SECT. V.] HISTORICAL ANALOGIES. 257 



the very same kind of bellows is in use in Sumatra, 1 in the Lutu 

 islands (Wilkes), in Borneo, among the Dajaks, 2 in Mindanao, 3 

 in Timor, 4 and in Dory in New Guinea. 5 How little resemblances 

 of domestic arrangements signify by themselves, is shown by 

 King, 6 who during his survey of York Sound on the Eoe river 

 in Australia, did not find two huts built perfectly alike ; and 

 Simpson, 7 who saw in a camp of Flat-heads in North America, 

 tents of every possible construction. The same mode of pro- 

 curing fire, by whirling a thin piece of wood in the hole of a larger 

 piece, prevails in Australia, North and South America, among the 

 Kaffirs and Bushmen, 8 also in the Carolines and Aleutes ; whilst 

 in Kadak, and in the Sandwich Islands, a small piece of wood 

 is placed in the groove of a larger piece, at an angle of 30, 

 and rubbed against it. 9 The Algonquins, in North Ame- 

 rica, strike fire by means of two stones. 10 The remarkable 

 custom which Xenophon ascribes to the Tibarenes in Asia 

 Minor, that at the birth of a child the father goes to bed and 

 is attended to, is of such a kind that, if it be found among 

 different nations, one would, on account of its singularity, feel 

 inclined to assume that an intercommunication must have 

 taken place. This, however, becomes impossible, when we 

 learn that the custom prevails, not merely in West Yunnan 

 (M. Polo), in Bouro, 11 but also in Africa, in Cassange, 12 among 

 the Basques in Biscaya, 13 and most frequently in South America, 14 



1 Marsden, " Sumatra," p. 347, Berlin, 1788. 



2 Brook, in Keppel, " Expedition to Borneo," p. 75, 1846. 



3 Dampier, " Nouv. voy. autour du monde," ii, p. 9, Amsterdam, 1701. 



4 Peron, " Voyage de decouv. aux ter. Aust.," 2nd edit., atlas, pi. 46, 1824. 



5 W. Earl, " Native races of the Indian Archipelago," p. 76, 1853. 



6 " Narrative of a survey of the coasts of Austr.," i, p. 431, 1827. 



7 " Narrative of a journey round the world," i, p. 143, 1847. 



8 Alberti, " Desc. phys. et hist, des Caffres," p. 36, Amst., 1811 ; Campbell, 

 " Eeise in Sud-Afr.," p. 37, Weimar, 1823 ; Barrow, " Eeise durch d. inneren 

 G. des Siidl. Afr.," i, p. 281, 1801. 



9 Chamisso, " Entdeckungsreise," p. 154. 



10 Lafitau, " Moeurs des Sauvages Americains," ii, p. 242, 1724. 



11 Ausland, p. 1046, 1855. 



12 Zuchelli, " Miss. u. Keisebesch. nach Congo," p. 166, 1715, 



13 Eougemont, " Le peuple primitif," ii, p. 420, 1855. 



11 The unanimity of travellers forbids our considering this custom as a 

 fiction. The caiise seems to be a peculiar superstition. Among the Caribs 

 it is said to rest upon this, that the husband is not allowed, at the birth of 

 a child, to kill any large but only small game, as birds, etc., perhaps, in 

 order that the wife might not be obliged to overtask her powers in the 



