Fire
Many nations have adored this element. In Persia a chimneyless enclosure was made, and into it fire was introduced. Essences and perfumes were cast into the fire by the great persons of the nation. When a Persian king was at the point of death all the fires in the principal Fire towns of the kingdom were extinguished, and were not rekindled until the crowning of his successor. Certain Tartars never accost foreigners who have not purified themselves by passing between two fires; they are also careful to drink with their faces turned to the south, in honour of the element of fire. In some parts of Siberia it is believed that fire is inhabited by a being who dispenses good and evil; they offer him perpetual sacrifices. According to the kabalists, this was the element of the Salamanders. (See also Fire Ordeal.) Fire, Magical: (See Magic.) Fire-Mist, Children of the: (See Lords of the Flame.)