The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-01-24
Making a Fire.

W-ETlIaty ~. OGEey, M o. N9c"ot@SJW PeUTW@Ty.
Ne Making a Fire.
Were we to ask the youthful readers
of our paper how they would
make a ire, they would reply that they
would do so by using lucifer match.
But the lucifer match is of but recent
date, previous to which time the peo-
pie had to resort to various methods in
producing fire. It would be difficult
to conceive of men without fire, or the
knowledge of the means OF producing
it, There are stories OF freless peo-
pile, but they are apociryphal. Commo-
dore Wilkes, the explorer, states that
when he visited Fakaafof or Bowdish isl
and, in 1841, he found neither places for
cooking nor signs OF fire, and that the
natives evinced alarm when they saw
sparks from flint and steel, and smoke
from cigars. But that is only negative
evidence Mr.. Hale, the philologist
of the expedition, gives us a vocabulary
of the language OF these islanders, in
which we find that they had a name for
fre-qf-even if they did not possess
it in fact.
The question, how did man obtain
his knowledge OF fire? is without an ar
swer. Whether he obtained it from the
lightning's vivid flash, or from the vol
cano's fiery upheayal, or from some
other source, we have no means of know
ing. The Greeks attempted to solve the
problem in the fable Of Prometheus, who
stole the fire from heaven. where it was
the special possession OF the gods.
It matters but little, however, how the
first knowledge ct fire was obtained.
We only know that all races and tribes
Of men possessed, and possess, the
knowledge, although they have various
ways Of kindling the genial flame. And
it is Of these various ways that we pro-
pose to speak.
Probably the friction of two pieces Of
wood was the original means of fire.
making used by man. The Patagonians
employed this method. Two thorough
ly dry sticks were selected, and the bark
removed one end of one OF them rested
upon the ground, while the other end
rested against the stomach of the per-
former. Holding the other stick firmly
at right angles against the first, fire was
produced by vigorously rubbing it up
and down Its length.
One of the simplest means of produc-
ing fire is by what may be called the
tick and groove method.
A blunt stick is run along, back and
forth, in q groove of it's own making, in
q piece of wood lying on the ground.
Mr.. Darwin, the great naturalist, tells
us that this was at one time the common
method in the Sandwich islands, where
a very light wood is used for the pur-
pose. This process is also common In
some of the South Sea or I'olynesian
islands. A practiced native can, by this
method, produce fire in few seconds.
although Mr.. Darwin says that he found
it rather hard work, and it took him
much longer.
Another, and more widely diffused
process, is what may be called 'tire-
drilling. This has been found, a little
more or less modified, in every quarter
of the globe. Capt. Cook found it in
both Alaska and Australia, and it was in
use in Ceylon and Central America. In
the rude paintings of the Mexicans we
find some striking illustrations of this
process. Capt. Cook thus describes it,
as he found it in Australia
"They produce fire with great facil-
ity, and spread it in wonderful man
ner. They take two sticks Of dry, soft
wood, one eight or nine inches long, the
other FIVE; the first they shape into an
obtuse point at one end, and pressing it
on the other turn it nimbly between
their hands, after moving them up and
down, to increase the pressure. By
this means they get fire in less than two
minutes, and from the smallest spark
they increase it with great speed and
dexterity."
An improvement was made on this
process by continuance devised on the
principle of the common carpenters
brace, with which he works bis
center-bit. This method is still in
use among the g0atchos of the Pampas
OF Buenos Ayres, and hence is called the
"Gaucho method" One of them takes
an elastic stick, eighteen inches long,
against one end Of which he presses
firmly with his breast, placing the other
end, which is pointed, in hole in q
piece Of dry wood, and then rapidly
twirls it as the carpenter does his brace.
The next advance on this process was
to wind thong or cord around the drill
and then, by pulling the two ends alter
nately, make it revolve much faster thar
if rolled within the hands. In some parts