125 
No. LXXVIL—FIRE. By E. B. TYLOB, Esq., F.B.S. 
As a general rule, all tribes botli preserve and produce fire. 
There are statements as to fireless tribes which should be care- 
fully examined when met with $ most of them have broken 
down under close inspection. The history of the practical art 
of fire-making is interesting; and the place of fire in social and 
religious ceremony gives valuable information as to the consti¬ 
tution of family and tribal life, the idea of moral purity, and 
several points of theology. 
1. By what means is fire produced ? 2. If by friction of wood, 
what is the exact instrument used, whether the stick-and-groove, 
the simple fire-drill twisted between the hands, or some im¬ 
proved form P 3. Is this ruder instrument still kept up in re¬ 
ligious ceremonies ? 4. If the fire is made by striking flint on 
pyrites or iron, is it remembered if this art was learnt from 
foreigners ? 5. Are any other instruments used, such as the fire- 
syringe, burning-lens, &c. ? 6. How is fire kept up and carried 
a-bout ? 7. What fuel is used ? 8. Are there legends of the 
discovery of fire or invention of fire-making P 9. If so, do they 
seem myths personifying the fire or the fire-drill itself? 
10. Is the household fire symbolic of family ties ? 11. Is it 
held sacred, placed in charge of any particular person ? is there 
any family worship connected with it ? and by whom performed ? 
12. Is there a council-fire or other fires on special occasions or 
in special buildings ? 
13. Is a sacred fire kept up, or kindled on special festivals ? and 
is its extinction unlucky? 14. Has such fire particular reference 
to the course of the sun, the solstices, year, seasons, &c. ? 
15. Are the fires put out and kindled from newly produced fire on 
such occasions, and by whom ? and is the new fire made by fric¬ 
tion of wood, or otherwise ? 16. Is the kindling of the new fire 
a religious ceremony ? and what is its meaning ? 
17. How is fire regarded in religion P 18. Is there any cus¬ 
tom against wounding or polluting fire ? 19. Are sacrifices given 
to it or consumed by it ? 20. Is the fire itself a living divinity 
receiving worship and devouring the offered food ? or does it act 
as a means of conveying sacrifice to deities and the dead, at fune¬ 
rals ? and how ? 21. Is there a fire-god to whom all particular 
fires belong ? 22. Is fire a means of driving away evil demons ? 
23. Is fire a means of purification from uncleanness, blood, 
death, moral guilt, &c. ? and how is it applied ? 24. Is new fire 
made for such purification ? 25. Is its making in any way 
connected with moral, especially sexual, purity ? 
