction of Awatobi in 1700. The attackers here, know- 

 ing that most of the warriors and important men would be holding 

 a ceremony in an underground room, entered by a hatchway, threw 

 down into tliis room lighted wood and red peppers, with the complete 

 results anticipated.^^ 



FIRE ALARMS AND PREVENTION 



Naturally in the ages during which man has been in close compan- 

 ionship with fire some methods of protection and prevention would 

 be invented. The benefits and disadvantages of fire are set against 

 each other here. From the first times to now fire has played the part 

 of a destroyer, and while man has bewailed his loss and described it 

 in money and other terms, no one has said anything against fire. 

 This psychology is so implanted that fire has never been subject to 

 radical doctrines. 



There are many signals and alarms to announce conflagrations, and 

 traces of organizations to fight fires, showing early cooperations. 

 Methods of placing buildings also and character of structures have 

 developed. Architecture itself has been influenced by needs of fire 

 prevention. 



The Orokos of Yezo, Japan, have a fire alarm consisting of two 

 small oval pieces of wood on the same principle as castanets, which 

 are clapped together to announce fire.'^^ 



"Each hut generally has a small plot of land to itself. This is done 

 as a protection against fire, of which the Ainu are very much afraid. 

 In fact, the Japanese affirm that the Ainu fear a fire and the fire god- 

 dess so much that if a house once takes fire they will not even attempt 

 either to extinguish it or save any of their property. They will not 

 be so foolish as to rob the fire goddess of that which she desires to 

 have. This, however, the Ainu deny. The Japanese have made a 

 mistake, and the fact is that when an Ainu hut once catches fire there 

 is no time to save anything, for the thatch naturally burns very rap- 

 idly indeed. 



"I have seen two huts on fire, and they were both burnt down in less 

 than 15 minutes. In one case a few things were saved, but in the 

 other the household only managed to save themselves and the clothes 

 they had on. The Ainu are not so senseless as to attempt the 

 impossible — that is, to put out the flames of a burning hut — but 

 they do all they can to save their treasures, especially their heir- 

 looms, and to prevent the fire from spreading. The Ainu call or 

 alarm of fire is a shriU, weird, unearthly noise, somewhat resembling 



f^ J. Walter Fewkcs. Awatobi: An Archeologlcal Verification of a Tusayan Tradition, Amer. An- 

 throp., vol. 6, October, 1893, p. 363. 

 '' Edward Qreey. The Bear Worshippers of Yezo, Boston, 1884, p. 261. 



