244 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[November 1, 1900. 



this stone," said the aged chief Dontoh (affectionately 

 called by his people Pappa Dontoh), " and place it in 

 a bowl of boiling water, it will foretell, in a wonderful 

 manner, whether a woman in travail will be safely 

 delivered or not. If not, the thread will become loosened 

 and slip off the stone, if she will, it will remain intact." 

 Whether this property was inherent in all thunder- 

 bolts he seemed doubtful. Each had its own peculiari- 

 ties. He smiled at the suggestion that these thunder- 

 bolts were the work of man. " Did I not see it fall 

 with my own eyes from heaven? ' 



Specimen No. 24. — " It is not for me to inquire into 

 the ways of Oyankapon." said the chief of Tacorady, 

 " but anyone who says that these stones do not possess 

 wonderful power is a fool. Xow look at this one. I 

 found it and I know what it is good for. When I was 

 a young man I used to be a hunter. One day, when I 

 ha-d been veiy unsuccessful, and was resting under a 

 tree, a heavy thunderstorm came on, and I saw the fire 

 (lightning) strike the ground and dig it up. I went 

 and searched the place and found this stone. After 

 the rain was over I continued searching after game, and 

 shot many. Ever since, when I have taken out this 

 stone in my shot^bag, I have been successful. Now 

 does this not clearly prove that this stone's particular 

 virtue lies in discovering game." 



Specimen No. 18. — " My daughter is a grown woman 

 now," said chief Etrue, '' but when she was a little girl 

 this stone saved her life. She accompanied her mother 

 who had gone into the Denkera country to sell cloths. 

 Before entering the principal town she discovered a 

 thunder-bolt lying on the ground, and picked it up, 

 as a child always does, to make a plaything of. Her 

 mother was murdered in that country, but the child 

 escaped in a miraculous manner to tell the tale." 



Specimen No. 14. — " This stone has been in my 

 family for a long time, and has cured us of many com- 

 plaints," said another chief. " Once my little son was 

 suffering from weakness, and our native doctors couH 

 do nothing for him. Then an old woman told us to 

 soak the stone in water, and make the child drink the 

 water. In no time the little fellow regained his 

 strength." 



From a veiy brief account here given of the superstitions 

 attached to these stones, one would be led to believe 

 that the West African regards them as " fetich," as 

 objects of reverential awe — the conclusion Sir Alfred 

 Moloney came to — but such is not the case. Anyone 

 who has lived among the negroes of Central America 

 and the West Indies (who are the descendants of slaves 

 exported from West Africa), know the ideas prevalent 

 on the subject, viz., that they are lucky objects and 

 nothing more. In exactly similar a manner are they 

 regarded by West Africans. 



As a curious illustration relative to the subject, we 

 find that the name of the tutelary god of a large section 

 of the Gold Coast people, Busum, is aiiplied to anv 

 small object that takes their fancy, such as a particular 

 shaped cowrie, a pebble, a bean. This is carried about 

 by the individual, for luck, and in gambling he will 

 say. laying down his Busum before him, " Now I am 

 bound to win for there is my Busum." In the island of 

 Jamaica, the descendants of these same people have 

 cornipted the word into Buzo, and the Central American 

 negroes into Guzo. Now here is the name of their 

 sacred god, the god whose name they invoke when 

 taking a solemn oath, used for the idle pui-pose of a 

 charm. On investigation it will be found that, at all 



events amongst the Gold Coast natives, thunder-bolts 

 are similarly regarded as lucky objects, and nothing 

 more. This may be considered a fine distinction, but it 

 is the neglect to study these apparently unimportant 

 differences that so often causes us to run away with 

 absolutely wrong ideas of native thought and feeling ; 

 complex and involved as it is, we only make the task 

 more difficult. 



In conclusion, we will quote the words of an aged 

 chief, which conveys in no doubtful language the position 

 thunder-bolts play in their religious beliefs. He was 

 asked to explain why, if they believed these stones con- 

 tained miraculous properties, they parted with them. 

 " You may appreciate a thing very highly, yet, when 

 your friend asks it of you, you freely give it, with luck 

 you can get another. ' But, who in his senses would part 

 •frith his Souman (the household deity of the individual)? 

 The former anyone, with luck, can procure ; the latter, 

 never." 



PLANTS AND THEIR FOOD.-VI. 



By H. H. W. Pearsox, m.a. 



The remarkable association for mutual benefit which 

 exists between the root-organisms of leguminous plants 

 and the hosts whose roots they inhabit is not the omy 

 one of the kind which must be noticed in connection 

 with the food-supply. As was pointed out in the pre- 

 ceding article, our knowledge of the benefits accruing 

 to either member of the firm as a result of this partner- 

 ship is incomplete. This is also tnie of another associa- 

 tion between fungi and the roots of flowering plants, 

 which in this case do not belong to the family 

 Leguminosse. 



Many plants, including a large number of Orchids, 

 the Heaths which constitute the larger mass of the plants 

 population of our moors, as well as many familiar 

 British trees, possess few root-hairs or none at all, their 

 place being supplied by the fine thread-like filaments 

 of the fungus. This so-called " mycorhiza ' or " fungus- 

 root " is of two kinds. In many ground orchids and in 

 the members of the Heath family the fungus establishes 

 itself in the external cells of the root whence it sends 

 out into the soil free filaments which sei-ve the purpose 

 of root-hairs. In the Beech and related trees the con 

 uection between the fungus and the root is less intimate. 

 Here the filaments do not penetrate the outer cells of the 

 I'oot, but, instead, become closelj' interwoven forming 

 a mantle over the end of the root, investing it as the 

 finger of a glove invests its occupant. From this mantle 

 proceed numerous filaments which force themselves 

 among the soil-pai-ticles after the manner of root-hairs. 

 In most cases little is known of the fungi which enter 

 into such unions with the roots of higher plants. In 

 some, notably in that of the Pine, the mycorhizal 

 filaments belong to the fungus whose fi-uits are so 

 well known under the name of " truffles." In this 

 association of fungi with the roots of higher plants the 

 benefit is mutual. When the filaments penetrate the 

 living cjlls of the roots they undoubtedly receive there- 

 from organic substances which the fungiis, being desti- 

 tute of chlorophyll, is unable to build up for itself.* 

 In return, it to some extent saves its host the necessity 

 of forming root-haii-s whose duties are performed by its 

 loose ends. Whether the mycorhiza which simply 



* Kn'OWJ.eioe, Mai'tli, 1900, pp. 55 and 57. 



