Fig. 1153.—Lightning. Moki.
Fig. 1153, also from Keam’s MS., gives three other representations of the Moki characters for lightning. The middle one shows the lightning sticks which are worked by the hands of the dancers.
Fig. 1154.—Lightning. Pueblo.
Fig. 1154 also represents lightning, taken by Mr. W. H. Jackson, photographer of the late U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey, from the decorated walls of an estufa in the Pueblo de Jemez, New Mexico. The former is blunt, for harmless, and the latter terminates in an arrow or spear point, for destructive or fatal lightning.
Connected with this topic is the following extract from Virgil’s Æneis, Lib. VIII, 429:
Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosæ
Addiderant, rutili tres ignis et alitis austri.
The “radii” are the forks or spikes by which lightning is designated, especially on medals. It consisted of twelve wreathed spikes or darts extended like the radii of a circle. The wings denote the lightning’s rapid motion and the spikes or darts its penetrating quality. The four different kinds of spikes refer to the four seasons. The “tres imbristorti radii” or the three spikes of hail, are the winter when hail storms abound. The “tres nubis aquosæ radii,” the three spikes of a watery cloud, denote the spring. The “tres rutili ignis radii,” the three spikes of sparkling fire, are the summer when lightning is frequent and the “tres alitis austri radii,” or the three spikes of winged wind, are for autumn with its many wind storms.