CH. X MYTHOLOGY OF THE MINAHA8SEB8 239 



use and even meaning of the stone implements which were 

 actually used by their ancestors only three generations ago, 

 and Professor Haddon (30) has recently called attention to 

 the remarkably rapid pace at which the natives of Torres 

 Straits are losing all acquaintance with their former cus- 

 toms and weapons. 



We have an example of this forgetfulness of the natives 

 of the weapons of their ancestors in the so-called lightning 

 stones (watu-ing kilat) of the Minahassers. These are un- 

 doubtedly stone implements that must have been used by 

 former inhabitants of the country, but are now said to 

 be found in bamboos which have been split by hghtning. 

 In some districts they are wrapped up in dry leaves and 

 placed in a pot of water to cause rain (66), but by the 

 Tombulus and Mongondus they are used as preventives 

 against lightning (55). This shows conclusively that the 

 Minahassers have so forgotten the use of these stone imple- 

 ments as actually to attribute to them a supernatural 

 origin. We are, it is true, not perfectly certain that the 

 ancestors of the natives now living in this peninsula ever 

 used stone implements. It is more than probable that the 

 stone men did not inherit the iron weapons, but were 

 defeated, and possibly destroyed, by them ; but, nevertheless, 

 the Malay who conquered must have also seen and probably 

 felt the use of the stone weapons, and it really is remarkable 

 that he left no record of them in the stories or romances 

 he handed down to his descendants. 



Not the least interesting of the many queer things 

 which seem to cast a halo of interest around the old stone 

 implements is the fact that so many races have considered 

 them to be in some way or another connected with the 

 thunderstorm. 



Here in Miaahassa we find them called lightning stones ; 

 in England, even to the present day, there are many good 



