be the cause of his bad luck.  He set up two planks near each other, bored a hole in each, inserted a pointed rod in the holes, and twisted a long cord round the rod.  Then he pulled the cord so as to make the rod revolve rapidly.  Thus by reason of the friction he at last drew fire from the wood.  That contented him, for “he believed that the witchery was thus rendered powerless, and that good luck in his fishing was now ensured."[710]

[The need-fire among the Slavonic peoples.]

Slavonic peoples hold the need-fire in high esteem.  They call it “living fire,” and attribute to it a healing virtue.  The ascription of medicinal power to fire kindled by the friction of wood is said to be especially characteristic of the Slavs who inhabit the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan peninsula.  The mode in which they produce the need-fire differs somewhat in different places.  Thus in the Schar mountains of Servia the task is entrusted to a boy and girl between eleven and fourteen years of age.  They are led into a perfectly dark room, and having stripped themselves naked kindle the fire by rubbing two rollers of lime wood against each other, till the friction produces sparks, which are caught in tinder.  The Serbs of Western Macedonia drive two oaken posts into the ground, bore a round hole in the upper end of each, insert a roller of lime wood in the holes, and set it revolving rapidly by means of a cord, which is looped round the roller and worked by a bow.  Elsewhere the roller is put in motion by two men, who hold each one end of the cord and pull it backwards and forwards forcibly between them.  Bulgarian shepherds sometimes kindle the need-fire by drawing a prism-shaped piece of lime wood to and fro across the flat surface of a tree-stump in the forest.[711] But in the neighbourhood of Kuestendil, in Bulgaria, the need-fire is kindled by the friction of two pieces of oak wood and the cattle are driven through it.[712]

[The need-fire in Russia and Poland; the need-fire in Slavonia.]

In many districts of Russia, also, “living fire” is made by the friction of wood on St. John’s Day, and the herds are driven through it, and the people leap over it in the conviction that their health is thereby assured; when a cattle-plague is raging, the fire is produced by rubbing two pieces of oak wood against each other, and it is used to kindle the lamps before the holy pictures and the censers in the churches.[713] Thus it appears that in Russia the need-fire is kindled for the sake of the cattle periodically as well as on special emergencies.  Similarly in Poland the peasants are said to kindle fires in the village streets on St. Rochus’s day and to drive the cattle thrice through them in order to protect the animals against the murrain.  The fire is produced by rubbing a pole of poplar wood on a plank of poplar or fir wood and catching the sparks in tow.  The embers are carried home to be used as remedies in sickness.[714] As practised in Slavonia, the custom