[The Midsummer fires in America.]

From the Old World the midsummer fires have been carried across the Atlantic to America.  In Brazil people jump over the fires of St. John, and at this season they can take hot coals in their mouths without burning themselves.[550] In Bolivia on the Eve of St. John it is usual to see bonfires lighted on the hills and even in the streets of the capital La Paz.  As the city stands at the bottom of an immense ravine, and the Indians of the neighbourhood take a pride in kindling bonfires on heights which might seem inaccessible, the scene is very striking when the darkness of night is suddenly and simultaneously lit up by hundreds of fires, which cast a glare on surrounding objects, producing an effect at once weird and picturesque.[551]

[The Midsummer fires among the Mohammedans of Morocco and Algeria.]

The custom of kindling bonfires on Midsummer Day or on Midsummer Eve is widely spread among the Mohammedan peoples of North Africa, particularly in Morocco and Algeria; it is common both to the Berbers and to many of the Arabs or Arabic-speaking tribes.  In these countries Midsummer Day (the twenty-fourth of June, Old Style) is called [Arabic:  l’ansara].  The fires are lit in the courtyards, at cross-roads, in the fields, and sometimes on the threshing-floors.  Plants which in burning give out a thick smoke and an aromatic smell are much sought after for fuel on these occasions; among the plants used for the purpose are giant-fennel, thyme, rue, chervil-seed, camomile, geranium, and penny-royal.  People expose themselves, and especially their children, to the smoke, and drive it towards the orchards and the crops.  Also they leap across the fires; in some places everybody ought to repeat the leap seven times.  Moreover they take burning brands from the fires and carry them through the houses in order to fumigate them.  They pass things through the fire, and bring the sick into contact with it, while they utter prayers for their recovery.  The ashes of the bonfires are also reputed to possess beneficial properties; hence in some places people rub their hair or their bodies with them.[552] For example, the Andjra mountaineers of Morocco kindle large fires in open places of their villages on Midsummer Day.  Men, women, and children jump over the flames or the glowing embers, believing that by so doing they rid themselves of all misfortune which may be clinging to them; they imagine, also, that such leaps cure the sick and procure offspring for childless couples.  Moreover, they burn straw, together with some marjoram and alum, in the fold where the cattle, sheep, and goats are penned for the night; the smoke, in their opinion, will make the animals thrive.  On Midsummer Day the Arabs of the Mnasara tribe make fires outside their tents, near their animals, on their fields, and in their gardens.  Large quantities of penny-royal are burned in these fires, and over some of them the people leap thrice to and