34 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
two
inches in length. When not entirely transparent they frequently contain
inclusions of black asphaltum or other hydrocarbons and also contain
hollow cavities which are filled with fluid, sometimes salt water and
sometimes liquid carbonic acid gas. In these are moving bubbles and
occasionally a heavy hydrocarbon; that is, a bubble will ascend and
the hydrocarbon will sink ; or else the bubble will rise and take with
it a small speck of hydrocarbon, and another will sink. In a wonderful
specimen now at the American Museum of Natural History there is an
object like a small spider of hydrocarbon which sinks while a minute
water-bubble rises. They are called fair-weather stones.
Tasmanian
rain-makers use white stones in their magical rites; however, the stone
by itself is not considered an effective talisman, for it must be
dipped in the blood of a young girl to give it added power. After a
number of white pebbles have been steeped for a time in this blood, the
rainmaker ties them up in strips of bark and sinks them in some deep
water-hole in which a diabolical spirit is supposed to dwell. The
natives confidently assert that this ceremony is soon followed by the
desired rain-fall. As the belief prevails here as elsewhere, that
these white stones or pebbles to retain their power must not be looked
upon by a woman, it seems a little strange that the rain-bringing stone
is dipped in a young girl's blood.54
However,
white stones have not always and everywhere been regarded as lucky, for
it is stated that among the fishermen of the Isle of Man the presence
of a white stone in a fishing-smack is confidently believed to portend
poor fishing. Indeed it has been reported by a Scotchman, who went out
in a fishing boat for several consecutive days with a party of
u Nona
Lebour, " White Quartz Pebbles and their Archaeological Significance";
reprint from Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural
History and Antiquarian Society, January 30,1914, p. 10.
