The Portland daily press., 1890-01-20
FIRE ~ FRICTION.
Met odsiused BY Primitive People
for Making Flames.
london FIrernan.

y One of the first things every child
~ learns about fire is that certain savage
races produce it by the rubbing of two
sticks Delightfully."- simple as the de-
scription of the process is, any one who
has tried to perform the operation will
certify that it is by no means an easy
Z one, and very likely will afterward de-
5 clare fervently upon oath that the thing
cannot be done. Many travellers have
tried, under the most suspicious circum-
stances-in countries where the produc-
ton of fire in this manner is in every
day use, with grinning native to choose
the weapons and give a practical exhi-
bition of his own skill-and after many
joint and muscle aching experiments
have given up the attempt in state of
mind bordering on temporary insanity.
9"We ourselves" writes traveller, "have
been successful just often enough to I'M
derstand the uncertainty of the opera
ton"
JUDGMENT AND DRxTERITY.
In the first place Judgment is required
in choosing the sticks. The immense
variety of tropic vegetation furnishes
many sorts that answer the purpose, but
many also that will not; an expert some
times may be long in finding two species
q. suitable. One must be light and soft.
the other heavy, of close texture, and
3, both must be dry. Upon the heavy bit
he cuts two grooves, in the form of a
cross, fixes it tight-with his prehensive
r toes probably-sharpens the light bit,
2 places it in the intersections of the cross,
and twirls it steadily between his palms.
81 Gradually finder forms, in the shape of
evdust, which drops down the grooves in a
Is1tiny heap on either side. II the twirling
q be interrupted for second that repre-
e SCENTS 80 much waste time, which must
y be recovered at enormous interest. If
q the heavy piece shifts the finder is dis
placed.
iv But the power of originating fire in
,e this manner with facility is not an &C.
ezcomplishment possessed by every one,
10 even in the countries where the practice
q exists. The inhabitants of the tropics do
not always depend wholly upon their
two sticks; among many tribes they are
, nothing but a last resort. They have
other methods of producing fire. A ma
tive carries in his betel box perhaps
r. fragment of hard pottery and morsel
81 Of dry fungus. Fixing bito the latter
in the hollow of the former, and holding
it down with the thumb--in such way
shat. it follows the edge-he smartly
srikes his box, which is bamboo, of
.ir course. just as if he were handling flint
and steel. The fungus finder is glowing
> in an instant.
The friction methods in use in differ
z ent parts of the world are various. One
aiof the simplest is with the stick and
b grooves blunt pointed stick being run
d along a groove of its own making in a
10 piece Of wood lying ON the ground. In
Tahiti Mr.. Darwin saw native produce
"a fire in few seconds, but only succeeded
himself after much labor. This device
,o is employed in New Zealand, the Sand
9I.wich Islands, Tonga, Samoa and the
Radack Islands. Instead of rubbing the
movable stick backward and forward,
other tribes make it rotate rapidly in a
round hole in the stationary piece OF
wood, in the manner referred to, thus
e making. as happily designated, a fire
drill. This device has been observed in
Australia Kamschatka, Sumatra and
the Carolines, among the Yeddahs OF
Ceylon, throughout n great part of South
Africa, among the Esquimaux and In.
dian tribes of North America, in the
West Indies, in Central America and as
far South as the Straits of Magellan. II
+, was also employed by the ancient Mexi-
I cans, and Mr.. Taylor gives quaint pict.
ure of the operation from Mexican MS,
in which man, half kneeling on the
ground, is causing the stick 10 rotste be.
tween the palms of his own hands. This
simple method of rotation seems to be
generally in use, but various devices
have been resorted to for the purpose OF
diminishing the labor and Fastening the
result.
THE FIRE DRILL.
The Guacho of the Pampas takes San
elastic stick about eighteen inches long,
presses one end to his breast and the
other in the hole in a piece of wood, and
then rapidly turns the curved part like
the rotation is affected by means of a
cord or thong wound round the drill and
pulled alternately by this end and that
A further advance was made by some
North American Indians, who appear to
have applied the principle of the bow
drill, and the still more ingenious pump
drill was used by the Iroquois Indians
For a full description of these instru-
ments we must refer the reader to Mr..
Taylor's valuable chapter in his IRE.
searches" These methods of producing
fire are but rarely used in Europe, and
only in connection with superstitious OBJ
servances.
We read in Wuttke that some time
ago the authorities of MecklenbeYg vii
lage ordered wild fire to be lighted
against the murrain among the cattle.
For two hours they strove vainly to OBJ
tain spark, but the fault was not as
cribed TO the quality of the wood or to
the dampness of the atmosphere, but to
the stubbornness Of an old lady who, OBJ
jecting to the superstition, would not
put out her night light. Such a fire to
be efficient must burn alone. At last the
strong minded woman was compelled to
give, in: fire was obtained. but of bad
quality, for it did not stop the murrain.
.t A belief in the peculiar virtues of fire
obtained by the friction of wood has at
one time or another prevailed among ma
tons Of Indo-E European race, and not
many years ago the obtaining of need
{fire) was practical in the Highlands OF
Scotland. One of its principal virtues
has always been considered to be its eff.
ficiency against disease.-Fireman, Lon.
don.