Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/384

 356 The Magical and Ceremo7iial Uses of Fire.

accumulates at the distal end, is placed on tinder, and blown into flame. This is a more or less simple method, and an expert can produce fire in a few seconds by this means. This process of fire-making is sometimes called the Poly- nesian method, it being very characteristic of that area.

{c) Sawing method. The usual way of producing fire by this method is to split a bamboo into two pieces, with a transverse notch cut across the lower piece, the blade, or upper stick, being sawn across the notch with gradually increasing speed. At a certain point the smoke changes colour, and then the operator knows that he has got his spark. The tinder is frequently placed near the notch on the lower stick. Sometimes, as among the Paniyans of Southern India, the tinder consists of a piece of cotton cloth, which is stuffed into a longitudinal slit in the hearth.^ Sometimes the process is reversed, the saw being the under piece, and the hearth being moved backwards and forwards over it. This sawing method is closely associated with Malay culture.

In order to obtain fire expeditiously the Malays some- times recite the following charm :

" The Mouse-deer asks for fire To singe his mother-ia-law's feathers."

The " mother-in-law " is a little bird, rather like a pigeon in shape, with very gay plumage. This bird and the "Mouse-deer" in the days of King Solomon had human forms. The mother-in-law was aggravating, and persisted in dancing in front of her son-in-law wherever he went. It brought about a quarrel that resulted in their being trans- formed into their present shapes. This, however, has not cured the mother-in-law of her exasperating antics, for she is still often seen hopping in front of the Mouse-deer as it goes along. '^

^ E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, vol. vi. pp. 70-71. 2W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 318.