FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 183 



As a form of exorcism the Japanese had a custom of striking sparks 

 from flint to the compass points to ward off evil influences. A Bush- 

 man exorcism to get rid of the evil influence of bad dreams is as 

 follows : 



"My mother used to do in tliis manner when she intended to go 

 out to seek for food; when she was about to start she took a stone, 

 and as she plunged the stone into the ashes of the fire she exclaimed 

 'Rider (?) yonder!' while she wishes that the evil things about which 

 she had been dreaming should altogether remain in the fire instead 

 of going out with her. For if she did not act in this manner, they 

 would go out with her."^* 



A Finnish exorcistic vapor formula from the Loitsur (p. 136) is a 

 curious example showing the extent to which the superstition may 

 be carried : 



"O Steam be kind, be moderate Heat, 

 Fall, Noxious Vapor, to the ground. 

 O Evil Vapor flee away 

 Out through the keyhole of the door 

 Or into the stones of the stove, inside 

 The moss that stops the crevices, 

 Or into the yard through a pipe, or through 

 The door, thou Vapor reeking of the bath."^^ 



An example of exorcism by lamp flame from Merket, Turkistan, 

 is given by Sven Hedin : 



"The exorcisers enter the sick room and gaze attentively into the 

 flame of the oil lamp, where they say they can see that the women 

 is possessed of an evil spirit." ^^ 



Lafcadio Hearn says that in Japan fox possession is driven away 

 by burning the patient." 



In the same country charms against fire consists of strips of white 

 paper with text and picture of a black and a white fox.^^ Charcoal 

 is also a protection against evil spirits. 



Some curious Hindu superstitions from the central Provinces are 

 given by M. R. Pedlow in the Indian Antiquary for February, 1900. 



" To guard children against the evil eye their mothers disfigure 

 them by applying lampblack to the eyes or make black spots on 

 their forhead, cheek, or chin; but girls are usually tattooed, not 

 marked in this way. 



"When children are attacked by the evil eye they show it by their 

 appetite falling off. To remedy this the mother takes salt, dried 



" Specimens of Bushman Folklore, Collected by W. H. I. Bleek, Ph. D., and L. C. Lloyd. London, 

 1911, p. 365. 



» Hon. John Abercromby. The Magic Poetry of the Finns, Internat. Folk-Lore Cong, of World's 

 Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1898, p. 31. 



"Sven Hedin. Through Asia, New York, 1899, vol. 1, p. 473. 



" Lafcadio Hearn. Unfamiliar Japan, New York, 1894, p. 325. 



•• Idem, p. 152. 



