[801] The Golden Bough, Second Edition (London, 1900), iii. 312:  “The custom of leaping over the fire and driving cattle through it may be intended, on the one hand, to secure for man and beast a share of the vital energy of the sun, and, on the other hand, to purge them of all evil influences; for to the primitive mind fire is the most powerful of all purificatory agents”; and again, id. iii. 314:  “It is quite possible that in these customs the idea of the quickening power of fire may be combined with the conception of it as a purgative agent for the expulsion or destruction of evil beings, such as witches and the vermin that destroy the fruits of the earth.  Certainly the fires are often interpreted in the latter way by the persons who light them; and this purgative use of the element comes out very prominently, as we have seen, in the general expulsion of demons from towns and villages.  But in the present class of cases this aspect of fire may be secondary, if indeed it is more than a later misinterpretation of the custom.”

[802] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 311 sqq.

[803] See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 254 sqq.

[804] Manilius, Astronom. v. 206 sqq.: 

“Cum vero in vastos surget Nemeaeus
     hiatus,
   Exoriturque Canis, latratque Canicula
     flammas
   Et rabit igne suo geminatque incendia
     solis,
   Qua subdente facem terris radiosque
     movente” etc.

Pliny, Naturalis Historic xviii. 269 sq.:  “Exoritur dein post triduum fere ubique confessum inter omnes sidus ingens quod canis ortum vocamus, sole partem primam leonis ingresso.  Hoc fit post solstitium XXIII. die.  Sentiunt id maria et terrae, multae vero et ferae, ut suis locis diximus.  Neque est minor ei veneratio quam descriptis in deos stellis accendique solem et magnam aestus obtinet causam.”

[805] Specimens of Bushman Folklore collected by the late W.H.I.  Bleek, Ph.D., and L.C.  Lloyd (London, 1911), pp. 339, 341.  In quoting the passage I have omitted the brackets which the editors print for the purpose of indicating the words which are implied, but not expressed, in the original Bushman text.

[806] “The sun is a little warm, when this star appears in winter” (Editors of Specimens of Bushman Folklore).

[807] “With the stick that he had held in the fire, moving it up and down quickly” (Editors).

[808] “They take one arm out of the kaross, thereby exposing one shoulder blade to the sun” (Editors).