The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-10
HOW SAVAGES MAKE FlRE
SOME ACCOMPLISH IT IN FIVE SEC
. CNDS.
Fire-Making by Gyration, by saws
ing, by Piowing,and by Percussion
-Various Methods Described.


Walter Hough, of the National Muse
um at Washington, has beer studying
and cataloguing the fire making nipple
ments, of which the museum has a hhe
collection. Believing that nature an
swers a question only through an expert
ment, Mr. Hough has made fire by the
various methods represented IN the col
lection. In speaking to a reporter OF the
Washington Star, Mr.. Hough said the
common belief that to make fire by rub
bling two pieces of wood is very dlffcult'
was erroneous. He had, he sald, repeat
edly made fire in thirty seconds by tue
twirlinp stick and in five seconds with
the bow drill.
MIR. Hough in studying and arranging
the collection in the museum has classl-
fed them under four heads. The first
class is fre-making by gyration, embrac-
ing the simple two-stick apparatus 1ound
among the Indians of North, Central and
South America, the Amos, of Japan, the
Somalis, of Africa, ETC., and the four-par5
apparatus, used by the Eskimo and some
American Indians. The second-class,
fre-mak1ng by saving, comprises the
apparatus of the Malays and Burmese.
The third class, fire-making by plowlng,
is represented by the lmple-
ments used In Polynesia and
Australia. The fourth class IS COW
cred by the head i~re-making by per
c~ussion. and in it are included the
writes and flint of the Eskimo and
indian, and the flint and steel still in use
in many lands well advanced in clvlllza-
ton. The simplest method OF producing
a fire by gyration is by twirling a fire
| stick between the palms of the hand.
Mr.. Hough says there is a great knack In
twirlipe the stick. 1t is taken between
the palms Of the outstretched hands,
which are drawn backward and forward
past each other almost to the finger tips,
thus giving the drill a grating motion.
At the same time a strong downward
pressure is given, which may be called
a rotating pressure. The hands move
down the drill; when they nearly reach
the lower end, they are brought back to
the top with a quick motion. This ro-
tation is repeated as rapidly as possible:
When the motion begins a light colored
powder, ground off, begins to collect in
the slot. Soon the powder gets darker,
the smell of burnt wood is noticed and
smoke is seen. Probably by the next
turn there will be a little curl of smoke
of peculiar coloring, showing fhat active
combustion had begun. ThSfittle pellet
of ground-of wood may nov be shaken
out of the slot. At first it is dark and a
thin line of smoke comes from it; grad"
ually the fire spreads through it until it
CLOVIS a live coal. It is in this semi
charred dust that heat is held until it in
creases 80 about $50 degrees or higher.
Everything depends on keeping the dust
in a heap; 1t is impossible to make fire
without doing this. With the bow drill
the case is similar to that described
In the saving method the dust
falls through the small hole worn by the
} knife. In the blowing method the dust
t is pushed along until it forms a heap at
the end of the groove. By examining
many specimens of fire apparatus Mr.
Hough has found that the fire drill tc
be effective must meet several require
) ments. Either the drill OF the hearth
, must be of dry, inhammable wood
: Wood that is s'punky" or soft from IN
. cipient decay is generally chosen, mos
} often pieces riddled by worms. Wood OF
, this kind is not only easier OF igHAson
but it is ground off easily, and is NOR
capable Of retaining the heat generated
4; by friction until it accumulates sufficient,
to ignite the powder. The Eskimo has
to a great extent, emancipated himsel
e from the necessity OF using any particu
t lar kind of wood by the invention of tn
compound d{ll, by which he gets stron|
assure with high rate of speed, thu
'T Mating enough heat to fire wood quit
~intraetable by the simple two-part drill
This invention was necessary from tn
" cCAditions in the 'Eskimo's frozen home
where driftywood is mainlydepende'
b upon. The Eskimo, however, Away
secures a piece of good soft wood whe
he can. Mr.. Hough thinks the sim
plicity of the thing itself and its wild
distribution among the tribes of me
argue In favor of the claim of the twill
ing sticks for priority of invention owe
the more complex flint and pyrite
method.
The a~borigines of Australia cut with
Ratchet a hole in a dry, fallen tree. Thi
hole they fill with a powder made b
crushing between their hands the dry rip
head of the flower stalk of certain plant
Then they turn the stem head downwar
into the hole and twirl it. Afew second
suffice to get fire. A tribe in sout
Australia obtain fire br,,sing the gras
tree. A split piece 4 LFpwer stem c
the grass tree is place bSthe ground
the fiat side uppermost. A thinner piec
is held between the palms of the hand
the lower end being pressed upon tn
piece on the ground, and an alternate re
volving motion is given to it by rubin
the hand backward and forward until til
wood ignites. In Java, too, fire is some
times produced by friction. D'Almeida
d describing a journey in Java, says: aBe
fore starting N our return I felt desiror
p to smoke a cigar, in order to keep tn
n cold out but finding I had forgotten m
fusees I asked one of the men if he coul
give me o light. He immediatel
picked up a dry piece of wood, ant
holding it fixed on the ground, asked on
of his companions to rub another acros