Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-02-12
HOW THE kAMATHS MADE FIRE.
Method Different From Those of all
Other Primitive Tribes.

Those who attended the last meet
ing of the Washington Biological So
ciety, held in the Casino club lecture
rooms, were treated to one of the
novelties of science by Frederick ".
Coville, botanist of the department of
agriculture, who has lately re-
turned from a seasons tour of Oregon
Washington, British Columbia and all
that region commonly known as the
Northwest Coast" He performed u
feat in firemaking that he had learned
from the Klamath Indians, such as
Magician Hermann might well have
, envied. Those who witness the per-
Torrance were astonished at the re
suits obtained by means of primitive
art, concerning which little if any
thing, is known.
Among the tribes visited were the
Klamaths of Oregon. Although not
an ethnologist, he realized that before
the coming of the whites these Indians
had way of making their own fire,
and, anxious to ascertain the woods
they employed, he searched high and
low over the reservation for some
member familiar with the old firemak-
ing methods. For time it looked as
though the search would end in fail
ure. Indians forty and fifty years Of
, age stated in reply to his inquiries
| that although their fathers had often
told them of the old days when the
people obtained fire by means of the
/ hand drill, they had never seen the ap-
paratus in operation and knew nothing
as to the mode of application AS far
as their recollection went, the tribe
had always used matches, which they
obtained from the whites and they
discouraged Mr.. Coville by venturing
the opinion that the art was complete
ly lost, and that none of the tribes
men was old enough to remember
when or how it was employed.
Finally, after a long search, Mr..
Coville found two venerable Klamaths
who said they remembered the days
when their people obtained fire by
drilling, and who very kindly produced
the necessary apparatus and showed
him the entire process from beginning
to end, obtaining fire by which Mr..
Coville lit his cigar. The fact that
there were still one or two tribesmen
able to produce fire in the old-fashion-
ed way proved something of sur
prise to the Klamaths, and a large
number of them. many of whom had
passed the age of forty years flocked
~, L a
making had been managed among
their ancestors.
When Mr.. Coville witnessed the
manner in which these aged aborigines
produced fire he was indeed surprised
for he saw at once that it was alto
gether different from that employed
by ether primitive tribes. Although
savage races may differ in the kind of
apparatus used, some like the Esqui-
mauX, using the pump drill, other,
sucn as the Botocudos of South Amer
lea employing the bow-drill etc, the
method is everywhere the same in the
respect that one operating the drill
does not cease drilling until he has
produced a spark, or flame, whereas
among the Klamaths the drilling stops
before the sparks appear. At the last
meeting of the Biological society MIR.
Coville, who before leaving Oregon,
learned from the old Indian how to
operate the drill, produced the fire in
five minutes by this process, although
few days before he had done the same
thing in three minutes at the agricul-
tural department, where conditions
were more favorable.
The manner in which the klamaths
for ,rly produced fire is as follows: