FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 145 



two ideas of propitiation and veneration also enter into the attitude, 

 A theory of the origin which is a causational myth attributing Hght- 

 ning to some intangible beings and the stroke to some material object 

 as a celt, is worked out. Fetishes and formulas for individual and 

 general protection and rituals for removing the bad consequences in a 

 superstitious sense originate in great number and variety. As to the 

 beliefs and customs of early man with respect to lightning there can 

 be only conjecture, and suggestions on these points may be advanced 

 by observations on the unci^'ilized races. It is believed that light- 

 ning was more common in the glacial period than now. If this be 

 so it is evident that there is a great heritage of fear of lightning in 

 the race. 



The customs in regai'd to the actual stroke of lightning are very 

 interesting and point to several lines of study in the research on 

 fire. 



Lightning taboo is observed among the Apache Indians, who will 

 not eat an animal that has been struck by lightning.'^ 



Capt. John G. Bourke says that the Apache made talismans of 

 lightning-struck pine, cedar, or fir from the mountain tops. Also, a 

 phylactery examined by him had a small cross of lightning-riven pine. 

 It was called "intchi-dijin," the black wind.^'' Captain Bourke "was 

 led to believe that the rhombus of the Apache was made by the 

 medicine men from wood, generally pine or fir, which had been struck 

 by lightning on the mountain tops. Such wood is held in the highest 

 estimation among them, and is used for the manufacture of amulets 

 of especial efficacy."" 



For the [Zuni] scalp ceremonial they (the images) must be made 

 from ashekia {Pinm ponderosa) that has been struck 1)y lightning.''^* 



The Omaha say when lightning hits a tree, "the thunderbird has 

 lit on the tree." The symbohsm of lightning lines drawn down the 

 arm was known to the Omaha. The initiation of a boy into the tribe 

 was by a ceremony. A ball of grass was hurled to the ground at the 

 close of the ceremony and made to burst into flames, symbolic of 

 lightning. These Indians conceived lightning as feeding on green 

 wood and leaving a worm at the root.^® 



The Cherokees think mysterious properties attach to the wood of 

 a tree which has been struck by lightning, especially when the tree 

 itself still lives, and such wood enters largely into the secret com- 

 pounds of the conjurers. An ordinary person of the laity will not 

 touch it for fear of having cracks come upon his hands and feet, nor 



«5E. Palmer. Amer. Nat., vol. 12, 1878, p. 312. 

 » 9th Ann. Rept., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1892, pp. 587, 591. 



" J. O. Bourke. Medicine-men of the Apache, 9th Ann. Rept., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1892, p. 478. 

 '•8 Mrs. M. C. Stevenson. The Zuni Indians, 23rd Ann. Rept., Bur. Amer. Ethuol., 1904, p. 113. 

 '• Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flc.schc. The Omaha Tribe, 27lh Ann. Rept., Bur. Amer. 

 Kthno)., 1911, pp. 457, 127, 188. 



