The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-21

rain followed the same night.
A method used In Bengal to make 1
rain 10 to deluge the image Of tn,
god Rudcadeva In the temple. Al
the outlets are closed and hundred,
or more Brahmans pour water owe
the image till It 10 Immersed to tn,
chin. BrahmanH sometimes stand II
the river and recite prayers to tn,
god Varuna. Children of the Ruman,
ians stll throw clay images into tn,
river to bring rain in a dry season
In parts of India q blacksmith's anvil
Is thrown into a we'll to produce rain
This Is evidently a species of imitativ.
magic, the we'll IMPLYING the rair
and the noise, Of the anvil the thun,
der.
The intimate association Of frog,
and toads with springs and wet place,
has probably led to the belief thai
they control tho fall of rain. Some.
times they have been beaten in time
OF drought to bring 1t to al end, as
for the same purpose, little images
of them were placed on top of the
hills by the Indians in Peru and DO.
livia: while. ON the contrary, in
southeastern Australia, where the
rainfall was excessive. the people
feared to injure them lest a flood
might follow. The Thompson River
Indians OF British Columbia kill q
frog to bring on rain. In northwest
ern India they hang one upon a tree
for a day or two that the rain god
may take pity on 1t and send a show
err.
In a village In Russia three men
used to climb up the fir trees in the
sacred grove and drum with a ham,
mer on a kettle to initiate thunder,
and knock firebrands together to imi-
tate lightning, and with O bunch Of
twtgs sprinkle water on all sides.
Roman women with disheveled hair
prayed to Jupiter for rain. In the
Tyrol witches were said to use comb
ed out hair for making hailstones
fall. 1t is also said that the Romans
never allowed anyone on shipboard to
cut his hair except during q storm,
for then, when the storm was on, the
danger Of causing one was past. A
charm was sometimes recited at hair
cutting to avert thunder and light
ming. Tribes Of West Africa use the
hair Of a dead man as rain charms.
The great rain-making contest be-
tween the Prophet Elijah and the
priests OF Baal must not pass unno-
ticed. There were the sacrifices, the
pouring Of water over the stones
IL stones and IL barrels of water. Now,
this pouring Of the water was not,
some suppose, for the purpose Of
convincing the people that Elijah had
not concealed fire In the altar. It
was nothing more than a touch Of that
magic which prevails every
where among primitive peoples, and
the priests Of Baal suffered also the
fate Of rainmakers who fail. They
took them, $50 Of them, down to the
brook Of Kedron and slaughtered
them. Indian medicine men are some-
times killed for failure to make
weather to suit the tribe. Kings in
early times, supposed to be divine or
personages. had to share
with deities responsibilities for the
Of the weather. They were
beaten to compel them to
bring a desired change, when coax
Ing or rich present failed to bring it.
In some parts Of west Africa they
bind the king with ropes and march
him to the graves Of his fathers, or
they strip him of his property and
Danish or kill him IL crops fail or
showers fail to come, as has also
been done in Korea.
This has led a recent writer to ask:
rs there not, in the ways of modern
times, a perceptible reflection of this
primitive custom. in countries where
people. to a considerable extent, en-
Joy the privilege Of suffrage, when
the party in power Is always charged
with being responsible for hard times
resulting from agricultural depression
which follows failure Of crops?"