In the new edition of Mason's "Burma" we read that among other uses to
which the bamboo is applied, not the least useful is that of producing
fire by friction. For this purpose a joint of thoroughly dry bamboo is
selected, about 1½ inches in diameter, and this joint is then split in
halves. A ball is now prepared by scraping off shavings from a
perfectly dry bamboo, and this ball being placed on some firm support,
as a fallen log or piece of rock, one of the above halves is held by
its ends firmly down on it, so that the ball of soft fiber is pressed
with some force against its inner or concave surface. Another man now
takes a piece of bamboo a foot long or less, and shaped with a blunt
edge, something like a paper knife, and commences a sawing motion
backward and forward across the horizontal piece of bamboo, and just
over the spot where the ball of soft fiber is held. The motion is slow
at first, and by degrees a groove is formed, which soon deepens as the
motion increases in quickness. Soon smoke arises, and the motion is
now made as rapid as possible, and by the time the bamboo is cut
through not only smoke but sparks are seen, which soon ignite the
materials of which the ball beneath is composed. The first tender
spark is now carefully blown, and when well alight the ball is
withdrawn, and leaves and other inflammable materials heaped over it,
and a fire secured. This is the only method that I am aware of for
procuring fire by friction in Burma, but on the hills and out of the
way parts, that philosophical toy, the "pyrophorus," is still in use.
This consists[1] of a short joint of a thick woody bamboo, neatly cut,
which forms a cylinder. At the bottom of this a bit of tinder is
placed, and a tightly-fitting piston inserted composed of some hard
wood. The tube being now held in one hand, or firmly supported, the
piston is driven violently down on the tinder by a smart blow from the
hand, with the result of igniting the tinder beneath.
[Footnote 1: It is also made of a solid cylinder of buffalo's
horn, with a central hollow of three-sixteenths of an inch in
diameter and three inches deep burnt into it. The piston, which
fits very tightly in it, is made of iron-wood or some wood
equally hard.]
Another method of obtaining fire by friction from bamboos is thus
described by Captain T.H. Lewin ("Hill Tracts of Chittagong, and the
Dwellers Therein", Calcutta, 1869, p. 83), as practiced in the
Chittagong Hills. The Tipporahs make use of an ingenious device to
obtain fire; they take a piece of dry bamboo, about a foot long, split
it in half, and on its outer round surface cut a nick, or notch, about
an eighth of an inch broad, circling round the semi-circumference of
the bamboo, shallow toward the edges, but deepening in the center
until a minute slit of about a line in breadth pierces the inner
surface of the bamboo fire-stick. Then a flexible strip of bamboo is
taken, about 1½ feet long and an eighth of an inch in breadth, to fit
the circling notch, or groove, in the fire-stick. This slip or band is
rubbed with fine dry sand, and then passed round the fire-stick, on
which the operator stands, a foot on either end. Then the slip,
grasped firmly, an end in each hand, is pulled steadily back and
forth, increasing gradually in pressure and velocity as the smoke
comes. By the time the fire-band snaps with the friction there ought
to appear through the slit in the fire-stick some incandescent dust,
and this placed, smouldering as it is, in a nest of dry bamboo
shavings, can be gently blown into a flame.--_The Gardeners'
Chronicle._
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