FIRE. 
369 
of that luminary, then at sun down he offered his sacrifice, 
and called upon the Lord to answer it by fire, showing that 
he did not depend in the least on natural means, but solely 
on the power of Jehovah. 
It is deeply interesting to find that the name by which that 
spot is still known in Palestine is Mohrakaha, the place of 
the burning,* and it is still more so to find that it has pre- 
cisely the same meaning in Maori, Mo ra ha ha, being literally 
in that language, for the sun to consume with his breath ; 
another word used in scripture seems to bear on the above, 
Raca, which our Saviour says it is wicked to use is in 
fact a great heathen curse, Raka being in Maori, may the 
sun smite thee, or may Baal burn thee up or consume thee.-” 
A curse which, in New Zealand, would once have endangered 
the life of the person who uttered it. 
Baal fires are still kindled. Reiske saw them in Germany 
200 years ago ; he says : “ When a murrain has broken out 
among the great and small cattle, and the herds have suf- 
fered much harm, the farmers make a c need fire 3 on an 
appointed day, all other fires are extinguished in the village, 
from each house fuel is fetched. A stout oak post is driven 
into the ground, and a hole bored through it ; in this a 
wooden windlass is stuck, well smeared with pitch and tar, 
and turned round so long that at last it catches fire ; this 
is communicated to the other materials, a f need fire ’ is made, 
and the cattle are driven between two fires thus kindled.” 
The Baal or beltane fires are still kindled on every hill top in 
some parts of Brittany and Ireland ; the people dance madly 
round, then leap through them, and snatching flaming brands 
wave the fire over their bodies exactly as in the pagan 
mysteries.f 
The pretended miraculous kindling of the holy fire, from 
the reputed sepulchre of our Lord at Jerusalem, when the 
Greek patriarch conveys it to those near him, they to others, 
* J. Macgregor of the “ Rob Roy.” — Visit to Palestine. 
f The celebrated round towers of Ireland, called Turagan, seem likewise tc 
indicate Baal worship. Tur tower, agan aghni (Sanscrit) ahi (Maori) fire. 
B B 
