The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)

Die Edda, übersetzt von K. Simrock

(Stuttgart, 1882), p. 264.

735

S. Powers, Tribes of California (Washington, 1877), p. 171.

736

S. Powers, Tribes of California, p. 287.

737

Max Girschner, “Die Karolineninsel Namöluk und ihre Bewohner,” Baessler-Archiv, ii. (1912) p. 141.

738

A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strasburg, 1897), pp. 91 sq., referring to Rigveda, vi. 3. 3, x. 79. 7, ii. 1. 14, iii. 1. 13, x. 1. 2, viii. 43. 9, i. 70. 4, ii. 1. 1. Compare H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894), pp. 120 sq.

739

Edward M. Curr, The Australian Race (Melbourne and London, 1886-1887), i. 9, 18.

740

James Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part i. (Washington, 1900) p. 422, compare p. 435.

741

James Teit, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia, p. 346 (The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, April, 1900).

742

J. Teit, op. cit. p. 374.

743

The Shuswap Indians of British Columbia entertain a similar belief. It has been suggested that the fancy may be based on the observation that cold follows a thunder-storm. See G. M. Dawson, “Notes on the Shuswap people of British Columbia,” Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, ix. (1891) Section ii. p. 38.

744

R. Wuttke, Sächsische Volkskunde

(Dresden, 1901), p. 369.

745

Henri A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe (Neuchatel, 1912-1913), ii. 291. The Thonga imagine that lightning is caused by a great bird, which sometimes buries itself in the ground to a depth of several feet. See H. A. Junod, op. cit. ii. 290 sq.

746

Dr. James A. Chisholm (of the Livingstonia Mission, Mwenzo, N.E. Rhodesia), “Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Winamwanga and Wiwa,” Journal of the African Society, No. 36 (July, 1910), p. 363.

747

S. Powers, Tribes of California (Washington, 1877), p. 287. The dread of lightning is prominent in some of the customs observed in Patiko, a district of the Uganda Protectorate. If a village has suffered from lightning, ropes made of twisted grass are strung from peak to peak of the houses to ward off further strokes. And if a person has been struck or badly shaken, “an elaborate cure is performed upon him. A red cock is taken, his tongue torn out, and his body dashed upon the house where the stroke fell. Then the scene changes to the bank of a small running stream, where the patient is made to kneel while the bird is sacrificed over the water. A raw egg is next given to the patient to swallow, and he is laid on his stomach and encouraged to vomit. The lightning is supposed to be vomited along with the egg, and all ill effects prevented.” See Rev. A. L. Kitching, On the Backwaters of the Nile (London, 1912), p. 263.

748

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 349 sqq.

749

W. Warde Fowler, “The Oak and the Thunder-god,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, xvi. (1913) pp. 318 sq. My friend Mr. Warde Fowler had previously called my attention to the facts in a letter dated September 17th, 1912.

750

Dr. W. Schlich's Manual of Forestry, vol. iv. Forest Protection, by W. R. Fisher, Second Edition (London, 1907), pp. 662 sq. Mr. W. Warde Fowler was the first to call the attention of mythologists to this work.

751

Experiments on the conductivity of electricity in wood go to shew that starchy trees (oak, poplar, maples, ash, elm, sorbus) are good conductors, that oily trees (beech, walnut, birch, lime) are bad conductors, and that the conifers are intermediate, the Scotch pine in summer being as deficient in oil as the starchy trees, but rich in oil during winter. It was found that a single turn of Holz's electric machine sufficed to send the spark through oakwood, but that from twelve to twenty turns were required to send it through beech-wood. Five turns of the machine were needed to send the spark through poplar and willow wood. See Dr. W. Schlich, Manual of Forestry, vol. iv. Forest Protection, Second Edition (London, 1907), p. 664. In the tropics lightning is said to be especially attracted to coco-nut palms. See P. Amaury Talbot, In the Shadow of the Bush (London, 1913), p. 73.

752

As to the Greek belief and custom, see H. Usener, Kleine Schriften, iv. (Leipsic and Berlin, 1913), “Keraunos,” pp. 471 sqq.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 361. As to the Roman belief and custom, see Festus, svv.Fulguritum and Provorsum fulgur, pp. 92, 229, ed. C. O. Müller (Leipsic, 1839); H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. pars i. (Berlin, 1902) pp. 10 sq., Nos. 3048-3056; L. Preller, Römische Mythologie

(Berlin, 1881-1883), i. 190-193; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer

(Munich, 1912), pp. 121 sq. By a curious refinement the Romans referred lightning which fell by day to Jupiter, but lightning which fell by night to a god called Summanus (Festus, p. 229).

753

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

iii. 64, citing a statement that lightning strikes twenty oaks for one beech. The statistics adduced by Mr. W. Warde Fowler seem to shew that this statement is no exaggeration but rather the contrary.

754

W. Warde Fowler, “The Oak and the Thunder-god,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, xvi. (1913) pp. 317-320.

755

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 356 sqq.

756

The suggestion is Mr. W. Warde Fowler's (op cit. pp. 319 sq.).