§ 1. the public magician

the patient reader may remember that we were led to plunge into the labyrinth of magic, in which we have wandered for so many pages, by a consideration of two different types of man-god. this is the clue which has guided our devious steps through the maze, and brought us out at last on higher ground, whence, resting a little by the way, we can look back over the path we have already traversed and forward to the longer and steeper road we have still to climb.

two types of man-god, the religious and the magical.

as a result of the foregoing discussion, the two types of human gods may conveniently be distinguished as the religious and the magical man-god respectively. in the former, a being of an order different from and superior to man is supposed to become incarnate, for a longer or a shorter time, in a human body, manifesting his superhuman power and knowledge by miracles wrought and prophecies uttered through the medium of the fleshly tabernacle in which he has deigned to take up his abode. this may also appropriately be called the inspired or incarnate type of man-god. in it the human body is merely a frail earthly vessel filled with a divine and immortal spirit. on the other hand, a man-god of the magical sort is nothing but a man who possesses in an unusually high degree powers which most of his fellows arrogate to themselves on a smaller scale; for in rude society there is hardly a person who does not dabble in magic. thus, whereas a man-god of the former or inspired type derives his divinity from a deity who has stooped to hide his heavenly radiance behind a dull mask of earthly mould, a {p245} man-god of the latter type draws his extraordinary power from a certain physical sympathy with nature. he is not merely the receptacle of a divine spirit. his whole being, body and soul, is so delicately attuned to the harmony of the world that a touch of his hand or a turn of his head may send a thrill vibrating through the universal framework of things; and conversely his divine organism is acutely sensitive to such slight changes of environment as would leave ordinary mortals wholly unaffected. but the line between these two types of man-god, however sharply we may draw it in theory, is seldom to be traced with precision in practice, and in what follows i shall not insist on it.

public and private magic: the public magician often a king.

we have seen that in practice the magic art may be employed for the benefit either of individuals or of the whole community, and that according as it is directed to one or other of these two objects it may be called private or public magic.?[847] further, i pointed out that the public magician occupies a position of great influence, from which, if he is a prudent and able man, he may advance step by step to the rank of a chief or king. thus an examination of public magic conduces to an understanding of the early kingship, since in savage and barbarous society many chiefs and kings appear to owe their authority in great measure to their reputation as magicians.

the rise of a class of public or professional magicians is a great step in social and intellectual progress.

among the objects of public utility which magic may be employed to secure, the most essential is an adequate supply of food. the examples cited in preceding pages prove that the purveyors of food—the hunter, the fisher, the farmer—all resort to magical practices in the pursuit of their various callings; but they do so as private individuals for the benefit of themselves and their families, rather than as public functionaries acting in the interest of the whole people. it is otherwise when the rites are performed, not by the hunters, the fishers, the farmers themselves, but by professional magicians on their behalf. in primitive society, where uniformity of occupation is the rule, and the distribution of the community into various classes of workers has hardly begun, every man is more or less his own magician; he practises charms and {p246} incantations for his own good and the injury of his enemies. but a great step in advance has been taken when a special class of magicians has been instituted; when, in other words, a number of men have been set apart for the express purpose of benefiting the whole community by their skill, whether that skill be directed to the healing of diseases, the forecasting of the future, the regulation of the weather, or any other object of general utility. the impotence of the means adopted by most of these practitioners to accomplish their ends ought not to blind us to the immense importance of the institution itself. here is a body of men relieved, at least in the higher stages of savagery, from the need of earning their livelihood by hard manual toil, and allowed, nay, expected and encouraged, to prosecute researches into the secret ways of nature. it was at once their duty and their interest to know more than their fellows, to acquaint themselves with everything that could aid man in his arduous struggle with nature, everything that could mitigate his sufferings and prolong his life. the properties of drugs and minerals, the causes of rain and drought, of thunder and lightning, the changes of the seasons, the phases of the moon, the daily and yearly journeys of the sun, the motions of the stars, the mystery of life, and the mystery of death, all these things must have excited the wonder of these early philosophers, and stimulated them to find solutions of problems that were doubtless often thrust on their attention in the most practical form by the importunate demands of their clients, who expected them not merely to understand but to regulate the great processes of nature for the good of man. that their first shots fell very far wide of the mark could hardly be helped. the slow, the never-ending approach to truth consists in perpetually forming and testing hypotheses, accepting those which at the time seem to fit the facts and rejecting the others. the views of natural causation embraced by the savage magician no doubt appear to us manifestly false and absurd; yet in their day they were legitimate hypotheses, though they have not stood the test of experience. ridicule and blame are the just meed, not of those who devised these crude theories, but of those who obstinately adhered to them after better had been propounded. {p247} certainly no men ever had stronger incentives in the pursuit of truth than these savage sorcerers. to maintain at least a show of knowledge was absolutely necessary; a single mistake detected might cost them their life. this no doubt led them to practise imposture for the purpose of concealing their ignorance; but it also supplied them with the most powerful motive for substituting a real for a sham knowledge, since, if you would appear to know anything, by far the best way is actually to know it. thus, however justly we may reject the extravagant pretensions of magicians and condemn the deceptions which they have practised on mankind, the original institution of this class of men has, take it all in all, been productive of incalculable good to humanity. they were the direct predecessors, not merely of our physicians and surgeons, but of our investigators and discoverers in every branch of natural science. they began the work which has since been carried to such glorious and beneficent issues by their successors in after ages; and if the beginning was poor and feeble, this is to be imputed to the inevitable difficulties which beset the path of knowledge rather than to the natural incapacity or wilful fraud of the men themselves.

§ 2. the magical control of rain

one of the chief tasks which the public magician has to perform is to control the weather, and especially to ensure an adequate supply of rain. the method adopted by the rain-maker is commonly based on homoeopathic or imitative magic: he seeks to produce rain by imitating it.

of the things which the public magician sets himself to do for the good of the tribe, one of the chief is to control the weather and especially to ensure an adequate fall of rain. water is the first essential of life, and in most countries the supply of it depends upon showers. without rain vegetation withers, animals and men languish and die. hence in savage communities the rain-maker is a very important personage; and often a special class of magicians exists for the purpose of regulating the heavenly water-supply. the methods by which they attempt to discharge the duties of their office are commonly, though not always, based on the principle of homoeopathic or imitative magic. if they wish to make rain they simulate it by sprinkling water or mimicking clouds: if their object is to stop rain and cause drought, they avoid water and resort to warmth and fire for the sake of drying up the too abundant moisture. such attempts are by no means confined, as the cultivated reader might {p248} imagine, to the naked inhabitants of those sultry lands like central australia and some parts of eastern and southern africa, where often for months together the pitiless sun beats down out of a blue and cloudless sky on the parched and gaping earth. they are, or used to be, common enough among outwardly civilised folk in the moister climate of europe. i will now illustrate them by instances drawn from the practice both of public and private magic.

examples of making rain by homoeopathic or imitative magic.

use of human hair in rain-charms among the australian aborigines.

thus, for example, in a village near dorpat, in russia, when rain was much wanted, three men used to climb up the fir-trees of an old sacred grove. one of them drummed with a hammer on a kettle or small cask to imitate thunder; the second knocked two fire-brands together and made the sparks fly, to imitate lightning; and the third, who was called “the rain-maker,” had a bunch of twigs with which he sprinkled water from a vessel on all sides.?[848] to put an end to drought and bring down rain, women and girls of the village of ploska are wont to go naked by night to the boundaries of the village and there pour water on the ground.?[849] in halmahera, or gilolo, a large island to the west of new guinea, a wizard makes rain by dipping a branch of a particular kind of tree in water and then scattering the moisture from the dripping bough over the ground.?[850] in ceram it is enough to dedicate the bark of a certain tree to the spirits, and lay it in water.?[851] a javanese mode of making rain is to imitate the pattering sound of rain-drops by brushing a coco-nut leaf over the sheath of a betel-nut in a mortar.?[852] in new britain the rain-maker wraps some leaves of a red and green striped creeper {p249} in a banana-leaf, moistens the bundle with water, and buries it in the ground; then he imitates with his mouth the plashing of rain.?[853] amongst the omaha indians of north america, when the corn is withering for want of rain, the members of the sacred buffalo society fill a large vessel with water and dance four times round it. one of them drinks some of the water and spirts it into the air, making a fine spray in imitation of a mist or drizzling rain. then he upsets the vessel, spilling the water on the ground; whereupon the dancers fall down and drink up the water, getting mud all over their faces. lastly, they squirt the water into the air, making a fine mist. this saves the corn.?[854] in spring-time the natchez of north america used to club together to purchase favourable weather for their crops from the wizards. if rain was needed, the wizards fasted and danced with pipes full of water in their mouths. the pipes were perforated like the nozzle of a watering-can, and through the holes the rain-maker blew the water towards that part of the sky where the clouds hung heaviest. but if fine weather was wanted, he mounted the roof of his hut, and with extended arms, blowing with all his might, he beckoned to the clouds to pass by.?[855] in time of drought the tarahumares indians of mexico will sometimes throw water towards the sky in order that god may replenish his supply. and in the month of may they always burn the grass, so that the whole country is then wrapt in smoke and travelling becomes very difficult. they think that this is necessary to produce rain, clouds of smoke being, in their opinion, equivalent to rain-clouds.?[856] among the swazies and hlubies of south-eastern africa the rain-doctor draws water from a river with various mystic ceremonies, and carries it into a cultivated field. here he throws it in jets from his vessel high into the air, and the falling spray is believed to draw down the clouds and to make rain by sympathy.?[857] to squirt water {p250} from the mouth is a west african mode of making rain,?[858] and it is practised also by the wajaggas of kilimanjaro.?[859] among the wahuma, on the albert nyanza lake, the rain-maker pours water into a vessel in which he has first placed a dark stone as large as the hand. pounded plants and the blood of a black goat are added to the water, and with a bunch of magic herbs the sorcerer sprinkles the mixture towards the sky.?[860] in this charm special efficacy is no doubt attributed to the dark stone and the black goat, their colour being chosen from its resemblance to that of the rain-clouds, as we shall see presently. when the rains do not come in due season the people of central angoniland repair to what is called the rain-temple. here they clear away the grass, and the leader pours beer into a pot which is buried in the ground, while he says, “master chauta, you have hardened your heart towards us, what would you have us do? we must perish indeed. give your children the rains, there is the beer we have given you.” then they all partake of the beer that is left over, even the children being made to sip it. next they take branches of trees and dance and sing for rain. when they return to the village they find a vessel of water set at the doorway by an old woman; so they dip their branches in it and wave them aloft, so as to scatter the drops. after that the rain is sure to come driving up in heavy clouds.?[861] in these practices we see a combination of religion with magic; for while the scattering of the water-drops by means of branches is a purely magical ceremony, the prayer for rain and the offering of beer are purely religious rites. at takitount in algeria, when the drought is severe, the people prepare a sacrificial banquet (zerda), in the course of which they dance, and filling their mouths with water spirt it into the air crying, “the rain and abundance!” elsewhere in the course of these banquets it is customary for the same purpose to sprinkle water on children. at tlemcen in time of drought water is thrown from terraces and windows on {p251} small girls, who pass singing.?[862] during the summer months frequent droughts occur among the japanese alps. to procure rain a party of hunters armed with guns climb to the top of mount jonendake, one of the most imposing peaks in the range. by kindling a bonfire, discharging their guns, and rolling great masses of rocks down the cliffs, they represent the wished-for storm; and rain is supposed always to follow within a few days.?[863] to make rain a party of ainos will scatter water by means of sieves, while others will take a porringer, fit it up with sails and oars as if it were a boat, and then push or draw it about the village and gardens.?[864] in laos the festival of the new year takes place about the middle of april and lasts three days. the people assemble in the pagodas, which are decorated with flowers and illuminated. the buddhist monks perform the ceremonies, and when they come to the prayers for the fertility of the earth the worshippers pour water into little holes in the floor of the pagoda as a symbol of the rain which they hope buddha will send down on the rice-fields in due time.?[865] in the mara tribe of northern australia the rain-maker goes to a pool and sings over it his magic song. then he takes some of the water in his hands, drinks it, and spits it out in various directions. after that he throws water all over himself, scatters it about, and returns quietly to the camp. rain is supposed to follow.?[866] in the wotjobaluk tribe of victoria the rain-maker dipped a bunch of his own hair in water, sucked out the water and squirted it westward, or he twirled {p252} the ball round his head, making a spray like rain.?[867] other australian tribes employ human hair as a rain-charm in other ways. in western australia the natives pluck hair from their arm-pits and thighs and blow them in the direction from which they wish the rain to come. but if they wish to prevent rain, they light a piece of sandal wood, and beat the ground with the burning brand.?[868] when the rivers were low and water scarce in victoria, the wizard used to place human hair in the stream, accompanying the act with chants and gesticulation. but if he wished to make rain, he dropped some human hair in the fire. hair was never burnt at other times for fear of causing a great fall of rain.?[869] the arab historian makrizi describes a method of stopping rain which is said to have been resorted to by a tribe of nomads called alqamar in hadramaut. they cut a branch from a certain tree in the desert, set it on fire, and then sprinkled the burning brand with water. after that the vehemence of the rain abated,?[870] just as the water vanished when it fell on the glowing brand. some of the eastern angamis of manipur are said to perform a somewhat similar ceremony for the opposite purpose, in order, namely, to produce rain. the head of the village puts a burning brand on the grave of a man who has died of burns, and quenches the brand with water, while he prays that rain may fall.?[871] here the putting out the fire with water, which is an imitation of rain, is reinforced by the influence of the dead man, who, having been burnt to death, will naturally be anxious for the descent of rain to cool his scorched body and assuage his pangs.

use of fire to stop rain.

various ways of making and stopping rain.

other people besides the arabs have used fire as a means of stopping rain. thus the sulka of new britain heat stones red hot in the fire and then put them out in the {p253} rain, or they throw hot ashes in the air. they think that the rain will soon cease to fall, for it does not like to be burned by the hot stones or ashes.?[872] the telugus send a little girl out naked into the rain with a burning piece of wood in her hand, which she has to shew to the rain. that is supposed to stop the downpour.?[873] at port stevens in new south wales the medicine-men used to drive away rain by throwing fire-sticks into the air, while at the same time they puffed and shouted.?[874] any man of the anula tribe in northern australia can stop rain by simply warming a green stick in the fire, and then striking it against the wind.?[875] when a thompson indian of british columbia wished to put an end to a spell of heavy rain, he held a stick in the fire, then described a circle with it, beginning at the east and following the sun’s course till it reached the east again, towards which quarter he held the stick and addressed the rain as follows: “now then, you must stop raining; the people are miserable. ye mountains, become clear.” the ceremony was repeated for all the other quarters of the sky.?[876] to bring on rain the ainos of japan wash their tobacco-boxes and pipes in a stream,?[877] and the toradjas of central celebes dip rice-spoons in water.?[878] on the contrary, during heavy rain the indians of guiana are careful not to wash the inside of their pots, lest by so doing they should cause the rain to fall still more heavily.?[879] in bilaspore it is believed that the grain-dealer, who has stored large quantities of grain and wishes to sell it dear, resorts to nefarious means of preventing the rain from falling, lest the abundance of rice which would follow a copious rainfall should cheapen his wares. to do this he collects rain-drops from the eaves of his house in an earthen vessel and buries the vessel under the grinding-mill. {p254} after that you shall hear thunder rumbling in the distance like the humming sound of the mill at work, but no rain will fall, for the wicked dealer has shut it up and it cannot get out.?[880]

rain-making in queensland.

in the torrid climate of queensland the ceremonies necessary for wringing showers from the cloudless heaven are naturally somewhat elaborate. a prominent part in them is played by a “rain-stick.” this is a thin piece of wood about twenty inches long, to which three “rain-stones” and hair cut from the beard have been fastened. the “rain-stones” are pieces of white quartz-crystal. three or four such sticks may be used in the ceremony. about noon the men who are to take part in it repair to a lonely pool, into which one of them dives and fixes a hollow log vertically in the mud. then they all go into the water, and, forming a rough circle round the man in the middle, who holds the rain-stick aloft, they begin stamping with their feet as well as they can, and splashing the water with their hands from all sides on the rain-stick. the stamping, which is accompanied by singing, is sometimes a matter of difficulty, since the water may be four feet deep or more. when the singing is over, the man in the middle dives out of sight and attaches the rain-stick to the hollow log under water. then coming to the surface, he quickly climbs on to the bank and spits out on dry land the water which he imbibed in diving. should more than one of these rain-sticks have been prepared, the ceremony is repeated with each in turn. while the men are returning to camp they scratch the tops of their heads and the inside of their shins from time to time with twigs; if they were to scratch themselves with their fingers alone, they believe that the whole effect of the ceremony would be spoiled. on reaching the camp they paint their faces, arms, and chests with broad bands of gypsum. during the rest of the day the process of scratching, accompanied by the song, is repeated at intervals, and thus the performance comes to a close. no woman may set eyes on the rain-stick or witness the ceremony of its submergence; but the wife of the chief rain-maker is privileged to take part in the {p255} subsequent rite of scratching herself with a twig. when the rain does come, the rain-stick is taken out of the water: it has done its work.?[881] at roxburgh, in queensland, the ceremony is somewhat different. a white quartz-crystal which is to serve as the rain-stone is obtained in the mountains and crushed to powder. next a tree is chosen of which the stem runs up straight for a long way without any branches. against its trunk saplings from fifteen to twenty feet long are then propped in a circle, so as to form a sort of shed like a bell-tent, and in front of the shed an artificial pond is made in the ground. the men, who have collected within the shed, now come forth and, dancing and singing round the pond, mimic the cries and antics of various aquatic birds and animals, such as ducks and frogs. meanwhile the women are stationed some twenty yards or so away. when the men have done pretending to be ducks, frogs, and so forth, they march round the women in single file, throwing the pulverised quartz-crystals over them. on their side the women hold up wooden troughs, shields, pieces of bark, and so on over their heads, making believe that they are sheltering themselves from a heavy shower of rain.?[882] both these ceremonies are cases of mimetic magic; the splashing of the water over the rain-stick is as clearly an imitation of a shower as the throwing of the powdered quartz-crystal over the women.

rain-making among the dieri of central australia.

use of foreskins in rain-making.

use of human blood in rain-making ceremonies.

sanguinary conflicts as means of making rain.

the dieri of central australia enact a somewhat similar pantomime for the same purpose. in a dry season their lot is a hard one. no fresh herbs or roots are to be had, and as the parched earth yields no grass, the emus, reptiles, and other creatures which generally furnish the natives with food grow so lean and wizened as to be hardly worth eating. at such a time of severe drought the dieri, loudly lamenting the impoverished state of the country and their own half-starved condition, call upon the spirits of their remote predecessors, whom they call mura-muras, to grant them power to make a heavy rainfall. for they believe that the clouds are bodies in which rain is generated by their own ceremonies or those {p256} of neighbouring tribes, through the influence of the mura-muras. the way in which they set about drawing rain from the clouds is this. a hole is dug about twelve feet long and eight or ten broad, and over this hole a conical hut of logs and branches is made. two wizards, supposed to have received a special inspiration from the mura-muras, are bled by an old and influential man with a sharp flint; and the blood, drawn from their arms below the elbow, is made to flow on the other men of the tribe, who sit huddled together in the hut. at the same time the two bleeding men throw handfuls of down about, some of which adheres to the blood-stained bodies of their comrades, while the rest floats in the air. the blood is thought to represent the rain, and the down the clouds. during the ceremony two large stones are placed in the middle of the hut; they stand for gathering clouds and presage rain. then the wizards who were bled carry away the two stones for about ten or fifteen miles, and place them as high as they can in the tallest tree. meanwhile the other men gather gypsum, pound it fine, and throw it into a water-hole. this the mura-muras see, and at once they cause clouds to appear in the sky. lastly, the men, young and old, surround the hut, and, stooping down, butt at it with their heads, like so many rams. thus they force their way through it and reappear on the other side, repeating the process till the hut is wrecked. in doing this they are forbidden to use their hands or arms; but when the heavy logs alone remain, they are allowed to pull them out with their hands. “the piercing of the hut with their heads symbolises the piercing of the clouds; the fall of the hut, the fall of the rain.”?[883] obviously, too, the act of placing high up in trees the two stones, which stand for clouds, is a way of making the real clouds to mount up in the sky. the dieri also imagine that the foreskins taken from lads at circumcision have a great power of producing rain. hence the great council of the tribe always keeps a small stock of {p257} foreskins ready for use. they are carefully concealed, being wrapt up in feathers with the fat of the wild dog and of the carpet snake. a woman may not see such a parcel opened on any account. when the ceremony is over, the foreskin is buried, its virtue being exhausted. after the rains have fallen, some of the tribe always undergo a surgical operation, which consists in cutting the skin of their chest and arms with a sharp flint. the wound is then tapped with a flat stick to increase the flow of blood, and red ochre is rubbed into it. raised scars are thus produced. the reason alleged by the natives for this practice is that they are pleased with the rain, and that there is a connexion between the rain and the scars. apparently the operation is not very painful, for the patient laughs and jokes while it is going on. indeed, little children have been seen to crowd round the operator and patiently take their turn; then after being operated on, they ran away, expanding their little chests and singing for the rain to beat upon them. however, they were not so well pleased next day, when they felt their wounds stiff and sore.?[884] the tribes of the karamundi nation, on the river darling, universally believe that rain can be produced as follows. a vein in the arm of one of the men is opened, and the blood allowed to flow into a piece of hollow bark till it forms a little pool. powdered gypsum and hair from the man’s beard are then added to the blood, and the whole is stirred into a thick paste. afterwards the mixture is placed between two pieces of bark and put under water in a river or lagoon, pointed stakes being driven into the ground to keep it down. when it has all dissolved away, the natives think that a great cloud will come bringing rain. from the time the ceremony is performed until rain falls, the men must abstain from intercourse with their wives, or the charm would be spoiled.?[885] in this custom the bloody paste seems to be an imitation of a rain-cloud. in java, when rain is wanted, two men will sometimes thrash each other with supple rods {p258} till the blood flows down their backs; the streaming blood represents the rain, and no doubt is supposed to make it fall on the ground.?[886] the people of egghiou, a district of abyssinia, used to engage in sanguinary conflicts with each other, village against village, for a week together every january for the purpose of procuring rain. a few years ago the emperor menelik forbade the custom. however, the following year the rain was deficient, and the popular outcry so great that the emperor yielded to it, and allowed the murderous fights to be resumed, but for two days a year only.?[887] the writer who mentions the custom regards the blood shed on these occasions as a propitiatory sacrifice offered to spirits who control the showers; but perhaps, as in the australian and javanese ceremonies, it is an imitation of rain. the prophets of baal, who sought to procure rain by cutting themselves with knives till the blood gushed out,?[888] may have acted on the same principle.

rain-making among the kaitish.

the kaitish tribe of central australia believe that the rainbow is the son of the rain, and with filial regard is always anxious to prevent his father from falling down. hence if it appears in the sky at a time when rain is wanted, they “sing” or enchant it in order to send it away. when the head man of the rain totem in this tribe desires to make rain he goes to the sacred storehouse of his local group. there he paints the holy stones with red ochre and sings over them, and as he sings he pours water from a vessel on them and on himself. moreover, he paints three rainbows in red ochre, one on the ground, one on his own body, and one on a shield, which he also decorates with zigzag lines of white clay to represent lightning. this shield may only be seen by men of the {p259} same exogamous half of the tribe as himself; if men of the other half of the tribe were to see it, the charm would be spoilt. hence after bringing the shield away from the sacred place, he hides it in his own camp until the rain has fallen, after which he destroys the rainbow drawings. the intention seems to be to keep the rainbow in custody, and prevent it from appearing in the sky until the clouds have burst and moistened the thirsty ground. to ensure that event the rain-maker, on his return from the sacred storehouse, keeps a vessel of water by his side in camp, and from time to time scatters white down about, which is thought to hasten the rain. meantime the men who accompanied him to the holy place go away and camp by themselves, for neither they nor he may have any intercourse with the women. the leader may not even speak to his wife, who absents herself from the camp at the time of his return to it. when later on she comes back, he imitates the call of the plover, a bird whose cry is always associated with the rainy season in these parts. early next morning he returns to the sacred storehouse and covers the stones with bushes. after another night passed in silence, he and the other men and women go out in separate directions to search for food. when they meet on their return to camp, they all mimic the cry of the plover. then the leader’s mouth is touched with some of the food that has been brought in, and thus the ban of silence is removed. if rain follows, they attribute it to the magical virtue of the ceremony; if it does not, they fall back on their standing excuse, that some one else has kept off the rain by stronger magic.?[889]

rain-making among the arunta.

among the arunta tribe of central australia a celebrated rain-maker resides at the present day in what is called by the natives the rain country (kartwia quatcha), a district about fifty miles to the east of alice springs. he is the head of a group of people who have water for their totem, and when he is about to engage in a ceremony for the making of rain he summons other men of the water totem from neighbouring groups to come and help him. {p260} when all are assembled, they march into camp, painted with red and yellow ochre and pipeclay, and wearing bunches of eagle-hawk feathers on the crown and sides of the head. at a signal from the rain-maker they all sit down in a line and, folding their arms across their breasts, chant certain words for a time. then at another signal from the master of the ceremonies they jump up and march in single file to a spot some miles off, where they camp for the night. at break of day they scatter in all directions to look for game, which is then cooked and eaten; but on no account may any water be drunk, or the ceremony would fail. when they have eaten, they adorn themselves again in a different style, broad bands of white bird’s down being glued by means of human blood to their stomach, legs, arms, and forehead. meanwhile a special hut of boughs has been made by some older men not far from the main camp. its floor is strewn with a thick layer of gum leaves to make it soft, for a good deal of time has to be spent lying down here. close to the entrance of the hut a shallow trench, some thirty yards long, is excavated in the ground. at sunset the performers, arrayed in all the finery of white down, march to the hut. on reaching it the young men go in first and lie face downwards at the inner end, where they have to stay till the ceremony is over; none of them is allowed to quit it on any pretext. meanwhile, outside the hut the older men are busy decorating the rain-maker. hair girdles, covered with white down, are placed all over his head, while his cheeks and forehead are painted with pipeclay; and two broad bands of white down pass across the face, one over the eyebrows and the other over the nose. the front of his body is adorned with a broad band of pipeclay fringed with white down, and rings of white down encircle his arms. thus decorated, with patches of bird’s down adhering by means of human blood to his hair and the whole of his body, the disguised man is said to present a spectacle which, once seen, can never be forgotten. he now takes up a position close to the opening of the hut. then the old men sing a song, and when it is finished, the rain-maker comes out of the hut and stalks slowly twice up and down the shallow trench, quivering his body and legs in a {p261} most extraordinary way, every nerve and fibre seeming to tremble. while he is thus engaged the young men, who had been lying flat on their faces, get up and join the old men in chanting a song with which the movements of the rain-maker seem to accord. but as soon as he re-enters the hut, the young men at once prostrate themselves again; for they must always be lying down when he is in the hut. the performance is repeated at intervals during the night, and the singing goes on with little intermission until, just when the day is breaking, the rain-maker executes a final quiver, which lasts longer than any of the others, and seems to exhaust his remaining strength completely. then he declares the ceremony to be over, and at once the young men jump to their feet and rush out of the hut, screaming in imitation of the spur-winged plover. the cry is heard by the men and women who have been left at the main camp, and they take it up with weird effect.?[890]

rain-making by imitation of clouds and storm.

although we cannot, perhaps, divine the meaning of all the details of this curious ceremony, the analogy of the queensland and the dieri ceremonies, described above, suggests that we have here a rude attempt to represent the gathering of rain-clouds and the other accompaniments of a rising storm. the hut of branches, like the structure of logs among the dieri, and perhaps the conical shed in queensland, may possibly stand for the vault of heaven, from which the rain-clouds, represented by the chief actor in his quaint costume of white down, come forth to move in ever-shifting shapes across the sky, just as he struts quivering up and down the trench. the other performers, also adorned with bird’s down, who burst from the tent with the cries of plovers, probably imitate birds that are supposed to harbinger or accompany rain.?[891] this interpretation is confirmed by other ceremonies in which the performers definitely assimilate {p262} themselves to the celestial or atmospheric phenomena which they seek to produce. thus in mabuiag, a small island in torres straits, when a wizard desired to make rain, he took some bush or plant and painted himself black and white, “all along same as clouds, black behind, white he go first.” he further put on a large woman’s petticoat to signify raining clouds. on the other hand, when he wished to stop the rain, he put red paint on the crown of his head, “to represent the shining sun,” and he inserted a small ball of red paint in another part of his person. by and by he expelled this ball, “like breaking a cloud so that sun he may shine.” he then took some bushes and leaves of the pandanus, mixed them together, and placed the compound in the sea. afterwards he removed them from the water, dried them, and burnt them so that the smoke went up, thereby typifying, as dr. haddon was informed, the evaporation and dispersal of the clouds.?[892] again, it is said that if a malay woman puts upon her head an inverted earthenware pan, and then, setting it upon the ground, fills it with water and washes the cat in it till the animal is nearly drowned, heavy rain will certainly follow. in this performance the inverted pan is intended, as mr. skeat was told, to symbolise the vault of heaven.?[893]

belief that twins can control the weather.

superstitions as to twins among the indians of british columbia.

superstitions as to twins in west africa.

there is a widespread belief that twin children possess magical powers over nature, especially over rain and the weather. this curious superstition prevails among some of the indian tribes of british columbia, and has led them often to impose certain singular restrictions or taboos on the parents of twins, though the exact meaning of these restrictions is generally obscure. thus the tsimshian indians of british columbia believe that twins control the weather; therefore they pray to wind and rain, “calm down, breath of the twins.” further, they think that the wishes of twins are always fulfilled; hence twins are feared, because they can harm the man they hate. they can also call the salmon and the olachen or candle-fish, and so they are {p263} known by a name which means “making plentiful.”?[894] in the opinion of the kwakiutl indians of british columbia twins are transformed salmon; hence they may not go near water, lest they should be changed back again into the fish. in their childhood they can summon any wind by motions of their hands, and they can make fair or foul weather, and also cure diseases by swinging a large wooden rattle. their parents must live secluded in the woods for sixteen months after the birth, doing no work, borrowing nobody’s canoes, paddles, or dishes, and keeping their faces painted red all the time. if the father were to catch salmon, or the mother were to dig clams, the salmon and the clams would disappear. moreover the parents separate from each other, and must pretend to be married to a log, with which they lie down every night. they are forbidden to touch each other, and even their own hair. a year after the birth they drive wedges into a tree in the woods, asking it to let them work again when four more months have passed.?[895] the nootka indians of british columbia also believe that twins are somehow related to salmon. hence among them twins may not catch salmon, and they may not eat or even handle the fresh fish. they can make fair or foul weather, and can cause rain to fall by painting their faces black and then washing them, which may represent the rain dripping from the dark clouds.?[896] conversely, among the angoni of central africa there is a woman who stops rain by tying a strip of white calico round her black head,?[897] probably in imitation of the sky clearing after a heavy storm. the parents of twins among the nootkas must build a small hut in the woods on the bank of a river, far from the village, and there they must live for two years, avoiding other people; they may not eat or even touch fresh food, particularly salmon. {p264} wooden images and masks of birds and fish are placed round the hut, and others, representing fish, are set near the river for the purpose of inviting all birds and fish to come and see the twins, and be friendly to them. moreover the father sings a special song praising the salmon, and asking them to come. and the fish do come in great numbers to see the twins. therefore the birth of twins is believed to prognosticate a good year for salmon.?[898] but though a nootka father of twins has thus to live in seclusion for two years, abstaining from fresh meat, and attending none of the ordinary feasts, he is, by a singular exception, invited to banquets which consist wholly of dried provisions, and at them he is treated with great respect and seated among the chiefs, even though he be himself a mere commoner. the birth of twins among the nootkas is said to be very rare, but one occurred while jewitt lived with the tribe. he reports that the father always appeared very thoughtful and gloomy, and never associated with other people. “his dress was very plain, and he wore around his head the red fillet of bark, the symbol of mourning and devotion. it was his daily practice to repair to the mountain, with a chief’s rattle in his hand, to sing and pray, as maquina informed me, for the fish to come into their waters. when not thus employed, he kept continually at home, except when sent for to sing and perform his ceremonies over the sick, being considered as a sacred character, and one much in favour with their gods.”?[899] among the thompson indians of british columbia twins were called “grizzly-bear children” or “hairy feet,” because they were thought to be under the protection of the grizzly bear, and to be endowed by him with special powers, such as that of making fair or foul weather. after their birth the parents moved away from other people, and lived in a lodge made of fir-boughs and bark till the children were about four years old. during all this time great care was taken of the twins. they might not come into contact with other people, and were washed with fir-twigs dipped in water. while they were being {p265} washed, the father described circles round them with fir-boughs, singing the song of the grizzly bear.?[900] with these american beliefs we may compare an african one. the negroes of porto novo, on the bight of benin, hold that twins have for their companions certain spirits or genii like those which animate a kind of small ape, which abounds in the forests of guinea. when the twins grow up, they will not be allowed to eat the flesh of apes, and meantime the mother carries offerings of bananas and other dainties to the apes in the forest.?[901] precisely similar beliefs and customs as to twins prevail in the ho tribe of german togoland. there the twins are called “children of apes”; neither they nor their parents may eat the flesh of the particular species of apes with which they are associated; and if a hunter kills one of these animals, the parents must beat him with a stick.?[902] but to return to america. the shuswap indians of british columbia, like the thompson indians, associate twins with the grizzly bear, for they call them “young grizzly bears.” according to them, twins remain throughout life endowed with supernatural powers. in particular they can make good or bad weather. they produce rain by spilling water from a basket in the air; they make fine weather by shaking a small flat piece of wood attached to a stick by a string; they raise storms by strewing down on the ends of spruce branches.?[903]

superstitions as to twins among the indians of peru.

the indians of peru entertained similar notions as to {p266} the special relation in which twins stand to the rain and the weather. for they said that one of each pair of twins was a son of the lightning; and they called the lightning the lord and creator of rain, and prayed to him to send showers. the parents of twins had to fast for many days after the birth, abstaining from salt and pepper, and they might not have intercourse with each other. in some parts of peru this period of fasting and abstinence lasted six months. in other parts both the father and mother had to lie down on one side, with one leg drawn up, and a bean placed in the hollow of the ham. in this position they had to lie without moving for five days, till with the heat and sweat of their bodies the beans began to sprout. then they changed over to the other side, and lay on it in like manner for other five days, fasting in the way described. when the ten days were up, their relations went out to hunt, and having killed and skinned a deer they made a robe of its hide, under which they caused the parents of the twins to pass, with cords about their necks which they afterwards wore for many days. if the twins died young, their bodies, enclosed in pots, were kept in the house as sacred things. but if they lived, and it happened that a frost set in, the priests sent for them, together with all persons who had hare-lips or had been born feet foremost, and rated them soundly for being the cause of the frost, in that they had not fasted from salt and pepper. wherefore they were ordered to fast for ten days in the usual manner, and to abstain from their wives, and to wash themselves, and to acknowledge and confess their sins. after their nominal conversion to christianity, the peruvian indians retained their belief that one of twins was always the son of the lightning, and oddly enough they regularly gave him the name of st. james (santiago). the spanish jesuit, who reports the custom, was at a loss to account for it. it could not, he thought, have originated in the name of boanerges, or “sons of thunder,” which christ applied to the two brothers james and john.?[904] he suggests two explanations. {p267} the indians may have adopted the name because they had heard a phrase used by spanish children when it thunders, “the horse of santiago is running.” or it may have been because they saw that the spanish infantry in battle, before they fired their arquebuses, always cried out “santiago! santiago!” for the indians called an arquebuse illapa, that is, “lightning,” and they might easily imagine that the name which they heard shouted just before the flash and roar of the guns was that of the spanish god of thunder and lightning. however they came by the name, they made such frequent and superstitious use of it that the church forbade any indian to bear the name of santiago.?[905]

superstitions as to twins in africa.

the same power of influencing the weather is attributed to twins by the baronga, a tribe of bantu negroes who inhabit the shores of delagoa bay in south-eastern africa. they bestow the name of tilo—that is, the sky—on a woman who has given birth to twins, and the infants themselves are called the children of the sky. now when the storms which generally burst in the months of september and october have been looked for in vain, when a drought with its prospect of famine is threatening, and all nature, scorched and burnt up by a sun that has shone for six months from a cloudless sky, is panting for the beneficent showers of the south african spring, the women perform ceremonies to bring down the longed-for rain on the parched earth. stripping themselves of all their garments, they assume in their stead girdles and head-dresses of grass, or short petticoats made of the leaves of a particular sort of creeper. thus attired, uttering peculiar cries and singing ribald songs, they go about from well to well, cleansing them of the mud and impurities which have accumulated in them. the wells, it may be said, are merely holes in the sand where a little turbid unwholesome water stagnates. further, the women must repair to the house of one of their gossips who has given birth to twins, and must drench her with water, which they carry in little pitchers. having done so they go on their way, shrieking {p268} out their loose songs and dancing immodest dances. no man may see these leaf-clad women going their rounds. if they meet a man, they maul him and thrust him aside. when they have cleansed the wells, they must go and pour water on the graves of their ancestors in the sacred grove. it often happens, too, that at the bidding of the wizard they go and pour water on the graves of twins. for they think that the grave of a twin ought always to be moist, for which reason twins are regularly buried near a lake. if all their efforts to procure rain prove abortive, they will remember that such and such a twin was buried in a dry place on the side of a hill. “no wonder,” says the wizard in such a case, “that the sky is fiery. take up his body and dig him a grave on the shore of the lake.” his orders are at once obeyed, for this is supposed to be the only means of bringing down the rain. the swiss missionary who reports this strange superstition has also suggested what appears to be its true explanation. he points out that as the mother of twins is called by the baronga “the sky,” they probably think that to pour water on her is equivalent to pouring water on the sky itself; and if water be poured on the sky, it will of course drip through it, as through the nozzle of a gigantic watering-pot, and fall on the earth beneath. a slight extension of the same train of reasoning explains why the desired result is believed to be expedited by drenching the graves of twins, who are the children of the sky.?[906] among the zulus twins are supposed to be able to foretell the weather, and people who want rain will go to a twin and say, “tell me, do you feel ill to-day?” if he says he feels quite well, they know it will not rain.?[907] the wanyamwesi, a large tribe of central africa, to the south of the victoria nyanza, also believe in the special association of twins with water. for amongst them, when a twin is about to cross a river, stream, or lake, he must fill his mouth full of water and spirt it out over the surface of the river or lake, adding, “i am a twin” (n?n? mpassa). {p269} and he must do the same if a storm arises on a lake over which he is sailing. were he to omit the ceremony, some harm might befall him or his companions. in this tribe the birth of twins is comparatively common and is attended by a number of ceremonies. old women march about the village collecting gifts for the infants, while they drum with a hoe on a piece of ox-hide and sing an obscene song in praise of the father. further, two little fetish huts are built for the twins before their mother’s house, and here people sacrifice for them in season and out of season, especially when somebody is sick or about to go on a journey or to the wars. if one or both twins die, two aloes are planted beside the little fetish hut.?[908] lastly, the hindoos of the central provinces in india believe that a twin can save the crops from the ravages of hail and heavy rain if he will only paint his right buttock black and his left buttock some other colour, and thus adorned go and stand in the direction of the wind.?[909]

the rain-maker assimilates himself to rain.

many of the foregoing facts strongly support an interpretation which professor oldenberg has given of the rules to be observed by a brahman who would learn a particular hymn of the ancient indian collection known as the samaveda. the hymn, which bears the name of the ?akvari song, was believed to embody the might of indra’s weapon, the thunderbolt; and hence, on account of the dreadful and dangerous potency with which it was thus charged, the bold student who essayed to master it had to be isolated from his fellow-men, and to retire from the village into the forest. here for a space of time, which might vary, according to different doctors of the law, from one to twelve years, he had to observe certain rules of life, among which were the following. thrice a day he had to touch water; he must wear black {p270} garments and eat black food; when it rained, he might not seek the shelter of a roof, but had to sit in the rain and say, “water is the ?akvari song”; when the lightning flashed he said, “that is like the ?akvari song”; when the thunder pealed he said, “the great one is making a great noise.” he might never cross a running stream without touching water; he might never set foot on a ship unless his life were in danger, and even then he must be sure to touch water when he went on board; “for in water,” so ran the saying, “lies the virtue of the ?akvari song.” when at last he was allowed to learn the song itself, he had to dip his hands in a vessel of water in which plants of all sorts had been placed. if a man walked in the way of all these precepts, the rain-god parjanya, it was said, would send rain at the wish of that man. it is clear, as professor oldenberg well points out, that “all these rules are intended to bring the brahman into union with water, to make him, as it were, an ally of the water powers, and to guard him against their hostility. the black garments and the black food have the same significance; no one will doubt that they refer to the rain-clouds when he remembers that a black victim is sacrificed to procure rain; ‘it is black, for such is the nature of rain.’ in respect of another rain-charm it is said plainly, ‘he puts on a black garment edged with black, for such is the nature of rain.’ we may therefore assume that here in the circle of ideas and ordinances of the vedic schools there have been preserved magical practices of the most remote antiquity, which were intended to prepare the rain-maker for his office and dedicate him to it.”?[910]

on the contrary, the maker of dry weather must himself be dry.

it is interesting to observe that where an opposite result is desired, primitive logic enjoins the weather-doctor to observe precisely opposite rules of conduct. in the tropical island of java, where the rich vegetation attests the abundance of the rainfall, ceremonies for the making of rain are rare, but ceremonies for the prevention of it are not uncommon. when a man is about to give a great feast in the rainy season and has invited many people, he goes to a {p271} weather-doctor and asks him to “prop up the clouds that may be lowering.” if the doctor consents to exert his professional powers, he begins to regulate his behaviour by certain rules as soon as his customer has departed. he must observe a fast, and may neither drink nor bathe; what little he eats must be eaten dry, and in no case may he touch water. the host, on his side, and his servants, both male and female, must neither wash clothes nor bathe so long as the feast lasts, and they have all during its continuance to observe strict chastity. the doctor seats himself on a new mat in his bedroom, and before a small oil-lamp he murmurs, shortly before the feast takes place, the following prayer or incantation: “grandfather and grandmother sroekoel” (the name seems to be taken at random; others are sometimes used), “return to your country. akkemat is your country. put down your water-cask, close it properly, that not a drop may fall out.” while he utters this prayer the sorcerer looks upwards, burning incense the while.?[911] so among the toradjas of central celebes the rain-doctor (sando), whose special business it is to drive away rain, takes care not to touch water before, during, or after the discharge of his professional duties. he does not bathe, he eats with unwashed hands, he drinks nothing but palm wine, and if he has to cross a stream he is careful not to step in the water. having thus prepared himself for his task he has a small hut built for himself outside of the village in a rice-field, and in this hut he keeps up a little fire, which on no account may be suffered to go out. in the fire he burns various kinds of wood, which are supposed to possess the property of driving off rain; and he puffs in the direction from which the rain threatens to come, holding in his hand a packet of leaves and bark which derive a similar cloud-compelling virtue, not from their chemical composition, but from their names, which happen to signify something dry or volatile. if clouds should appear in the sky while he is at work, he takes lime in the hollow of his hand and blows it towards them. the lime, being so very dry, is obviously well adapted to disperse the damp clouds. should rain afterwards be wanted, he {p272} has only to pour water on his fire, and immediately the rain will descend in sheets.?[912] so in santa cruz and reef islands, when the man who has power over rain wishes to prevent it from falling, he will abstain from washing his face for a long time and will do no work, lest he should sweat and his body be wet; “for they think that if his body be wet it will rain.” on the other hand when he desires to bring on rain, he goes into the house where the spirit or ghost of the rain is believed to reside, and there he sprinkles water at the head of the ghost-post (duka) in order that showers may fall.?[913]

to make wet weather you must be wet; to make dry weather you must be dry.

the reader will observe how exactly the javanese and toradja observances, which are intended to prevent rain, form the antithesis of the indian observances, which aim at producing it. the indian sage is commanded to touch water thrice a day regularly as well as on various special occasions; the javanese and toradja wizards may not touch it at all. the indian lives out in the forest, and even when it rains he may not take shelter; the javanese and the toradja sit in a house or a hut. the one signifies his sympathy with water by receiving the rain on his person and speaking of it respectfully; the others light a lamp or a fire and do their best to drive the rain away. yet the principle on which all three act is the same; each of them, by a sort of childish make-believe, identifies himself with the phenomenon which he desires to produce. it is the old fallacy that the effect resembles its cause: if you would make wet weather, you must be wet; if you would make dry weather, you must be dry.

rain-making in south-eastern europe by drenching with water a leaf-clad girl or boy who represents vegetation.

rain-making in servia.

rain-making in roumania.

rain-making in bulgaria.

rain-making in macedonia and dalmatia.

the king of rain in india.

in south-eastern europe at the present day ceremonies are observed for the purpose of making rain which not only rest on the same general train of thought as the preceding, but even in their details resemble the ceremonies practised with the same intention by the baronga of delagoa bay. among the greeks of thessaly and macedonia, when a drought has lasted a long time, it is customary to send a {p273} procession of children round to all the wells and springs of the neighbourhood. at the head of the procession walks a girl adorned with flowers, whom her companions drench with water at every halting-place, while they sing an invocation, of which the following is part:—

perperia, all fresh bedewed,

freshen all the neighbourhood;

by the woods, on the highway,

as thou goest, to god now pray:

o my god, upon the plain,

send thou us a still, small rain;

that the fields may fruitful be,

and vines in blossom we may see;

that the grain be full and sound,

and wealthy grow the folks around.?[914]

in time of drought the servians strip a girl to her skin and clothe her from head to foot in grass, herbs, and flowers, even her face being hidden behind a veil of living green. thus disguised she is called the dodola, and goes through the village with a troop of girls. they stop before every house; the dodola keeps turning herself round and dancing, while the other girls form a ring about her singing one of the dodola songs, and the housewife pours a pail of water over her. one of the songs they sing runs thus:—

we go through the village;

the clouds go in the sky;

we go faster,

faster go the clouds;

they have overtaken us,

and wetted the corn and the vine.

a similar custom is observed in greece and roumania.?[915] in roumania the rain-maker is called paparuda or babaruda. she is a gypsy girl, who goes naked except for a short skirt of dwarf elder (sambucus ebulus) or of corn and vines. thus scantily attired the girls go in procession from house to house, singing for rain, and are drenched by {p274} the people with buckets of water. the ceremony regularly takes place all over roumania on the third tuesday after easter, but it may be repeated at any time of drought during the summer. but the roumanians have another way of procuring rain. they make a clay figure to represent drought, cover it with a pall, and place it in an open coffin. girls crouch round the coffin and lament, saying, “drought (scaloi) is dead! lord, give us rain!” then the coffin is carried by children in funeral procession, with a burning wax candle before it, while lamentations fill the air. finally, they throw the coffin and the candle into a stream or a well.?[916] when rain is wanted in bulgaria the people dress up a girl in branches of nut-trees, flowers, and the green stuff of beans, potatoes, and onions. she carries a nosegay of flowers in her hand, and is called djuldjul or peperuga. attended by a train of followers she goes from house to house, and is received by the goodman with a kettleful of water, on which flowers are swimming. with this water he drenches her, while a song is sung:—

the peperuga flew;

god give rain,

that the corn, the millet, and the wheat may thrive.

sometimes the girl is dressed in flax to the girdle.?[917] at melenik, a greek town in macedonia, a poor orphan boy parades the streets in time of drought, decked with ferns and flowers, and attended by other boys of about the same age. the women shower water and money on him from the windows. he is called dudulé, and as they march along the boys sing a song, which begins: “hail, hail, dudulé, (bring us) both maize and wheat.”?[918] in dalmatia also the custom is observed. the performer is a young unmarried man, who is dressed up, dances, and has water poured over him. he goes by the name of prpats, and is attended by companions called prporushe, who are young bachelors like himself.?[919] in such customs the leaf-clad person appears to {p275} personify vegetation, and the drenching of him or her with water is certainly an imitation of rain. the words of the servian song, however, taken in connexion with the constant movement which the chief actress in the performance seems expected to keep up, points to some comparison of the girl or her companions to clouds moving through the sky. this again reminds us of the odd quivering movement kept up by the australian rain-maker, who, in his disguise of white down, may perhaps represent a cloud.?[920] at poona in india, when rain is needed, the boys dress up one of their number in nothing but leaves and call him king of rain (mrüj raja). then they go round to every house in the village, where the householder or his wife sprinkles the rain king with water, and gives the party food of various kinds. when they have thus visited all the houses, they strip the rain king of his leafy robes and feast upon what they have gathered.?[921]

rain-making in armenia.

rain-making in palestine and moab.

similar rain-charms are practised in armenia, except that there the representative of vegetation is an effigy or doll, not a person. the children dress up a broomstick as a girl and carry it from house to house. before every house they sing a song, of which the following is one version:—

nurin, nurin is come,

the wondrous maiden is come.

a shirt of red stuff has she put on,

with a red girdle is she girded,

bring water to pour on her head,

bring butter to smear on her hair.

let the blessed rain fall,

let the fields of your fathers grow green.

give our nurin her share,

and we will eat and drink and be merry.

the children are asked, “will you have it from the door or from the garret-window?” if they choose the door, the water is poured on nurin from the window; and if they choose the window, it is poured on her from the door. at each house they receive presents of butter, eggs, rice, and so {p276} forth. afterwards they take nurin to a river and throw her into the water. sometimes the figure has the head of a pig or a goat, and is covered with boughs.?[922] at egin in armenia, when rain is wanted, boys carry about an effigy which they call chi-chi mama or “the drenched mother,” as they interpret the phrase. as they go about they ask, “what does chi-chi mother want?” the answer is, “she wants wheat in her bins, she wants bread on her bread-hooks, and she wants rain from god!” the people pour water on her from the roofs, and rich people make presents to the children.?[923] at ourfa in armenia the children in time of drought make a rain-bride, which they call chimché-gelin. they say this means in turkish “shovel-bride.” while they carry it about they say, “what does chimché-gelin want? she wishes mercy from god: she wants offerings of lambs and rams.” and the crowd responds, “give, my god, give rain, give a flood.” the rain-bride is then thrown into the water.?[924] at kerak in palestine, whenever there is a drought, the greek christians dress up a winnowing-fork in women’s clothes. they call it “the bride of god.” the girls and women carry it from house to house, singing doggerel songs.?[925] we are not told that “the bride of god” is drenched with water or thrown into a stream, but the charm would hardly be complete without this feature. similarly, when rain is much wanted, the arabs of moab attire a dummy in the robes and ornaments of a woman and call it “the mother of the rain.” a woman carries it in procession past the houses of the village or the tents of the camp, singing:—

o mother of the rain, o immortal, moisten our sleeping seeds.

moisten the sleeping seeds of the sheikh, who is ever generous.

she is gone, the mother of the rain, to bring the storm; when she comes back, the crops are as high as the walls.

she is gone, the mother of the rain, to bring the winds; when she comes back, the plantations have attained the height of lances.

she is gone, the mother of the rain, to bring the thunders; when she comes back, the crops are as high as camels.

and so on.?[926] {p277}

rain-making by bathing and sprinkling of water.

curses supposed to cause rain.

bathing is practised as a rain-charm in some parts of southern and western russia. sometimes after service in church the priest in his robes has been thrown down on the ground and drenched with water by his parishioners. sometimes it is the women who, without stripping off their clothes, bathe in crowds on the day of st. john the baptist, while they dip in the water a figure made of branches, grass, and herbs, which is supposed to represent the saint.?[927] in kursk, a province of southern russia, when rain is much wanted, the women seize a passing stranger and throw him into the river, or souse him from head to foot.?[928] later on we shall see that a passing stranger is often taken for a deity or the personification of some natural power. it is recorded in official documents that during a drought in 1790 the peasants of scheroutz and werboutz collected all the women and compelled them to bathe, in order that rain might fall.?[929] an armenian rain-charm is to throw the wife of a priest into the water and drench her.?[930] the arabs of north africa fling a holy man, willy-nilly, into a spring as a remedy for drought.?[931] in minahassa, a province of north celebes, the priest bathes as a rain-charm.?[932] in central celebes when there has been no rain for a long time and the rice-stalks begin to shrivel up, many of the villagers, especially the young folk, go to a neighbouring brook and splash each other with water, shouting noisily, or squirt water on one another through bamboo tubes. sometimes they imitate the plump of rain by smacking the surface of the water with their hands, or by placing an inverted gourd on it and drumming on the gourd with their fingers.?[933] the karo-bataks of sumatra have a rain-making ceremony which lasts a week. the men go about with bamboo squirts and the women with {p278} bowls of water, and they drench each other or throw the water into the air and cry, “the rain has come,” when it drips down on them.?[934] in kumaon, a district of north-west india, when rain fails they sink a brahman up to his lips in a tank or pond, where he repeats the name of a god of rain for a day or two. when this rite is duly performed, rain is sure to fall.?[935] for the same purpose village girls in the punjaub will pour a solution of cow-dung in water upon an old woman who happens to pass; or they will make her sit down under the roof-spout of a house and get a wetting when it rains.?[936] in the solok district of sumatra, when a drought has lasted a long time, a number of half-naked women take a half-witted man to a river; and there besprinkle him with water as a means of compelling the rain to fall.?[937] in some parts of bengal, when drought threatens the country, troops of children of all ages go from house to house and roll and tumble in puddles which have been prepared for the purpose by pouring water into the courtyards. this is supposed to bring down rain. again, in dubrajpur, a village in the birbhum district of bengal, when rain has been looked for in vain, people will throw dirt or filth on the houses of their neighbours, who abuse them for doing so. or they drench the lame, the halt, the blind, and other infirm persons, and are reviled for their pains by the victims. this vituperation is believed to bring about the desired result by drawing down showers on the parched earth.?[938] similarly, in the shahpur district of the punjaub it is said to be customary in time of drought to spill a pot of filth on the threshold of a notorious old shrew, in order that the fluent stream of foul language in which she vents her feelings may accelerate the lingering rain.?[939] {p279}

beneficial effect of curses and abuse.

in these latter customs the means adopted for bringing about the desired result appear to be not so much imitative magic as the beneficent effect which, curiously enough, is often attributed to curses and maledictions.?[940] thus in the indian district of behar much virtue is ascribed to abuse, which is supposed in some cases to bring good luck. people, for example, who accompany a marriage procession to the bride’s house are often foully abused by the women of the bride’s family in the belief that this contributes to the good fortune of the newly-married pair. so in behar on jamadwitiya day, which falls on the second day of the bright period of the moon next to that during which the dussera festival takes place, brothers are reviled by sisters to their heart’s content because it is thought that this will prolong the lives of the brothers and bring them good luck.?[941] further, in behar and bengal it is deemed very unlucky to look at the new moon of bhadon (august); whoever does so is sure to meet with some mishap, or to be falsely accused of something. to avert these evils people are commonly advised to throw stones or brickbats into their neighbours’ houses; for if they do so, and are reviled for their pains, they will escape the threatened evils, and their neighbours who abused them will suffer in their stead. hence the day of the new moon in this month is called the day of stones. at benares a regular festival is held for this purpose on the fourth day of bhadon, which is known as “the clod festival of the fourth.”?[942] on the khurda estate in orissa gardens and fruit-trees are conspicuously absent. the peasants explain their absence by saying that from time immemorial they have held it lucky to be annoyed and abused by their neighbours at a certain festival, which answers to the nashti-chandra in bengal. hence in order to give ample ground of offence they mutilate the fruit-trees and trample down the gardens of their neighbours, and so court fortune by drawing down on themselves {p280} the wrath of the injured owners.?[943] at cranganore, in the native state of cochin, there is a shrine of the goddess bhagavati, which is much frequented by pilgrims in the month of minam (march-april). from all parts of cochin, malabar, and travancore crowds flock to attend the festival and the highroads ring with their shouts of nada nada, “march! march!” they desecrate the shrine of the goddess in every conceivable way, discharge volleys of stones and filth, and level the most opprobrious language at the goddess herself. these proceedings are supposed to be acceptable to her. the intention of the pilgrimage is to secure immunity from disease during the succeeding year.?[944] in some cases a curse may, like rags and dirt, be supposed to benefit a man by making him appear vile and contemptible, and thus diverting from him the evil eye and other malignant influences, which are attracted by beauty and prosperity but repelled by their opposites. among the huzuls of the carpathians, if a herdsman or cattle-owner suspects himself of having the evil eye, he will charge one of his household to call him a devil or a robber every time he goes near the cattle; for he thinks that this will undo the effect of the evil eye.?[945] among the chams of cambodia and annam, while a corpse is being burned on the pyre, a man who bears the title of the master of sorrows remains in the house of the deceased and loads it with curses, after which he beseeches the ghost not to come back and torment his family.?[946] these last curses are clearly intended to make his old home unattractive to the spirit of the dead. esthonian fishermen believe that they never have such good luck as when some one is angry with them and curses them. hence before a fisherman goes out to fish, he will play a rough practical joke on a comrade in order to be abused and execrated by him. the more his friend storms and curses, the better he is pleased; every curse brings at least three {p281} fish into his net.?[947] there is a popular belief in berlin and the neighbourhood that if you wish a huntsman good luck when he is going out to shoot deer he will be certain never to get a shot at all. to avert the ill luck caused by such a wish the hunter must throw a broomstick at the head of his well-wisher. if he is really to have luck, you must wish that he may break his neck, or both his neck and his legs. the wish is expressed with pregnant brevity in the phrase, “now then, neck and leg!”?[948] the intention of such curses may be to put the fish or the deer off their guard; for, as we shall see later on, animals are commonly supposed to understand human speech, and even to overhear what is said of them many miles off. accordingly if they hear a fisherman or a hunter flouted and vituperated, they will think too meanly of him to go out of his way, and so will fall an easy prey to his net or his gun. when a greek sower sowed cummin he had to curse and swear, or the crop would not turn out well.?[949] roman writers mention a similar custom observed by the sowers of rue and basil;?[950] and hedge doctors in ancient greece laid it down as a rule that in cutting black hellebore you should face eastward and curse.?[951] perhaps the bitter language was supposed to strengthen the bitter taste, and hence the medicinal virtue, of these plants. at lindus in the island of rhodes it was customary to sacrifice one or two plough oxen to hercules with curses and imprecations; indeed we are told that the sacrifice was deemed invalid if a good word fell from any one’s lips during the rite. the custom was explained by a legend that hercules had laid hands on the oxen of a ploughman and cooked and devoured them, while their owner, unable to defend his beasts, stood afar off and vented his anger in a torrent of abuse and execration. hercules received his maledictions with a roar of laughter, appointed him his priest, and bade him always sacrifice with the very same execrations, for he had never {p282} dined better in his life.?[952] the legend is plainly a fiction devised to explain the ritual. we may conjecture that the curses were intended to palliate the slaughter of a sacred animal. the subject will be touched on in a later part of this work. here we must return to rain-making.

rain-making by ploughing.

women are sometimes supposed to be able to make rain by ploughing, or pretending to plough. thus the pshaws and chewsurs of the caucasus have a ceremony called “ploughing the rain,” which they observe in time of drought. girls yoke themselves to a plough and drag it into a river, wading in the water up to their girdles.?[953] in the same circumstances armenian girls and women do the same. the oldest woman, or the priest’s wife, wears the priest’s dress, while the others, dressed as men, drag the plough through the water against the stream.?[954] in the caucasian province of georgia, when a drought has lasted long, marriageable girls are yoked in couples with an ox-yoke on their shoulders, a priest holds the reins, and thus harnessed they wade through rivers, puddles, and marshes, praying, screaming, weeping, and laughing.?[955] in a district of transylvania, when the ground is parched with drought, some girls strip themselves naked, and, led by an older woman, who is also naked, they steal a harrow and carry it across the fields to a brook, where they set it afloat. next they sit on the harrow and keep a tiny flame burning on each corner of it for an hour. then they leave the harrow in the water and go home.?[956] a similar rain-charm is resorted to in some parts of india; naked women drag a plough across a field by night, while the men keep carefully out of the way, for their presence would break the spell.?[957] as performed at {p283} chunar in bengal on the twenty-fourth of july 1891 the ceremony was this. between nine and ten in the evening a barber’s wife went from door to door and invited the women to engage in ploughing. they all assembled in a field from which men were excluded. three women of a husbandman’s family then stripped themselves naked; two of them were yoked like oxen to the plough, while the third held the handle. they next began to imitate the operation of ploughing. the one who held the plough cried out, “o mother earth! bring parched grain, water, and chaff. our stomachs are breaking to pieces from hunger and thirst.” then the landlord and accountant approached them and laid down some grain, water, and chaff in the field. after that the women dressed and returned home. “by the grace of god,” adds the gentleman who reports the ceremony, “the weather changed almost immediately, and we had a good shower.”?[958] sometimes as they draw the plough the women sing a hymn to vishnu, in which they seek to enlist his sympathy by enumerating the ills which the people are suffering from the want of rain. in some cases they discharge volleys of abuse at the village officials, and even at the landlord, whom they compel to drag the plough.?[959] these ceremonies are all the more remarkable because in ordinary circumstances hindoo women never engage in agricultural operations like ploughing and harrowing. yet in drought it seems to be women of the highest or brahman caste who are chosen to perform what at other times would be regarded as a menial and degrading task. occasionally, when hesitation is felt at subjecting brahman ladies to this indignity, they are allowed to get off by merely touching the plough early in the morning, before people are astir; the real work is afterwards done by the ploughmen.?[960] in manipur the prosperity of all classes {p284} depends on the abundance and regularity of the rainfall; hence the people have many rites and ceremonies for the making of rain. thus in time of drought one hundred and eight girls milk one hundred and eight cows in the temple of govindji, the most popular incarnation of krishna in the country. if this fails, the women throw their dhan-pounders into the nearest pool, and at the dead of night strip themselves naked and plough.?[961] there is a burmese superstition that if a harrow has a flaw in it no rain will fall till the faulty harrow has been decked with flowers, broken, and thrown into the river. further, the owner should have his hair cropped, and being adorned with flowers should dance and carry the harrow to the water. otherwise the country is sure to suffer from drought.?[962] the tarahumare indians of mexico dip the plough in water before they use it, that it may draw rain.?[963]

making rain by means of the dead.

sometimes the rain-charm operates through the dead. thus in new caledonia the rain-makers blackened themselves all over, dug up a dead body, took the bones to a cave, jointed them, and hung the skeleton over some taro leaves. water was poured over the skeleton to run down on the leaves. they believed that the soul of the deceased took up the water, converted it into rain, and showered it down again.?[964] in some parts of new caledonia the {p285} ceremony is somewhat different. a great quantity of provisions is offered to the ancestors, being laid down before their skulls in the sacred place. in front of the skulls a number of pots full of water are set in a row, and in each pot there is deposited a sacred stone which has more or less the shape of a skull. the rain-maker then prays to the ancestors to send rain. after that he climbs a tree with a branch in his hand, which he waves about to hasten the approach of the rain-clouds.?[965] the ceremony is a mixture of magic and religion; the prayers and offerings to the ancestors are purely religious, while the placing of the skull-like stones in water and the waving of the branch are magical. in russia, if common report may be believed, it is not long since the peasants of any district that chanced to be afflicted with drought used to dig up the corpse of some one who had drunk himself to death and sink it in the nearest swamp or lake, fully persuaded that this would ensure the fall of the needed rain. in 1868 the prospect of a bad harvest, caused by a prolonged drought, induced the inhabitants of a village in the tarashchansk district to dig up the body of a raskolnik, or dissenter, who had died in the preceding december. some of the party beat the corpse, or what was left of it, about the head, exclaiming, “give us rain!” while others poured water on it through a sieve.?[966] here the pouring of water through a sieve seems plainly an imitation of a shower, and reminds us of the manner in which strepsiades in aristophanes imagined that rain was made by zeus.?[967] an armenian rain-charm is to dig up a skull and throw it into running water.?[968] at ourfa for this purpose they prefer the skull of a jew, which they cast into the pool of abraham.?[969] in mysore people think that if a leper is buried, instead of being burnt, as he ought to be, rain will not fall. hence they have been known to disinter buried lepers in time of drought.?[970] in halmahera there is a practice of {p286} throwing stones on a grave, in order that the ghost may fall into a passion and avenge the disturbance, as he imagines, by sending heavy rain.?[971] this may explain a rain-charm which seems to have been practised by the mauretanians in antiquity. a mound in the shape of a man lying on his back was pointed out as the grave of the giant antaeus; and if any earth were dug up and removed from it, rain fell till the soil was replaced.?[972] perhaps the rain was the revenge the surly giant took for being wakened from his long sleep. sometimes, in order to procure rain, the toradjas of central celebes make an appeal to the pity of the dead. thus, in the village of kalingooa, in kadombookoo, there is the grave of a famous chief, the grandfather of the present ruler. when the land suffers from unseasonable drought, the people go to this grave, pour water on it, and say, “o grandfather, have pity on us; if it is your will that this year we should eat, then give rain.” after that they hang a bamboo full of water over the grave; there is a small hole in the lower end of the bamboo, so that the water drips from it continually. the bamboo is always refilled with water until rain drenches the ground.?[973] here, as in new caledonia, we find religion blent with magic, for the prayer to the dead chief, which is purely religious, is eked out with a magical imitation of rain at his grave. we have seen that the baronga of delagoa bay drench the tombs of their ancestors, especially the tombs of twins, as a rain-charm.?[974] in zululand the native girls form a procession and carry large pots of water to a certain tree which chances to be on a mission station. when the girls were asked why they did this, they said that an old ancestor of theirs had been buried under the tree, and as he was a great rain-maker in his life, they always came and poured water on his grave in time of drought, in order that he might send them rain.?[975] this ceremony partakes of the nature of religion, since it implies an appeal for help to a deceased ancestor. purely religious, on the other hand, are {p287} some means adopted by the herero of south-western africa to procure rain. if a drought has lasted long, the whole tribe goes with its cattle to the grave of some eminent man; it may be the father or grandfather of the chief. they lay offerings of milk and flesh on the grave and utter their plaint: “look, o father, upon your beloved cattle and children; they suffer distress, they are so lean, they are dying of hunger. give us rain.” the ears of the spectator are deafened by the lowing and bleating of herds and flocks, the shouts of herdsmen, the barking of dogs, and the screams of women.?[976] among some of the indian tribes in the region of the orinoco it was customary for the relations of a deceased person to disinter his bones a year after burial, burn them, and scatter the ashes to the winds, because they believed that the ashes were changed into rain, which the dead man sent in return for his obsequies.?[977] the chinese are convinced that when human bodies remain unburied, the souls of their late owners feel the discomfort of rain, just as living men would do if they were exposed without shelter to the inclemency of the weather. these wretched souls, therefore, do all in their power to prevent the rain from falling, and often their efforts are only too successful. then drought ensues, the most dreaded of all calamities in china, because bad harvests, dearth, and famine follow in its train. hence it has been a common practice of the chinese authorities in time of drought to inter the dry bones of the unburied dead for the purpose of putting an end to the scourge and conjuring down the rain.?[978]

making rain by means of animals.

animals, again, often play an important part in these weather-charms. the anula tribe of northern australia associate the dollar-bird with rain, and call it the rain-bird. a man who has the bird for his totem can make rain at a certain pool. he catches a snake, puts it alive into the pool, and after holding it under water for a time takes it {p288} out, kills it, and lays it down by the side of the creek. then he makes an arched bundle of grass stalks in imitation of a rainbow, and sets it up over the snake. after that all he does is to sing over the snake and the mimic rainbow; sooner or later the rain will fall. they explain this procedure by saying that long ago the dollar-bird had as a mate at this spot a snake, who lived in the pool and used to make rain by spitting up into the sky till a rainbow and clouds appeared and rain fell.?[979] the tjingilli of northern australia make rain in an odd way. one of them will catch a fat bandicoot and carry it about, singing over it till the animal grows very thin and weak. then he lets it go, and rain will follow.?[980] when some of the blackfoot indians were at war in summer and wished to bring on a tempest, they would take a kit-fox skin and rub it with dirt and water, which never failed to be followed by a storm of rain.?[981] the thompson indians of british columbia think that when the loon calls loud and often, it will soon rain, and that to mimic the cry of the bird may bring the rain down.?[982] the fish called the small sculpin, which abounds along the rocky shore of norton sound, is called by the esquimaux the rain-maker; they say that if a person takes one of these fish in his hand heavy rain will follow.?[983] if aino fishermen desire to bring on rain and wind, they pray to the skulls of racoons and then throw water over each other. should they wish the storm to increase they put on gloves and caps of racoon-skin and dance. then it blows great guns.?[984] in ma-hlaing, a district of upper burma, when rain is scarce, the people pray to a certain fish called nga-yan to send it. they also catch some fish and put them in a tub, while offerings of plantains and other food are made to the monks in the name of the fish. after that the fish are let loose in {p289} a stream or pond, with gold-leaf stuck on their heads. if live fish are not to be had, wooden ones are used and answer the purpose just as well.?[985] when the chirus of manipur wish to make rain they catch a crab and put it in a pot of water. then the headman goes to the gate of the village and keeps lifting the crab out of the water and putting it back into it till he is tired.?[986] an ancient indian mode of making rain was to throw an otter into the water.?[987] if the sky refuses rain and the cattle are perishing, an arab sheikh will sometimes stand in the middle of the camp and cry, “redeem yourselves, o people, redeem yourselves!” at these words every family sacrifices a sheep, divides it in two, and hanging the pieces on two poles passes between them. children too young to walk are carried by their mother.?[988] but this custom has rather the appearance of a sacrifice than of a charm. in southern celebes people try to make rain by carrying a cat tied in a sedan chair thrice round the parched fields, while they drench it with water from bamboo squirts. when the cat begins to miaul, they say, “o lord, let rain fall on us.”?[989] a common way of making rain in many parts of java is to bathe a cat or two cats, a male and a female; sometimes the animals are carried in procession with music. even in batavia you may from time to time see children going about with a cat for this purpose; when they have ducked it in a pool, they let it go.?[990] {p290}

making rain by means of black animals.

often in order to give effect to the rain-charm the animal must be black. thus an ancient indian way of bringing on rain was to set a black horse with his face to the west and rub him with a black cloth till he neighed.?[991] in the beni-chougran tribe of north africa women lead a black cow in procession, while other women sprinkle the whole group with water as a means of wringing a shower from the sky.?[992] to procure rain the peruvian indians used to set a black sheep in a field, poured chica over it, and gave the animal nothing to eat until rain fell.?[993] once when a drought lasting five months had burnt up their pastures and withered the corn, the caffres of natal had recourse to a famous witch, who promised to procure rain without delay. a black sheep having been produced, an incision was made in the animal near the shoulder and the gall taken out. part of this the witch rubbed over her own person, part she drank, part was mixed with medicine. some of the medicine was then rubbed on her body; the rest of it, attached to a stick, was fixed in the fence of a calves’ pen. the woman next harangued the clouds. when the sheep was to be cooked, a new fire was procured by the friction of fire-sticks; in ordinary circumstances a brand would have been taken from one of the huts.?[994] among the wambugwe, a bantu people of eastern africa, when the sorcerer desires to make rain he takes a black sheep and a black calf in bright sunshine, and has them placed upon the roof of the large common hut in which the people live together. then he slits open the stomachs of the animals and scatters their contents in all directions. after that he pours water and medicine into a vessel; if the charm has succeeded, the water boils up and rain follows. on the other hand, if the sorcerer wishes to prevent rain from falling, he withdraws into the interior of the hut, and there heats a rock-crystal in a calabash.?[995] in order to procure rain the wagogo of german east africa sacrifice black fowls, black sheep, and black cattle at the {p291} graves of dead ancestors, and the rain-maker wears black clothes during the rainy season.?[996] among the matabele the rain-charm employed by sorcerers was made from the blood and gall of a black ox.?[997] in a district of sumatra, in order to procure rain, all the women of the village, scantily clad, go to the river, wade into it, and splash each other with the water. a black cat is thrown into the stream and made to swim about for a while, then allowed to escape to the bank, pursued by the splashing of the women.?[998] the garos of assam offer a black goat on the top of a very high mountain in time of drought.?[999] in all these cases the colour of the animal is part of the charm; being black, it will darken the sky with rain-clouds. so the bechuanas burn the stomach of an ox at evening, because they say, “the black smoke will gather the clouds and cause the rain to come.”?[1000] the timorese sacrifice a black pig to the earth-goddess for rain, a white or red one to the sun-god for sunshine.?[1001] the angoni, a tribe of zulu descent to the north of the zambesi, sacrifice a black ox for rain and a white one for fine weather.?[1002] among the high mountains of japan there is a district in which, if rain has not fallen for a long time, a party of villagers goes in procession to the bed of a mountain torrent, headed by a priest, who leads a black dog. at the chosen spot they tether the beast to a stone, and make it a target for their bullets and arrows. when its life-blood bespatters the rocks, the peasants throw down their weapons and lift up their voices in supplication to the dragon divinity of the {p292} stream, exhorting him to send down forthwith a shower to cleanse the spot from its defilement. custom has prescribed that on these occasions the colour of the victim shall be black, as an emblem of the wished-for rain-clouds. but if fine weather is wanted, the victim must be white, without a spot.?[1003]

frogs and toads in relation to rain.

frogs used in rain-charms.

the intimate association of frogs and toads with water has earned for these creatures a widespread reputation as custodians of rain; and hence they often play a part in charms designed to draw needed showers from the sky. some of the indians of the orinoco held the toad to be the god or lord of the waters, and for that reason feared to kill the creature, even when they were ordered to do so. they have been known to keep frogs under a pot and to beat them with rods when there was a drought.?[1004] it is said that the aymara indians of peru and bolivia often make little images of frogs and other aquatic animals and place them on the tops of the hills as a means of bringing down rain.?[1005] in some parts of south-eastern australia, where the rainfall is apt to be excessive, the natives feared to injure tidelek, the frog, or bluk, the bull-frog, because they were said to be full of water instead of intestines, and great rains would follow if one of them were killed. the frog family was often referred to as bunjil willung or mr. rain. a tradition ran that once upon a time long ago the frog drank up all the water in the lakes and rivers, and then sat in the dry {p293} reed beds swollen to an enormous size, saying, “bluk! bluk!” in a deep gurgling voice. all the other animals wandered about gaping and gasping for a drop of moisture, but finding none, they agreed that they must all die of thirst unless they could contrive to make the frog laugh. so they tried one after the other, but for a long time in vain. at last the conger eel and his relations, hung round with lake grass and gay sea-weed, reared themselves on their tails and pranced round the fire. this was too much for the frog. he opened his mouth and laughed till the water ran out and the lakes and streams were full once more.?[1006] we have seen that some of the queensland aborigines imitate the movements and cries of frogs as part of a rain-charm.?[1007] the thompson river indians of british columbia and some people in europe think that to kill a frog brings on rain.?[1008] in order to procure rain people of low caste in the central provinces of india will tie a frog to a rod covered with green leaves and branches of the n?m tree (azadirachta indica) and carry it from door to door singing—

send soon, o frog, the jewel of water!

and ripen the wheat and millet in the field.?[1009]

in kumaon, a district of north-western india, one way of bringing on rain when it is needed is to hang a frog with its mouth up on a tall bamboo or on a tree for a day or two. the notion is that the god of rain, seeing the creature in trouble, will take pity on it and send the rain.?[1010] in the district of muzaffarpur in india the vulgar believe that the cry of a frog is most readily heard by the god of {p294} rain. hence in a year of drought the low-caste females of a village assemble at evening and put a frog in a small earthen pot together with water taken from five different houses. the pot with the frog is then placed in the hollow wooden cup into which the lever used for pounding rice falls. being raised with the foot and then allowed to drop, the lever crushes the frog to death; and while the creature emits his dying croak the women sing songs in a loud voice about the dearth of water.?[1011] the kapus or reddis are a large and prosperous caste of cultivators and landowners in the madras presidency. when rain fails, women of the caste will catch a frog and tie it alive to a new winnowing fan made of bamboo. on this fan they spread a few margosa leaves and go from door to door singing, “lady frog must have her bath. oh! rain-god, give a little water for her at least.” while the kapu women sing this song, the woman of the house pours water over the frog and gives an alms, convinced that by so doing she will soon bring rain down in torrents.?[1012] again, in order to procure rain the malas, who are the pariahs of the telugu country in southern india, tie a live frog to a mortar and put a mud figure of gontiyalamma over it. then they carry the mortar, frog, and all in procession, singing, “mother frog, playing in water, pour rain by pots full,” while the villagers of other castes pour water over them.?[1013] beliefs like these might easily develop into a worship of frogs regarded as personifying the powers of water and rain. in the rig veda there is a hymn about frogs which appears to be substantially a rain-charm.?[1014] the newars, the aboriginal inhabitants of nepaul, worship the frog as a creature associated with the demi-god nagas in the production and control of rain and the water-supply, on which the welfare of the crops depends. a sacred character is attributed to the little animal, and every care is taken not to molest or injure it. the worship of the frog is performed on the seventh day of the month kartik (october), usually at a {p295} pool which is known to be frequented by frogs, although it is not essential to the efficacy of the rite that a frog should be actually seen at the time. after carefully washing his face and hands, the priest takes five brazen bowls and places in them five separate offerings, namely, rice, flowers, milk and vermilion, ghee and incense, and water. lighting the pile of ghee and incense, the priest says, “hail, paremêsvara bh?m?natha! i pray you receive these offerings and send us timely rain, and bless our crops!”?[1015]

suggested explanation of connexion of frog with rain.

some of these customs and beliefs may be, at least in part, based on the frog’s habit of storing up water in its body against seasons of drought; when it is caught at such times, it squirts the water out in a jet.?[1016] on seeing a frog emit a gush of water when all around was dry and parched, savages might easily infer that the creature had caused the drought by swallowing all the water, and that in order to restore its moisture to the thirsty ground they had only to make the frog disgorge its secret store of the precious liquid.

stopping rain by means of rabbits and serpents.

among some tribes of south africa, when too much rain falls, the wizard, accompanied by a large crowd, repairs to the house of a family where there has been no death for a very long time, and there he burns the skin of a coney. as it burns he shouts, “the rabbit is burning,” and the cry is taken up by the whole crowd, who continue shouting till they are exhausted.?[1017] this no doubt is supposed to stop the rain. equally effective is a method adopted by gypsies in austria. when the rain has continued to pour steadily for a long time, to the great discomfort of these homeless vagrants, the men of the band assemble at a river and divide themselves into two parties. some of them cut branches with which to make a raft, while the others collect hazel leaves and cover the raft with them. a witch thereupon lays a dried serpent, wrapt {p296} in white rags, on the raft, which is then carried by several men to the river. women are not allowed to be present at this part of the ceremony. while the procession moves towards the river, the witch marches behind the raft singing a song, of which the burden is a statement that gypsies do not like water, and have no urgent need of serpents’ milk, coupled with the expression of a hope that the serpent may see his way to swallow the water, that he may run to his mother and drink milk from her breasts, and that the sun may shine out, bringing back mirth and jollity to gypsy hearts. transylvanian gypsies will sometimes expose the dried carcase of a serpent to the pouring rain, “in order that the serpent may convince himself of the inclemency of the weather, and so grant the people’s wish.”?[1018]

doing violence to the being who controls the weather.

this last custom is an example of an entirely different mode of procuring rain, to which people sometimes have recourse in extreme cases, when the drought is long and their temper short. at such times they will drop the usual hocus-pocus of imitative magic altogether, and being far too angry to waste their breath in prayer they seek by threats and curses or even downright physical force to extort the waters of heaven from the supernatural being who has, so to say, cut them off at the main. thus, in muzaffarnagar, a town of the punjaub, when the rains are excessive, the people draw a figure of a certain muni or rishi agastya on a loin-cloth and put it out in the rain, or they paint his figure on the outside of the house and let the rain wash it off. this muni or rishi agastya is a great personage in the native folklore, and enjoys the reputation of being able to stop the rain. it is supposed that he will exercise his power as soon as he is thus made to feel in effigy the misery of wet weather.?[1019] on the other hand, when rain is wanted at chhatarpur, a native state in bundelcund, they paint two figures with their legs up and their heads down on a wall that faces east; one of the figures represents indra, the other megha raja, the lord of rain. they think that in this uncomfortable position these powerful beings will soon be glad to send {p297} the much-needed showers.?[1020] in a japanese village, when the guardian divinity had long been deaf to the peasants’ prayers for rain, they at last threw down his image and, with curses loud and long, hurled it head foremost into a stinking rice-field. “there,” they said, “you may stay yourself for a while, to see how you will feel after a few days’ scorching in this broiling sun that is burning the life from our cracking fields.”?[1021] in the like circumstances the feloupes of senegambia cast down their fetishes and drag them about the fields, cursing them till rain falls.?[1022] in okunomura, a japanese village not far from tokio, when rain is wanted, an artificial dragon is made out of straw, reeds, bamboos, and magnolia leaves. preceded by a shinto priest, attended by men carrying paper flags, and followed by others beating a big drum, the dragon is carried in procession from the buddhist temple and finally thrown into a waterfall.?[1023] when the spirits withhold rain or sunshine, the comanches whip a slave; if the gods prove obstinate, the victim is almost flayed alive.?[1024]

chinese modes of compelling the gods to give rain.

siamese modes of constraining the gods to give rain.

the chinese are adepts in the art of taking the kingdom of heaven by storm. thus, when rain is wanted they make a huge dragon of paper or wood to represent the rain-god, and carry it about in procession; but if no rain follows, the mock-dragon is execrated and torn to pieces.?[1025] at other times they threaten and beat the god if he does not give rain; sometimes they publicly depose him from the rank of deity. on the other hand, if the wished-for rain falls, the god is promoted to a higher rank by an imperial decree.?[1026] it is said that in the reign of kia-king, fifth emperor of the {p298} manchu dynasty, a long drought desolated several provinces of northern china. processions were of no avail; the rain-dragon hardened his heart and would not let a drop fall. at last the emperor lost patience and condemned the recalcitrant deity to perpetual exile on the banks of the river illi in the province of torgot. the decree was in process of execution; the divine criminal, with a touching resignation, was already traversing the deserts of tartary to work out his sentence on the borders of turkestan, when the judges of the high court of peking, moved with compassion, flung themselves at the feet of the emperor and implored his pardon for the poor devil. the emperor consented to revoke his doom, and a messenger set off at full gallop to bear the tidings to the executors of the imperial justice. the dragon was reinstated in his office on condition of performing his duties a little better in future.?[1027] about the year 1710 the island of tsong-ming, which belongs to the province of nanking, was afflicted with a drought. the viceroy of the province, after the usual attempts to soften the heart of the local deity by burning incense-sticks had been made in vain, sent word to the idol that if rain did not fall by such and such a day, he would have him turned out of the city and his temple razed to the ground. the threat had no effect on the obdurate divinity; the day of grace came and went, and yet no rain fell. then the indignant viceroy forbade the people to make any more offerings at the shrine of this unfeeling deity, and commanded that the temple should be shut up and seals placed on the doors. this soon produced the desired effect. cut off from his base of supplies, the idol had no choice but to surrender at discretion. rain fell in a few days, and thus the god was restored to the affections of the faithful.?[1028] in some parts of china the mandarins procure rain or fine weather by shutting the southern or the northern gates of the city. for the south wind brings drought and the north wind brings showers. hence by closing the southern and opening the northern gates you clearly exclude drought and admit rain; whereas contrariwise by shutting the northern and opening the {p299} southern gates you bar out the clouds and the wet and let in sunshine and genial warmth.?[1029] in april 1888 the mandarins of canton prayed to the god lung-wong to stop the incessant downpour of rain; and when he turned a deaf ear to their petitions they put him in a lock-up for five days. this had a salutary effect. the rain ceased and the god was restored to liberty. some years before, in time of drought, the same deity had been chained and exposed to the sun for days in the courtyard of his temple in order that he might feel for himself the urgent need of rain.?[1030] so when the siamese need rain, they set out their idols in the blazing sun; but if they want dry weather, they unroof the temples and let the rain pour down on the idols. they think that the inconvenience to which the gods are thus subjected will induce them to grant the wishes of their worshippers.?[1031] when the rice-crop is endangered by long drought, the governor of battambang, a province of siam, goes in great state to a certain pagoda and prays to buddha for rain. then, accompanied by his suite and followed by an enormous crowd, he adjourns to a plain behind the pagoda. here a dummy figure has been made up, dressed in bright colours, and placed in the middle of the plain. a wild music begins to play; maddened by the din of drums and cymbals and crackers, and goaded on by their drivers, the elephants charge down on the dummy and trample it to pieces. after this, buddha will soon give rain.?[1032]

compelling the saints to give rain in sicily.

the reader may smile at the meteorology of the far east; but precisely similar modes of procuring rain have been resorted to in christian europe within our own lifetime. by the end of april 1893 there was great distress in sicily for lack of water. the drought had lasted six months. every day the sun rose and set in a sky of cloudless blue. the gardens of the conca d’oro, which surround palermo with a magnificent belt of verdure, were {p300} withering. food was becoming scarce. the people were in great alarm. all the most approved methods of procuring rain had been tried without effect. processions had traversed the streets and the fields. men, women, and children, telling their beads, had lain whole nights before the holy images. consecrated candles had burned day and night in the churches. palm branches, blessed on palm sunday, had been hung on the trees. at solaparuta, in accordance with a very old custom, the dust swept from the churches on palm sunday had been spread on the fields. in ordinary years these holy sweepings preserve the crops; but that year, if you will believe me, they had no effect whatever. at nicosia the inhabitants, bare-headed and bare-foot, carried the crucifixes through all the wards of the town and scourged each other with iron whips. it was all in vain. even the great st. francis of paola himself, who annually performs the miracle of rain and is carried every spring through the market-gardens, either could not or would not help. masses, vespers, concerts, illuminations, fire-works—nothing could move him. at last the peasants began to lose patience. most of the saints were banished. at palermo they dumped st. joseph in a garden to see the state of things for himself, and they swore to leave him there in the sun till rain fell. other saints were turned, like naughty children, with their faces to the wall. others again, stripped of their beautiful robes, were exiled far from their parishes, threatened, grossly insulted, ducked in horse-ponds. at caltanisetta the golden wings of st. michael the archangel were torn from his shoulders and replaced with wings of pasteboard; his purple mantle was taken away and a clout wrapt about him instead. at licata the patron saint, st. angelo, fared even worse, for he was left without any garments at all; he was reviled, he was put in irons, he was threatened with drowning or hanging. “rain or the rope!” roared the angry people at him, as they shook their fists in his face.?[1033] {p301}

disturbing the rain-god in his haunts.

another way of constraining the rain-god is to disturb him in his haunts. this seems to be the reason why rain is supposed to follow the troubling of a sacred spring. the dards believe that if a cow-skin or anything impure is placed in certain springs, storms will follow.?[1034] in the mountains of farghana there was a place where rain began to fall as soon as anything dirty was thrown into a certain famous well.?[1035] again, in tabaristan there was said to be a cave in the mountain of tak which had only to be defiled by filth or milk for the rain to begin to fall, and to continue falling till the cave was cleansed.?[1036] gervasius mentions a spring, into which if a stone or a stick were thrown, rain would at once issue from it and drench the thrower.?[1037] there was a fountain in munster such that if it were touched or even looked at by a human being, it would at once flood the whole province with rain.?[1038] in normandy a wizard will sometimes repair to a spring, sprinkle flour on it, and strike the water with a hazel rod, while he chants his spell. a mist then rises from the spring and condenses in the shape of heavy clouds, which discharge volleys of hail on the orchards and corn-fields.?[1039] when rain was long of coming in the canary islands, the priestesses used to beat the sea with rods to punish the water-spirit for his niggardliness.?[1040] among the natural curiosities of annam are the caves of chua-hang {p302} or troc. you may sail into them in a boat underground for a distance of half a mile, and a little way further in you come to the remains of an ancient altar among magnificent stalactite columns. the annamites worship the spirit of the cave and offer sacrifices at its mouth in time of drought. from all the villages in the neighbourhood come boats, the boatmen singing, “let it rain! let it rain!” in time to the measured dip of their oars in the water. arrived at the mouth of the cave, they offer rice and wine to the spirit, prostrating themselves four times before him. then the master of the ceremonies recites a prayer, ties a written copy of it to the neck of a dog, and flings the animal into the stream which flows from the grotto. this is done in order to provoke the spirit of the cave to anger by defiling his pure water; for he will then send abundant rains to sweep far away the carcase of the dead dog which pollutes the sacred grotto.?[1041]

putting compulsion on the rain-god.

exciting the pity of the beings who control the rain.

two hundred miles to the east of the land of the huichol indians in mexico there is a sacred spring, and away to the west of their country stretches the pacific ocean. to ensure the fall of rain these indians carry water from the spring to the sea, and an equal quantity of sea-water from the sea to the spring. the two waters thus transferred will, they think, feel strange in their new surroundings and will seek to return to their old homes. hence they will pass in the shape of clouds across the huichol country and meeting there will descend as rain.?[1042] sometimes an appeal is made to the pity of the gods. when their corn is being burnt up by the sun, the zulus look out for a “heaven bird,” kill it, and throw it into a pool. then the heaven melts with tenderness for the death of the bird; “it wails for it by raining, wailing a funeral wail.”?[1043] in zululand women sometimes bury their children up to the neck in the ground, and then retiring to a distance keep up a dismal howl for a long time. the sky is supposed to melt with pity at the sight. then the women dig the children out and feel sure {p303} that rain will soon follow. they say that they call to “the lord above” and ask him to send rain. if it comes they declare that “usondo rains.”?[1044] in times of drought the guanches of teneriffe led their sheep to sacred ground, and there they separated the lambs from their dams, that their plaintive bleating might touch the heart of the god.?[1045] in kumaon a way of stopping rain is to pour hot oil in the left ear of a dog. the animal howls with pain, his howls are heard by indra, and out of pity for the beast’s sufferings the god stops the rain.?[1046] sometimes the toradjas of central celebes attempt to procure rain as follows. they place the stalks of certain plants in water, saying, “go and ask for rain, and so long as no rain falls i will not plant you again, but there shall you die.” also they string some fresh-water snails on a cord, and hang the cord on a tree, and say to the snails, “go and ask for rain, and so long as no rain comes, i will not take you back to the water.” then the snails go and weep and the gods take pity and send rain.?[1047] however, the foregoing ceremonies are religious rather than magical, since they involve an appeal to the compassion of higher powers. a peculiar mode of making rain was adopted by some of the heathen arabs. they tied two sorts of bushes to the tails and hind legs of their cattle, and, setting fire to the bushes, drove the cattle to the top of a mountain, praying for rain.?[1048] this may be, as wellhausen suggests, an imitation of lightning on the horizon;?[1049] but it may also be a way of threatening the sky, as some west african rain-makers put a pot of inflammable materials on the fire and blow up the flames, threatening that if heaven does not soon give rain they will send up a blaze which will set the sky on fire.?[1050] in time of drought the priests of the muyscas in new granada ascended a mountain and there burned billets {p304} of wood smeared with resin. the ashes they scattered in the air, thinking thus to condense the clouds and bring rain.?[1051]

making rain by means of stones.

bezoar stones as instruments of rain.

stones are often supposed to possess the property of bringing on rain, provided they be dipped in water or sprinkled with it, or treated in some other appropriate manner. in a samoan village a certain stone was carefully housed as the representative of the rain-making god, and in time of drought his priests carried the stone in procession and dipped it in a stream.?[1052] among the ta-ta-thi tribe of new south wales, the rain-maker breaks off a piece of quartz-crystal and spits it towards the sky; the rest of the crystal he wraps in emu feathers, soaks both crystal and feathers in water, and carefully hides them.?[1053] in the keramin tribe of new south wales the wizard retires to the bed of a creek, drops water on a round flat stone, then covers up and conceals it.?[1054] among some tribes of north-western australia the rain-maker repairs to a piece of ground which is set apart for the purpose of rain-making. there he builds a heap of stones or sand, places on the top of it his magic stone, and walks or dances round the pile chanting his incantations for hours, till sheer exhaustion obliges him to desist, when his place is taken by his assistant. water is sprinkled on the stone and huge fires are kindled. no layman may approach the sacred spot while the mystic ceremony is being performed.?[1055] when the sulka of new britain wish to procure rain they blacken stones with the ashes of certain fruits and set them out, along with certain other plants and buds, in the sun. then a handful of twigs is dipped in water and weighted with stones, while a spell is chanted. after that rain should follow.?[1056] in manipur, on a lofty hill to the east of the capital, there is a stone which the popular imagination likens to an umbrella. {p305} when rain is wanted, the rajah fetches water from a spring below and sprinkles it on the stone.?[1057] at sagami in japan there is a stone which draws down rain whenever water is poured on it.?[1058] when the wakondyo, a tribe of central africa, desire rain, they send to the wawamba, who dwell at the foot of snowy mountains, and are the happy possessors of a “rain-stone.” in consideration of a proper payment, the wawamba wash the precious stone, anoint it with oil, and put it in a pot full of water. after that the rain cannot fail to come.?[1059] in behar people think to put an end to drought by keeping a holy stone named náráyan-chakra in a vessel of water.?[1060] the turks of armenia make rain by throwing pebbles into the water. at egin the pebbles are hung in two bags in the euphrates; there should be seventy thousand and one of them.?[1061] at myndus in asia minor the number of the stones used for this purpose is seventy-seven thousand, and each of them should be licked before it is cast into the sea.?[1062] in some parts of mongolia, when the people desire rain, they fasten a bezoar stone to a willow twig, and place it in pure water, uttering incantations or prayers at the same time.?[1063] at yakutsk all classes used firmly to believe they could make rain by means of one of these bezoar stones, provided it had really been found in the stomach of an animal, and the fiercer the beast the more powerful the charm. the rain-maker had to dip the stone in spring water just as the sun rose, and then holding it between the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand to present it to the luminary, after which he made three turns contrary to the direction of the sun. the virtue of a bezoar stone lasted only nine days.?[1064] conversely, when dr. radloff’s mongolian guide wished to stop the rain, he tied a rock-crystal by a short string to a stick, held the stone over the fire, and then swung the stick {p306} about in all directions, while he chanted an incantation.?[1065] water is scarce with the fierce apaches, who roam the arid wastes of arizona and new mexico; for springs are few and far between in these torrid wildernesses, where the intense heat would be unendurable were it not for the great dryness of the air. the stony beds of the streams are waterless in the plains; but if you ascend for some miles the profound ca?ons that worm their way into the heart of the wild and rugged mountains, you come in time to a current trickling over the sand, and a mile or two more will bring you to a stream of a tolerable size flowing over boulders and screened from the fierce sun by walls of rock that tower on either hand a thousand feet into the air, their parched sides matted with the fantastic forms of the prickly cactus, and their summits crested far overhead with pine woods, like a black fringe against the burning blue of the sky. in such a land we need not wonder that the thirsty indians seek to procure rain by magic. they take water from a certain spring and throw it on a particular point high up on a rock; the welcome clouds then soon gather, and rain begins to fall.?[1066] in the district of varanda, in armenia, there is a rock with a hole in it near a sacred place. women light candles on the rock and pour water into the hole in order to bring on rain. and in the same district there is another rock on which water is poured and milk boiled as an offering in time of drought.?[1067]

making rain by means of stones in europe.

dipping images of saints in water as a rain-charm.

but customs of this sort are not confined to the wilds of africa and asia or the torrid deserts of australia and the new world. they have been practised in the cool air and under the grey skies of europe. there is a fountain called barenton, of romantic fame, in those “wild woods of broceliande,” where, if legend be true, the wizard merlin still sleeps his magic slumber in the hawthorn shade. thither the breton peasants used to resort when they {p307} needed rain. they caught some of the water in a tankard and threw it on a slab near the spring.?[1068] on snowdon there is a lonely tarn called dulyn, or the black lake, lying “in a dismal dingle surrounded by high and dangerous rocks.” a row of stepping-stones runs out into the lake, and if any one steps on the stones and throws water so as to wet the farthest stone, which is called the red altar, “it is but a chance that you do not get rain before night, even when it is hot weather.”?[1069] in these cases it appears probable that, as in samoa, the stone is regarded as more or less divine. this appears from the custom sometimes observed of dipping the cross in the fountain of barenton to procure rain, for this is plainly a christian substitute for the old pagan way of throwing water on the stone.?[1070] at various places in france it is, or used till lately to be, the practice to dip the image of a saint in water as a means of procuring rain. thus, beside the old priory of commagny, a mile or two to the south-west of moulins-engilbert, there is a spring of st. gervais, whither the inhabitants go in procession to obtain rain or fine weather according to the needs of the crops. in times of great drought they throw into the basin of the fountain an ancient stone image of the saint that stands in a sort of niche from which the fountain flows.?[1071] at collobrières and carpentras, both in provence, a similar practice was observed with the images of st. pons and st. gens respectively.?[1072] in several villages of navarre prayers for rain used to be offered to st. peter, and by way of enforcing them the villagers carried the image of the saint in procession to the river, where they thrice invited him to reconsider his resolution and to grant their prayers; then, if he was still obstinate, they plunged him in the water, despite the remonstrances of the clergy, who {p308} pleaded with as much truth as piety that a simple caution or admonition administered to the image would produce an equally good effect. after this the rain was sure to fall within twenty-four hours.?[1073] catholic countries do not enjoy a monopoly of making rain by ducking holy images in water. in mingrelia, when the crops are suffering from want of rain, they take a particularly holy image and dip it in water every day till a shower falls;?[1074] and in the far east the shans drench the images of buddha with water when the rice is perishing of drought.?[1075] in all such cases the practice is probably at bottom a sympathetic charm, however it may be disguised under the appearance of a punishment or a threat.

various rain-charms by means of stones.

the application of water to a miraculous stone is not the only way of securing its good offices in the making of rain. in the island of uist, one of the outer hebrides, there is a stone cross opposite to st. mary’s church, which the natives used to call the water-cross. when they needed rain, they set the cross up; and when enough rain had fallen, they laid it flat on the ground.?[1076] in aurora, one of the new hebrides islands, the rain-maker puts a tuft of leaves of a certain plant in the hollow of a stone; over it he lays some branches of a pepper-tree pounded and crushed, and to these he adds a stone which is believed to possess the property of drawing down showers from the sky. all this he accompanies with incantations, and finally covers the whole mass up. in time it ferments, and steam, charged with magical virtue, goes up and makes clouds and rain. the wizard must be careful, however, not to pound the pepper too hard, as otherwise the wind might blow too strong.?[1077] sometimes the stone derives its magical virtue from its likeness to a real or imaginary animal. thus, at kota gadang in sumatra, there is a stone which, with the help of a powerful imagination, may perhaps be conceived to bear a faint and distant resemblance to a cat. {p309} naturally, therefore, it possesses the property of eliciting showers from the sky, since in sumatra, as we have seen, a real black cat plays a part in ceremonies for the production of rain. hence the stone is sometimes smeared with the blood of fowls, rubbed, and incensed, while a charm is uttered over it.?[1078] at eneti, in washington state, there is an irregular basaltic rock on which a face, said to be that of the thunder-bird, has been hammered. the indians of the neighbourhood long believed that to shake the rock would cause rain by exciting the wrath of the thunder-bird.?[1079]

rain-charms in classical antiquity.

like other peoples, the greeks and romans sought to obtain rain by magic, when prayers and processions?[1080] had proved ineffectual. for example, in arcadia, when the corn and trees were parched with drought, the priest of zeus dipped an oak branch into a certain spring on mount lycaeus. thus troubled, the water sent up a misty cloud, from which rain soon fell upon the land.?[1081] a similar mode of making rain is still practised, as we have seen, in halmahera near new guinea.?[1082] the people of crannon in thessaly had a bronze chariot which they kept in a temple. when they desired a shower they shook the chariot and the shower fell.?[1083] probably the rattling of the chariot was meant to imitate thunder; we have already seen that mock thunder and lightning form part of a rain-charm in russia and {p310} japan.?[1084] the legendary salmoneus, king of elis, made mock thunder by dragging bronze kettles behind his chariot, or by driving over a bronze bridge, while he hurled blazing torches in imitation of lightning. it was his impious wish to mimic the thundering car of zeus as it rolled across the vault of heaven. indeed he declared that he was actually zeus, and caused sacrifices to be offered to himself as such.?[1085] near a temple of mars, outside the walls of rome, there was kept a certain stone known as the lapis manalis. in time of drought the stone was dragged into rome, and this was supposed to bring down rain immediately.?[1086] there were etruscan wizards who made rain or discovered springs of water, it is not certain which. they were thought to bring the rain or the water out of their bellies.?[1087] the legendary telchines in rhodes are described as magicians who could change their shape and bring clouds, rain, and snow.?[1088] the athenians sacrificed boiled, not roast meat to the seasons, begging them to avert drought and dry heat and to send due warmth and timely rain.?[1089] this is an interesting example of the admixture of religion with sorcery, of sacrifice with magic. the athenians dimly conceived that in some way the water in the pot would be transmitted through the boiled meat to the deities, and then sent down again by them in the form of rain.?[1090] in a similar spirit {p311} the prudent greeks made it a rule always to pour honey, but never wine, on the altars of the sun-god, pointing out, with great show of reason, how expedient it was that a god on whom so much depended should keep strictly sober.?[1091]

§ 3. the magical control of the sun

making the sun to shine.

magical control of the sun.

attempts to help the sun at an eclipse.

various charms to cause the sun to shine.

the rule of total abstinence which greek prudence and piety imposed on the sun-god introduces us to a second class of natural phenomena which primitive man commonly supposes to be in some degree under his control and dependent on his exertions. as the magician thinks he can make rain, so he fancies he can cause the sun to shine, and can hasten or stay its going down. at an eclipse the ojebways used to imagine that the sun was being extinguished. so they shot fire-tipped arrows in the air, hoping thus to rekindle his expiring light.?[1092] the sencis of eastern peru also shot burning arrows at the sun during an eclipse, but apparently they did this not so much to relight his lamp as to drive away a savage beast with which they supposed him to be struggling.?[1093] conversely during an eclipse of the moon some indian tribes of the orinoco used to bury lighted brands in the ground; because, said they, if the moon were to be extinguished, all fire on earth would be extinguished {p312} with her, except such as was hidden from her sight.?[1094] during an eclipse of the sun the kamtchatkans were wont to bring out fire from their huts and pray the great luminary to shine as before.?[1095] but the prayer addressed to the sun shews that this ceremony was religious rather than magical. purely magical, on the other hand, was the ceremony observed on similar occasions by the chilcotin indians of north-western america. men and women tucked up their robes, as they do in travelling, and then leaning on staves, as if they were heavy laden, they continued to walk in a circle till the eclipse was over.?[1096] apparently they thought thus to support the failing steps of the sun as he trod his weary round in the sky. similarly in ancient egypt the king, as the representative of the sun, walked solemnly round the walls of a temple in order to ensure that the sun should perform his daily journey round the sky without the interruption of an eclipse or other mishap.?[1097] and after the autumnal equinox the ancient egyptians held a festival called “the nativity of the sun’s walking-stick,” because, as the luminary declined daily in the sky, and his light and heat diminished, he was supposed to need a staff on which to lean.?[1098] in new caledonia when a wizard desires to make sunshine, he takes some plants and corals to the burial-ground, and fashions them into a bundle, adding two locks of hair cut from a living child of his family, also two teeth or an entire jawbone from the skeleton of an ancestor. he then climbs a mountain whose top catches the first rays of the morning sun. here he deposits three sorts of plants on a flat stone, places a branch of dry coral beside them, and hangs the bundle of charms over the stone. next morning he returns to the spot and sets fire to the bundle at the moment when {p313} the sun rises from the sea. as the smoke curls up, he rubs the stone with the dry coral, invokes his ancestors and says: “sun! i do this that you may be burning hot, and eat up all the clouds in the sky.” the same ceremony is repeated at sunset.?[1099] the new caledonians also make a drought by means of a disc-shaped stone with a hole in it. at the moment when the sun rises, the wizard holds the stone in his hand and passes a burning brand repeatedly into the hole, while he says: “i kindle the sun, in order that he may eat up the clouds and dry up our land, so that it may produce nothing.”?[1100] when the sun rises behind clouds—a rare event in the bright sky of southern africa—the sun clan of the bechuanas say that he is grieving their heart. all work stands still, and all the food of the previous day is given to matrons or old women. they may eat it and may share it with the children they are nursing, but no one else may taste it. the people go down to the river and wash themselves all over. each man throws into the river a stone taken from his domestic hearth, and replaces it with one picked up in the bed of the river. on their return to the village the chief kindles a fire in his hut, and all his subjects come and get a light from it. a general dance follows.?[1101] in these cases it seems that the lighting of the flame on earth is supposed to rekindle the solar fire. such a belief comes naturally to people who, like the sun clan of the bechuanas, deem themselves the veritable kinsmen of the sun. when the sun is obscured by clouds, the lengua indians of the gran chaco hold burning sticks towards him to encourage the luminary,?[1102] or rather perhaps to {p314} rekindle his seemingly expiring light. the banks islanders make sunshine by means of a mock sun. they take a very round stone, called a vat loa or sunstone, wind red braid about it, and stick it with owls’ feathers to represent rays, singing the proper spell in a low voice. then they hang it on some high tree, such as a banyan or a casuarina, in a sacred place. or the stone is laid on the ground with white rods radiating from it to imitate sunbeams.?[1103] sometimes the mode of making sunshine is the converse of that of making rain. thus we have seen that a white or red victim is sacrificed for sunshine, while a black one is sacrificed for rain.?[1104] some of the new caledonians drench a skeleton to make rain, but burn it to make sunshine.?[1105]

sun-charms among the american indians.

human sacrifices offered to the sun by the mexicans.

greek sacrifices of horses to the sun.

when the mists lay thick on the sierras of peru, the indian women used to rattle the silver and copper ornaments which they wore on their breasts, and they blew against the fog, hoping thus to disperse it and make the sun shine through. another way of producing the same effect was to burn salt or scatter ashes in the air.?[1106] the guarayo indians also threw ashes in the air for the sake of clearing up the clouded evening sky.?[1107] in car nicobar, when it has rained for several days without stopping, the natives roll long bamboos in leaves of various kinds and set them up in the middle of the village. they call these bamboos “rods inviting the sun to shine.”?[1108] the offering made by the brahman in the morning is supposed to produce the sun, and we are told that “assuredly it would not rise, were he not to make that offering.”?[1109] the ancient mexicans conceived the sun as the source of all vital force; hence they named him ipalnemohuani, “he by whom men live.” but if he bestowed life on the world, he needed also to receive {p315} life from it. and as the heart is the seat and symbol of life, bleeding hearts of men and animals were presented to the sun to maintain him in vigour and enable him to run his course across the sky. thus the mexican sacrifices to the sun were magical rather than religious, being designed, not so much to please and propitiate him, as physically to renew his energies of heat, light, and motion. the constant demand for human victims to feed the solar fire was met by waging war every year on the neighbouring tribes and bringing back troops of captives to be sacrificed on the altar. thus the ceaseless wars of the mexicans and their cruel system of human sacrifices, the most monstrous on record, sprang in great measure from a mistaken theory of the solar system. no more striking illustration could be given of the disastrous consequences that may flow in practice from a purely speculative error.?[1110] the ancient greeks believed that the sun drove in a chariot across the sky; hence the rhodians, who worshipped the sun as their chief deity, annually dedicated a chariot and four horses to him, and flung them into the sea for his use. doubtless they thought that after a year’s work his old horses and chariot would be worn out.?[1111] from a like motive, probably, the idolatrous kings of judah dedicated chariots and horses to the sun,?[1112] and the spartans,?[1113] persians,?[1114] and massagetae?[1115] sacrificed horses to him. the spartans performed the sacrifice on the {p316} top of mount taygetus, the beautiful range behind which they saw the great luminary set every night. it was as natural for the inhabitants of the valley of sparta to do this as it was for the islanders of rhodes to throw the chariot and horses into the sea, into which the sun seemed to them to sink at evening. for thus, whether on the mountain or in the sea, the fresh horses stood ready for the weary god where they would be most welcome, at the end of his day’s journey.

staying the sun by means of a net or string.

staying the sun by putting a stone or a clod in the fork of a tree.

as some people think they can light up the sun or speed him on his way, so others fancy they can retard or stop him. in a pass of the peruvian andes stand two ruined towers on opposite hills. iron hooks are clamped into their walls for the purpose of stretching a net from one tower to the other. the net is intended to catch the sun.?[1116] on a small hill in fiji grew a patch of reeds, and travellers who feared to be belated used to tie the tops of a handful of reeds together to prevent the sun from going down.?[1117] as to this my late friend the rev. lorimer fison wrote to me: “i have often seen the reeds tied together to keep the sun from going down. the place is on a hill in lakomba, one of the eastern islands of the fijian group. it is on the side—not on the top—of the hill. the reeds grow on the right side of the path. i asked an old man the meaning of the practice, and he said, ‘we used to think the sun would see us, and know we wanted him not to go down till we got past on our way home again.’”?[1118] but perhaps the original intention was to entangle the sun in the reeds, just as the peruvians try to catch him in the net. stories of men who have caught the sun in a noose are widely spread.?[1119] when the sun is going southward in the autumn, and sinking lower and lower in the arctic sky, the esquimaux of iglulik play the game of cat’s cradle in order to catch him in the meshes of the string and so prevent his {p317} disappearance. on the contrary, when the sun is moving northward in the spring, they play the game of cup-and-ball to hasten his return.?[1120] means like those which the esquimaux take to stop the departing sun are adopted by the ewe negroes of the slave coast to catch a runaway slave. they take two sticks, unite them by a string, and then wind the string round one of them, while at the same time they pronounce the name of the fugitive. when the string is quite wound about the stick, the runaway will be bound fast and unable to stir.?[1121] in new guinea, when a motu man is hunting or travelling late in the afternoon and fears to be overtaken by darkness, he will sometimes take a piece of twine, loop it, and look through the loop at the sun. then he pulls the loop into a knot and says, “wait until we get home, and we will give you the fat of a pig.” after that he passes the string to the man behind him, and then it is thrown away. in a similar case a motumotu man of new guinea says, “sun, do not be in a hurry; just wait until i get to the end.” and the sun waits. the motumotu do not like to eat in the dark; so if the food is not yet ready, and the sun is sinking, they say, “sun, stop; my food is not ready, and i want to eat by you.”?[1122] here the looking at the sinking sun through a loop and then drawing the loop into a knot appears to be a purely magical ceremony designed to catch the sun in the mesh; but the request that the luminary would kindly stand still till home is reached or the dinner cooked, coupled with the offer of a slice of fat bacon as an inducement to him to comply with the request, is thoroughly religious. jerome of prague, travelling among the heathen lithuanians early in the fifteenth century, found a tribe who worshipped the sun and venerated a large iron hammer. the priests told him that once the sun had been invisible for several months, because a powerful king had shut it up in a strong tower; but the signs of the zodiac {p318} had broken open the tower with this very hammer and released the sun. therefore they adored the hammer.?[1123] when an australian blackfellow wishes to stay the sun from going down till he gets home, he puts a sod in the fork of a tree, exactly facing the setting sun.?[1124] for the same purpose an indian of yucatan, journeying westward, places a stone in a tree or pulls out some of his eyelashes and blows them towards the sun.?[1125] when the golos, a tribe of the bahr-el-ghazal, are on the march, they will sometimes take a stone or a small ant-heap, about the size of a man’s head, and place it in the fork of a tree in order to retard the sunset.?[1126] south african natives, in travelling, will put a stone in a fork of a tree or place some grass on the path with a stone over it, believing that this will cause their friends to keep the meal waiting till their arrival.?[1127] in this, as in previous examples, the purpose apparently is to retard the sun. but why should the act of putting a stone or a sod in a tree be supposed to effect this? a partial explanation is suggested by another australian custom. in their journeys the natives are accustomed to place stones in trees at different heights from the ground in order to indicate the height of the sun in the sky at the moment when they passed the particular tree. those who follow are thus made aware of the time of day when their friends in advance passed the spot.?[1128] possibly the natives, thus accustomed to mark the sun’s progress, may have slipped into the confusion of imagining that to mark the sun’s progress was to arrest it at the point marked. on the other hand, to make it go {p319} down faster, the australians throw sand into the air and blow with their mouths towards the sun,?[1129] perhaps to waft the lingering orb westward and bury it under the sands into which it appears to sink at night.

accelerating the moon.

as some people imagine they can hasten the sun, so others fancy they can jog the tardy moon. the natives of german new guinea reckon months by the moon, and some of them have been known to throw stones and spears at the moon, in order to accelerate its progress and so to hasten the return of their friends, who were away from home for twelve months working on a tobacco plantation.?[1130] the malays think that a bright glow at sunset may throw a weak person into a fever. hence they attempt to extinguish the glow by spitting out water and throwing ashes at it.?[1131] the shuswap indians of british columbia believe that they can bring on cold weather by burning the wood of a tree that has been struck by lightning. the belief may be based on the observation that in their country cold follows a thunder-storm. hence in spring, when these indians are travelling over the snow on high ground, they burn splinters of such wood in the fire in order that the crust of the snow may not melt.?[1132]

§ 4. the magical control of the wind

making the wind to blow or be still.

once more, the savage thinks he can make the wind to blow or to be still. when the day is hot and a yakut has a long way to go, he takes a stone which he has chanced to find in an animal or fish, winds a horse-hair several times round it, and ties it to a stick. he then waves the stick about, uttering a spell. soon a cool breeze begins to blow.?[1133] in order to procure a cool wind for nine days the stone should first be dipped in the blood of a bird or beast and {p320} then presented to the sun, while the sorcerer makes three turns contrary to the course of the luminary.?[1134] the wind clan of the omahas flap their blankets to start a breeze which will drive away the mosquitoes.?[1135] when a haida indian wishes to obtain a fair wind, he fasts, shoots a raven, singes it in the fire, and then going to the edge of the sea sweeps it over the surface of the water four times in the direction in which he wishes the wind to blow. he then throws the raven behind him, but afterwards picks it up and sets it in a sitting posture at the foot of a spruce-tree, facing towards the required wind. propping its beak open with a stick, he requests a fair wind for a certain number of days; then going away he lies covered up in his mantle till another indian asks him for how many days he has desired the wind, which question he answers.?[1136] when a sorcerer in new britain wishes to make a wind blow in a certain direction, he throws burnt lime in the air, chanting a song all the time. then he waves sprigs of ginger and other plants about, throws them up and catches them. next he makes a small fire with these sprigs on the spot where the lime has fallen thickest, and walks round the fire chanting. lastly, he takes the ashes and throws them on the water.?[1137] if a hottentot desires the wind to drop, he takes one of his fattest skins and hangs it on the end of a pole, in the belief that by blowing the skin down the wind will lose all its force and must itself fall.?[1138] fuegian wizards throw shells against the wind to make it drop.?[1139] on the other hand, when a persian peasant desires a strong wind to winnow his corn, he rubs a kind of bastard saffron and throws it up into the air; after that the breeze soon begins to blow.?[1140] some of the indians of canada believed that the winds were caused by a fish like a lizard. when one of {p321} these fish had been caught, the indians advised the jesuit missionaries to put it back into the river as fast as possible in order to calm the wind, which was contrary.?[1141] if a cherokee wizard desires to turn aside an approaching storm, he faces it and recites a spell with outstretched hand. then he gently blows towards the quarter to which he wishes it to go, waving his hand in the same direction as if he were pushing away the storm.?[1142] the ottawa indians fancied they could calm a tempest by relating the dreams they had dreamed during their fast, or by throwing tobacco on the troubled water.?[1143] when the kei islanders wish to obtain a favourable wind for their friends at sea, they dance in a ring, both men and women, swaying their bodies to and fro, while the men hold handkerchiefs in their hands.?[1144] in melanesia there are everywhere weather-doctors who can control the powers of the air and are willing to supply wind or calm in return for a proper remuneration. for instance, in santa cruz the wizard makes wind by waving the branch of a tree and chanting the appropriate charm.?[1145] in another melanesian island a missionary observed a large shell filled with earth, in which an oblong stone, covered with red ochre, was set up, while the whole was surrounded by a fence of sticks strengthened by a creeper which was twined in and out the uprights. on asking a native what these things meant, he learned that the wind was here fenced or bound round, lest it should blow hard; the imprisoned wind would not be able to blow again until the fence that kept it in should have rotted away.?[1146] in south africa, when the caffres wish to stop a high wind, they call in a “wind-doctor,” who takes a pot with a spout and points the spout towards the quarter from which the wind is blowing. he then places medicines {p322} and some of the dust blown by the wind in the vessel, and seals up every opening of the pot with damp clay. thereupon the doctor declares, “the head of the wind is now in my pot, and the wind will cease to blow.”?[1147] the natives of the island of bibili, off german new guinea, are reputed to make wind by blowing with their mouths. in stormy weather the bogadjim people say, “the bibili folk are at it again, blowing away.”?[1148] another way of making wind which is practised in new guinea is to strike a “wind-stone” lightly with a stick; to strike it hard would bring on a hurricane.?[1149] so in scotland witches used to raise the wind by dipping a rag in water and beating it thrice on a stone, saying:

“i knok this rag upone this stane

to raise the wind in the divellis name,

it sall not lye till i please againe.”?[1150]

raising the wind.

at victoria, the capital of vancouver’s island, there are a number of large stones not far from what is called the battery. each of them represents a certain wind. when an indian wants any particular wind, he goes and moves the corresponding stone a little; were he to move it too much, the wind would blow very hard.?[1151] the natives of murray island in torres straits used to make a great wind blow from the south-east by pointing coco-nut leaves and other plants at two granitic boulders on the shore. so long as the leaves remained there the wind sat in that quarter. but, significantly enough, the ceremony was only performed during the prevalence of the south-east monsoon. the natives knew better than to try to raise a south-east wind while the north-west monsoon was blowing.?[1152] on the altar of fladda’s chapel, in the island of fladdahuan (one of the hebrides), lay a round bluish stone which was always moist. windbound fishermen walked sunwise round the chapel and {p323} then poured water on the stone, whereupon a favourable breeze was sure to spring up.?[1153] in gigha, an island off the western coast of argyleshire, there is a well named tobar-rath bhuathaig or “the lucky well of beathag,” which used to be famous for its power of raising the wind. it lies at the foot of a hill facing north-east near an isthmus called tarbat. six feet above where the water gushes out there is a heap of stones which forms a cover to the sacred spring. when a person wished for a fair wind, either to leave the island or to bring home his absent friends, this part was opened with great solemnity, the stones were carefully removed, and the well cleaned with a wooden dish or a clam shell. this being done, the water was thrown several times in the direction from which the wished-for wind was to blow, and this action was accompanied by a certain form of words which the person repeated every time he threw the water. when the ceremony was over, the well was again carefully shut up to prevent fatal consequences, it being firmly believed that, were the place left open, a storm would arise which would overwhelm the whole island.?[1154] the esthonians have various odd ways of raising a wind. they scratch their finger, or hang up a serpent, or strike an axe into a house-beam in the direction from which they wish the wind to blow, while at the same time they whistle. the notion is that the gentle wind will not let an innocent being or even a beam suffer without coming and breathing softly to assuage the pain.?[1155]

winds raised by wizards and witches.

in mabuiag, an island between new guinea and australia, there were men whose business was to make wind for such as wanted it. when engaged in his professional duties the wizard painted himself black behind and red on his face and chest. the red in front typified the red cloud of morning, the black represented the dark blue sky of night. thus arrayed he took some bushes, and, when the tide was low, fastened them at the edge of the reef so that the flowing {p324} tide made them sway backwards and forwards. but if only a gentle breeze was needed, he fastened them nearer to the shore. to stop the wind he again painted himself red and black, the latter in imitation of the clear blue sky, and then removing the bushes from the reef he dried and burnt them. the smoke as it curled up was believed to stop the wind: “smoke he go up and him clear up on top.”?[1156] in some islands of torres straits the wizard made wind by whirling a bull-roarer;?[1157] the booming sound of the instrument probably seemed to him like the roar or the whistling of the wind. amongst the kurnai tribe of gippsland in victoria there used to be a noted raiser of storms who went by the name of bunjil kraura or “great west wind.” this wind makes the tall slender trees of the gippsland forests to rock and sway so that the natives could not climb them in search of opossums. hence the people were forced to propitiate bunjil kraura by liberal offerings of weapons and rugs whenever the tree-tops bent before a gale. having received their gifts, bunjil kraura would bind his head with swathes of stringy bark, and lull the storm to rest with a song which consisted of the words “wear—string—westwind,” repeated again and again.?[1158] apparently the wizard identified himself with the wind, and fancied that he could bind it by tying string round his own head. the kwakiutl indians of british columbia, as we have seen, believe that twins can summon any wind by merely moving their hands.?[1159] in greenland a woman in child-bed and for some time after delivery is supposed to possess the power of laying a storm. she has only to go out of doors, fill her mouth with air, and coming back into the house blow it out again.?[1160] in antiquity there was a family at corinth which enjoyed the reputation of being able to still the raging wind; but we do not know in what manner its members exercised a useful function, {p325} which probably earned for them a more solid recompense than mere repute among the seafaring population of the isthmus.?[1161] even in christian times, under the reign of constantine, a certain sopater suffered death at constantinople on a charge of binding the winds by magic, because it happened that the corn-ships of egypt and syria were detained afar off by calms or head-winds, to the rage and disappointment of the hungry byzantine rabble.?[1162] an ancient charm to keep storms from damaging the crops was to bury a toad in a new earthen vessel in the middle of the field.?[1163] finnish wizards used to sell wind to storm-stayed mariners. the wind was enclosed in three knots; if they undid the first knot, a moderate wind sprang up; if the second, it blew half a gale; if the third, a hurricane.?[1164] indeed the esthonians, whose country is divided from finland only by an arm of the sea, still believe in the magical powers of their northern neighbours. the bitter winds that blow in spring from the north and north-east, bringing ague and rheumatic inflammations in their train, are set down by the simple esthonian peasantry to the machinations of the finnish wizards and witches. in particular they regard with special dread three days in spring to which they give the name of days of the cross; one of them falls on the eve of ascension day. the people in the neighbourhood of fellin fear to go out on these days lest the cruel winds from lappland should smite them dead. a popular esthonian song runs:

“wind of the cross! rushing and mighty!

heavy the blow of thy wings sweeping past!

wild wailing wind of misfortune and sorrow,

wizards of finland ride by on the blast.”?[1165]

it is said, too, that sailors, beating up against the wind in the gulf of finland, sometimes see a strange sail heave in sight astern and overhaul them hand over hand. on she {p326} comes with a cloud of canvas—all her studding-sails out—right in the teeth of the wind, forging her way through the foaming billows, dashing back the spray in sheets from her cutwater, every sail swollen to bursting, every rope strained to cracking. then the sailors know that she hails from finland.?[1166]

enclosing the winds in knots, bags, and pots.

the art of tying up the wind in three knots, so that the more knots are loosed the stronger will blow the wind, has been attributed to wizards in lappland and to witches in shetland, lewis, and the isle of man. shetland seamen still buy winds in the shape of knotted handkerchiefs or threads from old women who claim to rule the storms. there are said to be ancient crones in lerwick now who live by selling wind.?[1167] in the early part of the nineteenth century sir walter scott visited one of these witches at stromness in the orkneys. he says: “we clomb, by steep and dirty lanes, an eminence rising above the town, and commanding a fine view. an old hag lives in a wretched cabin on this height, and subsists by selling winds. each captain of a merchantman, between jest and earnest, gives the old woman sixpence, and she boils her kettle to procure a favourable gale. she was a miserable figure; upwards of ninety, she told us, and dried up like a mummy. a sort of clay-coloured cloak, folded over her head, corresponded in colour to her corpse-like complexion. fine light-blue eyes, and nose and chin that almost met, and a ghastly expression of cunning, gave her quite the effect of hecate.”?[1168] a norwegian witch has boasted of sinking a ship by opening a bag in which she had shut up a wind.?[1169] ulysses received the winds in a leathern bag from aeolus, king of the winds.?[1170] the {p327} motumotu in new guinea think that storms are sent by an oiabu sorcerer; for each wind he has a bamboo which he opens at pleasure.?[1171] on the top of mount agu in togo, a district of german west africa, resides a fetish called bagba, who is supposed to control the wind and the rain. his priest is said to keep the winds shut up in great pots.?[1172]

frightening, driving away, and killing the spirit of the wind.

often the stormy wind is regarded as an evil being who may be intimidated, driven away, or killed. when the darkening of the sky indicates the approach of a tornado, a south african magician will repair to a height whither he collects as many people as can be hastily summoned to his assistance. directed by him, they shout and bellow in imitation of the gust as it swirls roaring about the huts and among the trees of the forest. then at a signal they mimic the crash of the thunder, after which there is a dead silence for a few seconds; then follows a screech more piercing and prolonged than any that preceded, dying away in a tremulous wail. the magician fills his mouth with a foul liquid which he squirts in defiant jets against the approaching storm as a kind of menace or challenge to the spirit of the wind; and the shouting and wailing of his assistants are meant to frighten the spirit away. the performance lasts until the tornado either bursts or passes away in another direction. if it bursts, the reason is that the magician who sent the storm was more powerful than he who endeavoured to avert it.?[1173] when storms and bad weather have lasted long and food is scarce with the central esquimaux, they endeavour to conjure the tempest by making a long whip of seaweed, armed with which they go down to the beach and strike out in the direction of the wind, crying, “taba (it is enough)!”?[1174] once when north-westerly winds had kept the ice long on the coast and food was becoming scarce, the esquimaux {p328} performed a ceremony to make a calm. a fire was kindled on the shore, and the men gathered round it and chanted. an old man then stepped up to the fire and in a coaxing voice invited the demon of the wind to come under the fire and warm himself. when he was supposed to have arrived, a vessel of water, to which each man present had contributed, was thrown on the flames by an old man, and immediately a flight of arrows sped towards the spot where the fire had been. they thought that the demon would not stay where he had been so badly treated. to complete the effect, guns were discharged in various directions, and the captain of a european vessel was invited to fire on the wind with cannon.?[1175] on the twenty-first of february 1883 a similar ceremony was performed by the esquimaux of point barrow, alaska, with the intention of killing the spirit of the wind. women drove the demon from their houses with clubs and knives, with which they made passes in the air; and the men, gathering round a fire, shot him with their rifles and crushed him under a heavy stone the moment that steam rose in a cloud from the smouldering embers, on which a tub of water had just been thrown.?[1176]

confronting the storm with swords and drums.

in ancient india the priest was directed to confront a storm, armed to the teeth with a bludgeon, a sword, and a firebrand, while he chanted a magical lay.?[1177] during a tremendous hurricane the drums of kadouma, near the victoria nyanza, were heard to beat all night. when next morning a missionary enquired the cause, he was told that the sound of the drums is a charm against storms.?[1178] the sea dyaks and kayans of borneo beat gongs when a tempest is raging; but the dyaks, and perhaps the kayans also, do this, not so much to frighten away the spirit of the storm, as to apprise him of their whereabouts, lest he should inadvertently knock their houses down. heard at night above the howling of the storm, the distant boom of the {p329} gongs has a weird effect; and sometimes, before the notes can be distinguished for the wind and rain, they strike fear into a neighbouring village; lights are extinguished, the women are put in a place of safety, and the men stand to their arms to resist an attack. then with a lull in the wind the true nature of the gong-beating is recognised, and the alarm subsides.?[1179]

attacking the whirlwind with weapons.

on calm summer days in the highlands of scotland eddies of wind sometimes go past, whirling about dust and straws, though not another breath of air is stirring. the highlanders think that the fairies are in these eddies carrying away men, women, children, or animals, and they will fling their left shoe, or their bonnet, or a knife, or earth from a mole-hill at the eddy to make the fairies drop their booty.?[1180] when a gust lifts the hay in the meadow, the breton peasant throws a knife or a fork at it to prevent the devil from carrying off the hay.?[1181] similarly in the esthonian island of oesel, when the reapers are busy among the corn and the wind blows about the ears that have not yet been tied into sheaves, the reapers slash at it with their sickles.?[1182] the custom of flinging a knife or a hat at a whirlwind is observed alike by german, slavonian, and esthonian rustics; they think that a witch or wizard is riding on the blast, and that the knife, if it hits the witch, will be reddened by her blood or will disappear altogether, sticking in the wound it has inflicted.?[1183] {p330} sometimes esthonian peasants run shrieking and shouting behind a whirlwind, hurling sticks and stones into the flying dust.?[1184] the lengua indians of the gran chaco ascribe the rush of a whirlwind to the passage of a spirit and they fling sticks at it to frighten it away.?[1185] when the wind blows down their huts, the payaguas of south america snatch up firebrands and run against the wind, menacing it with the blazing brands, while others beat the air with their fists to frighten the storm.?[1186] when the guaycurus are threatened by a severe storm, the men go out armed, and the women and children scream their loudest to intimidate the demon.?[1187] during a tempest the inhabitants of a batta village in sumatra have been seen to rush from their houses armed with sword and lance. the rajah placed himself at their head, and with shouts and yells they hewed and hacked at the invisible foe. an old woman was observed to be specially active in the defence of her house, slashing the air right and left with a long sabre.?[1188] in a violent thunderstorm, the peals sounding very near, the kayans of borneo have been seen to draw their swords threateningly half out of their scabbards, as if to frighten away the demons of the storm.?[1189] in australia the huge columns of red sand that move rapidly across a desert tract are thought by the natives to be spirits passing along. once {p331} an athletic young black ran after one of these moving columns to kill it with boomerangs. he was away two or three hours, and came back very weary, saying he had killed koochee (the demon), but that koochee had growled at him and he must die.?[1190] of the bedouins of eastern africa it is said that “no whirlwind ever sweeps across the path without being pursued by a dozen savages with drawn creeses, who stab into the centre of the dusty column in order to drive away the evil spirit that is believed to be riding on the blast.”?[1191]

fighting the simoom.

in the light of these examples a story told by herodotus, which his modern critics have treated as a fable, is perfectly credible. he says, without however vouching for the truth of the tale, that once in the land of the psylli, the modern tripoli, the wind blowing from the sahara had dried up all the water-tanks. so the people took counsel and marched in a body to make war on the south wind. but when they entered the desert the simoom swept down on them and buried them to a man.?[1192] the story may well have been told by one who watched them disappearing, in battle array, with drums and cymbals beating, into the red cloud of whirling sand.