believing that by blowing the skin down the wind will lose all its force and must itself fall.[1] In some parts of Austria, during a heavy storm, it is customary to open the window and throw out a handful of meal, chaff, or feathers, saying to the wind, “There, that’s for you, stop!”[2] Once when north-westerly winds had kept the ice long on the coast, and food was getting scarce, the Eskimos of Alaska 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 fire 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 asked to fire on the wind with cannon.[3] When the wind blows down their huts, the Payaguas in South America snatch up fire-brands and run against the wind menacing it with the blazing brands, while others beat the air with their fists to frighten the storm.[4] 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.[5] During a tempest the inhabitants of a Batta village in Sumatra have been seen to
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FIGHTING THE WIND
CHAP.
