FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTUEE 201 



literally a stick for the candle, consists of a bit of wood split at one 

 end, with the fish inserted in the cleft." ^^ 



Candlefish are taken thus by the native fishermen: "To catch 

 them the Indians use a monster comb or rake, a piece of pine wood 

 from 6 to 8 feet long, made round for about 2 feet of its length at 

 the place of the handgrip; the rest is flat, thick at the back, but thin- 

 ning to a sharp edge, into which are driven teeth about 4 inches long 

 and an inch apart. These teeth are usually made of bone, but when 

 the Indian fishers can get sharp-pointed iron nails they prefer them. 

 One Indian sits in the stern of each canoe to paddle it along, keeping 

 close to the shoal of fish ; another, having the rounder part of the rake 

 firmly fixed in both hands, stands with his face to the bow of the 

 canoe, the teeth pointing sternwards. He then sweeps it through 

 the glittering mass of fish, using all his force, and brings it to the 

 surface teeth upwards, usually with a fish impaled, sometimes with 

 three or four upon one tooth. The rake being brought into the canoe, 

 a sharp rap on the back of it knocks the fish off, and then another 

 sweep yields a similar catch. " ^' 



Bishop Bompas writes that: " In the forests of British Columbia 

 there is one sort of cedar so full of rosin that chips cut out of its green 

 wood in a storm will ignite and blaze at once on applying a match 

 to them. The oolakan or candlefish is also so full of oil that if lit 

 at the tail it will burn like a candle, "^^ 



The tail of the dogfish is cut into strips and burned for light by 

 fishermen on the Banks of Newfoundland. About 1880 the Penob- 

 scot Indians burnt as a torch the body of a fish of some species caught 

 in the Penobscot River, Maine. The Indians tlirust a porous root 

 into the fish as a wick.^^ 



The Algonkians and Abenakis made torches of combustible wood 

 or rolls of birch bark, or some other gummy tree.^*' 



Lafitau says, in speaking of the use of nuptial torches by the 

 ancients and Indians: "No one is ignorant of the fact that dur- 

 ing many centuries before they had begun to use wax and tallow 

 for light the common torches were pieces of very combustible wood 

 of pine or other kinds of wood like it, as in the East Indies the 

 bamboo, and in South and Central America the 'bois de 

 chandelle.'"^^ 



Archeological work in the caves of Kentucky brought to light 

 torches of cane charred from the effects of burning. The 

 Louisiana Indians tied dried reeds in bundles, stuck them in 



" J. K. Lord. The Naturalist in British Columbia, vol. 1, London, 1886, pp. 93-94. 



*'Idenn, vol. 1, pp. 90-91. 



" W. C. Bompas. Northern Lights, London, 1886, p. 33. 



" Information by Dr. C. A. Norton from personal observation. 



'0 Lafltau. Moeurs, vol. 2, Paris, 1724 p. 158. 



" Idem, vol. 1, p. 578. 



