98 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



in impregnation by the sun ; and though we cannot 

 be said at present to have actual proof of it, the 

 wedding ceremonies I have cited greatly strengthen 

 the presumption. 1 



The belief in conception by the moon is rare. It 

 was perhaps the belief, as we have seen, in ancient 

 Egypt with regard to the bull-god Apis. It is still 

 found in Brittany. 2 The Ja-Luo of Eastern Uganda 

 hold that '"a woman can only become pregnant at the 

 time of the new moon, and generally that the moon 

 has a great deal to do with the occurrence." 3 In some 

 of the East Indian islands a star is credited, as in 

 several stories, with it. In Arnbon and Uliase albinos 

 are attributed to conception by a falling star ; by the 

 people of Seranglao and Gorong the morning star 

 is accused as the cause. 4 



Fire, in various parts of Europe, is believed to 

 cause conception. About Ranggen in the Tirol a barren 

 woman is advised to creep into a baking oven while 

 it is still warm. 5 Dr. Frazer has pointed out that the 

 custom of leaping over bonfires has this among other 

 things for its object. At Cobern, in the Eifel, an 



1 One difficulty in the way of identifying the immurement in the 

 stories as an echo of the puberty rites is the fact that in many, if 

 not most, of the tales the child is immured from infancy. This is 

 probably a mere exaggeration. On the other hand, such cases are 

 not unknown in savage life, as among certain branches of the 

 Iroquois, when a child (boy or girl) is closely secluded from every 

 one except the appointed guardian, and only allowed out of his place 

 of concealment at night. This seclusion lasts until puberty. It is 

 generally occasioned, as in the stories, by some omen or prodigy 

 accompanying birth ; and the child is regarded as possessed of 

 magical power (Rep. Bur. Ethn. xxi. 142, 255). 



2 Luzel, Rev. Celt. iii. 452 ; Rev. Trad. Pop. xv. 471. 



3 J. A. I. xxxiii. 358. 4 Riedel, 75, 176. 

 6 Zingerle, Sitten, 26 (No. 152). 



