Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-02-09
CLEVER SAVAGES.
They Used Many Devices We Con-
slider Modern Inventions.

They Used Many Devices We Con-
slider Modern Inventions.
The first knife was, of course, flint
fake, and the earliest spoon shell, to
which primitive man learned in the
course of ages to fasten handle Of
wood
Such articles as these, together with
hammers, axes and needles, are easily
recognized as having come down to US
direct from savagery. 1t is, however,
more startling to find that such a COM
paratively modern invention as the lift
has been used for ages by tribes whom
we designate as savage. The applica-
ton of the principle of the modern YER
teal lift may be seen today among the
bee hunters of the island of Timor.
To get at a honeycomb seventy feet
overhead with nothing between it and
the ground but smooth and branch
less trunk seems at first sight impos-
sible without ladders or ropes. 1t is
a simple matter to the Polynesian. He
cuts a few yards from the tough stem
of q creeper and forms of 1t bush
rope; with this he makes loop around
the trunk and his body. Jerking the
loop a little above his head he leans
back and begins walking up, his bare
| feet pressed against the trunk. Re-
peating the operation, he gradually
gains the top. The whole ascent Is
made without exhausting use of muscle.
Cotton weaving has done more for
/ Great Britain within the last century
than any one other industry. The In
dams Of Central and South America
| have for centuries past used a loom
| so elaborate that ours Is, comparative
| ly speaking, but a slight improvement
upon it.
| We should never have had the pan
anna hat but for the quick fingered In
| dams of the isthmus of Panama. Even
| today their secret process for season
| ing the grass blades used in weaving
| these hats remains unrivaled. Basket
makers of the same region make bas-
| kets which will hold water without
leaking-another invention which is
quite beyond us.
Felting was invented by Polynesian
savages and brought by the Hawaiian
natives to perfection we have never
excelled. They not only made cover
| ings for their houses and blankets out
Of felt, but by pounding the inner bark
Of certain trees succeeded in producing
soft and comfortable seamless gar
ments of this material, such as sleeve
less coats and cloaks.
Mortar was made by the people OF
Tahiti when our ancestors were shiver
ing In holes in the rocks. They dived
into the sea, brought up great Jumps OF
coral, burned them in pits, using wood
as fuel, and mixed the lime they got in
this fashion with sharp sand and water
! With this mixture the ingenious sav.
age plastered the walls and floor of his
house, and a better mortar could not be
| obtained.
Another purely savage invention
which Is perhaps the most familiar OBJ
ject of modern life, is the tobacco pipe
mot only the common clay which the
North American Indians nodded cen
turies ago out Of the red sandstone OF
Colorado, but the wooden pipe, the pro
totype of the everyday brier-LondoI
Who Was Conceitedf
"If there's anything l hate it's {
coneeited person, and that Blowiey i:
certainly the limit"
"What makes you think him con
ceIted?"
"He told some one he knew as muci
as know."-Cleveland Plain Dealer.