Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-02-09
gov KLAMhTHS MADE FIRE,
METHOD DIFFERENT FROM THAT
OF ANY OTHER TRIBE.

The Apparatus Consists of Primitive
Hand Drill and Sire Blocks" Made
of Post cedar-Stranee Part of the
Operation.
Those who attended the last meet
Ing of the Washington Biological So
ciety, held in the Cosmos Club lee
ture rooms. says the Post of that city,
were treated to one of the novelties of
science by Mr.. Frederick V. Coville,
botanist of the Department of Agri-
culture. who has lately returned from
a seasons tour Of Oregon, Washing
ton, British Columbia and all that re-
gion commonly known as the North
west Coast" He performed feat in
fremaking that he had learned from
the klamath Indians. such as Magi-
clan Hermann might well have en-
We'd. Those who witnessed the per-
Torrance were astonished at the re-
suits obtained by means of prim-
1--we art, concerning which little, if
anything, 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 In
dams 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 firemaking methods. For a time
it looked as though the search would
end in failure. 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 had obtained fire by
means of the hand drill, they had
never seen the apparatus in operation
and knew nothing as to the mode of
application. AS far as their recollec-
ton 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 completely lost, and that
none OF the tribesmen was old enough
to remember when or how it was en-
ployed.
Finally, after long search, Mr. Co
vile found two venerable Klamaths
who said they remembered the days
when their people obtained fire by
drilling, and who very kindly pro-
duced 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-fashioned way proved something
of surprise to the Klamaths, and q
large number of them, many of whom
had passed the age of 40 years, flock
ed in from miles around to see how
fire making had been managed among
their ancestors.
When Mr.. Coville Witnessed the
manner in which these aged aborig-
ines produced fire he was indeed sur
prised, for he saw at once that it was
altogether different from that en-
ployed by other primitive tribes. AL
though savage races may differ in the
kind of apparatus used, some, like the
ers, such as the Botooudos of South
America, employing the bow-drill,
etc., the method is everywhere the
same in the respect that one operat-
ing the drill does not cease drilling
until he has produced a spark, or
flame, whereas among the Klamaths
the drilling stops before the spark
appears. At the last meeting of the
Biological Society, Mr.. 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 Agricultural
Department, where conditions were
more favorable.
The manner in which the KlamathS
formerly produced fire is as follows:
First of all. the apparatus. There is
a hand drill consisting of rounded
stick, about two and a half feet long
of any variety of hard wood, to one
end of which is spliced the drill
point, made of sagebrush wood,
which, though not hard. is of de-
cidedly tough and elastic texture.
After the drill comes that which the
Klamaths call the fire blocks" made
of post cedar, a rather soft, punky
wood, about foot long by half of
foot in width and some three or four
inches in thickness. The operator
trims one edge of this block down on
both sides so that viewed from the
end it presents V-shaped figure, and
in addition cuts deep notch in the
edge, which penetrates the ridge that
he has left in trimming the sides.
This block he places on the ground
stuffing some finder made from the
bark of the sagebrush under the trim
med edge and about the notch.
This done, he is ready to begin ope-
rations. While an assistant holds the
block firmly upon the ground he
places the tip of the drill at point
about three inches from the notch,
and taking the instrument revolves it
back and forth between his out
stretched palms. The work is very
fatiguing.
In addition TO revolving the drill
between his hands the operator must
also bear down upon it with all his
might, and when DR.. Coville con-
cluded his demonstration before the
Biological Society the palms OF his
hands were not only badly blistered,
but in many places the skin was torn
and rubbed off in large patches. The
drill is held in a slanting position,
with the point toward the notch, and
the operator. who at first drills quite