FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 151 



a heap in the open air; hghtning would surely strike the village were 

 any such imprudence committed. It is a taboo." ^* 



The Botocudos Indians of the Rio Doce, Brazil, have a curious 

 custom. "During a thunderstorm they shake a burning brand and 

 shoot arrows toward the sky to appease, by imitation, the powers of 

 the storm." ^^ Might the classic story of Ajax defying the lightning 

 have such an interpretation? 



More reliance is placed on charms in most parts of the World. In 

 Japan salt is a charm against lightning. Visible tokens or fetishes 

 are most common, and some of these incorporate several protective 

 ideas. Thunderstones are widely believed to be a protection. Some 

 years ago Dr. Edwin Kirk secured rubbings of supposed coins or 

 medals found by a miner in the interior of Alaska. The rubbings 

 were sent to the distinguished oriental scholar, Dr. Berthold Laufer, 

 of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. An 

 extract from his letter foUows: 



"In regard to the two Chinese objects found in Alaska, they re- 

 present amulets in the form of coins, which are worn for personal 

 protection. One, which I numbered A on your rubbing, shows on 

 the obverse the 12 animals of the zodiac, accompanied by their names 

 in Chinese, which are identical with the designations of the duode- 

 nary cycle. The reverse shows the eight pa-kua or trigrams anciently 

 used in divination, each provided with its Chinese name. The same 

 design occurs on the reverse of the other charm, which I designated 

 B. This charm, as shown by the inscription on the obverse, was in- 

 tended as a protection for the owner from lightning strokes. These 

 charms emanate from the notions of Taoist religion and are supposed 

 to have been written by Lao Kun, the founder of Taoism, who ad- 

 dresses the god of lightning that he should only hit the demons and 

 spare the wearer of the charm. An original of this charm is in the 

 collection of this museum. A great number of such charms are 

 illustrated and described in the new book of H. Dore, Superstitions of 

 China, published in French and English by the Jesuits of Sikhawei. 

 If you should desire more information on this subject, please let me 

 know and I shall be glad to respond. Both charms were cast under 

 the Manchu dynasty, but it is impossible to assign to them a fixed 

 date." 



The Hopi Indians tie two stone arrowheads to a little amulet of 

 fiber and use it as a charm against lightning.^" The arrowhead prob- 

 ably stands for the celt or thunderbolt. 



«8 The Life of a South African Tribe, vol. 2, p. 17. 

 » D. Q. Brinton. The American Race, New Yorlc, 1891, p. 238. 



«i> Walter Hough. The Hopi Indian Collections in the U. S. National Museum, Proc. U. S. Nat- 

 Mus., vol. 54, p. 288. 



