Fire-making Apparatus in the U. S. National MuseumHough, Walter
History
Fire-making Apparatus in the U. S. National Museum
Hough, Walter
Firemaking; Indians of North America -- Implements
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Fire-making Set (hearth with step and five
slots).
(Cat. No. 127819_a_, U. S. N. M. Koggiung, Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Collected by W. J. Fisher.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Fire-Making Set (hearth with central holes
and end step).
(Cat. No. 127819b, U. S. N. M. Koggiung, Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Collected by W. J. Fisher.)]
Plate LXXX.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. Fire-making Set.
Cat. No. 55938, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Collected
by Charles McKay.]
Another set from Bristol Bay is said by its collector, Charles McKay, to
be used by both Eskimo and Indians. It is a very valuable outfit because
of its completeness (pl. LXXX, fig. 40). The hearth is a rounded piece
of wood with four large holes opening by slots onto the step. The drill
is a thick, tolerably hard piece of close-grained wood like the hearth.
The mouth-piece has no regular block for the teeth-grip, but has a
crescentic gash on each side instead. It is set with a socket of a rock
resembling marble. Nearly all the mouth-pieces south of Norton Sound are
in the shape of seals, or other long animals. Cord handles are used
attached to a thick thong of buckskin. Fungus is used for tinder and a
blaze is started with cones of the larch. These are kept in the box, the
lid of which is tied on with a thong.
Kadiak, the lowest limit of the western Eskimo, is as far south as the
four part fire-drill extends by specimens in the Museum (fig. 41). The
hearth is of cedar wood with three central holes with a connecting
groove. It is neatly finished. The drill is also of cedar and bears the
marks of the use of the thong; the top has also been used in the socket
of a rest. The drill approaches in length those used for twirling
between the hands by the Indians.
While the Aleutians use flint and steel, or a stone containing quartz
and pyrites, struck against another stone, they still make use of the
four-part drill at certain times. Hunting parties, says Mr. L. M.
Turner, carry the drill to use when their matches run out. It takes two
men to work it, one holding the hand rest and the other pulling the
thong. The spindle is made of harder wood, so as to wear the light dust
which ignites, from the hearth. A moment only is necessary to get fire;
this is fed with tinder made of willow catkins and powdered charcoal.
Sometimes, in order to get fire, they hold tinder at the mouth of a gun
and ignite it by firing off a light charge of loose powder.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. Lower Piece and Spindle of Fire-making Set.
(Cat. No. 72514, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Kadiak Island, Alaska.
Collected by W. J. Fisher.)]
Possessed of four methods of getting fire, the Aleutian is superior to
more fortunately situated people who depend wholly on matches.
II. FIRE-MAKING BY SAWING.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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