One of the first things after reaching camp was to build the camp-fire.
Among Indians the camp-fire not only served for heat and cooking, but for
light, and to scare away animal foes and bad spirits. You and I would
probably have a hard time making a fire without matches. The Indian had no
matches until he got them from the whites. There are two ways in which the
Indians made fire. One was by striking two hard pieces of stone—such as
chert or pyrites—together, which gave a spark, which was caught on tinder
and blown to a flame. Of course white men used to make fire in much the
same way—only they had a flint and steel. When whites first came into
contact with Indians, they used the flint and steel, and it was not long
before the Indians had secured them from the white traders. Many Indians
still use the old-fashioned flint and steel. Some old Sac and Fox men
always carry them in their tobacco pouch, and use them for lighting their
pipes.
Another Indian method of making fire was by rubbing two pieces of wood
together. It is said that this is not difficult, but one needs to know
just how, in order to succeed. In the cliff ruins of the southwest two
little sticks are often found together. One may be a foot or two long, and
the lower end is bluntly pointed, worn smooth, and blackened as if it had
been slightly burned. The other stick is of the same thickness, but may be
only a few inches long; in it are several conical hollows, which are
charred, smooth, and usually broken away at the edge. These two sticks
were used by the “cliff-dwellers” for making fire. The second one was laid
down flat on the ground; the pointed end of the other was placed in one of
the holes in the lower piece, and the stick was whirled between the hands
by rubbing these back and forth. While the upright stick was being
whirled, it was also pressed down with some little force. By the whirling
and pressure fine wood dust was ground out which gathered at the broken
edge of the conical cavity. Soon, in the midst of this fine wood dust,
there appeared a spark. Some dry, light stuff was at once applied to it,
and it was blown into a flame.
Certainly this mode of making fire was hard on the hands—it must soon have
raised blisters. Some tribes had learned how to grind out a spark without
this disadvantage. The lower stick was as before. A little bow was taken,
and its cord was wrapped about the upright stick and tightened. The two
sticks were then put into position, the top of the upright being steadied
with a small block held in the left hand; the bow being moved back and
forth with the right hand, the upright was caused to whirl easily and
rapidly. This was used among many of our tribes.
Although making it themselves, many Indians think the fire made with the
bow-drill is sacred, and that it comes from heaven. Among the Aztecs of
Mexico there was a curious belief and ceremony. The Aztecs counted their
years in groups of fifty-two, just as we count ours by hundreds or
centuries. They thought the world would come to an end at the close of one
of these fifty-two year periods. Therefore, they were much disturbed when
such a time approached. When the end of the cycle really came, all the
fires and lights in the houses had been put out; not a spark remained
anywhere. When it was night, the people went out along the great causeway
to Itztapalapa, at the foot of the Hill of the Star. On the summit of this
hill was a small temple. At the proper hour, determined by observing the
stars, the priests cast a victim on the altar, tore out his heart as
usual, and placed the lower stick of the fire-sticks upon the wound. The
upright stick was adjusted and whirled. For a moment all were in great
anxiety. The will of the gods was to be made known. If no spark appeared,
the world would at once be destroyed; if there came a spark, the gods had
decreed at least one cycle more of existence to the world. And when the
spark appeared, how great was the joy of the people! All had carried
unlighted torches in their hands, and now these were lighted with the new
fire, and with songs of rejoicing the crowd hurried back to the city.
Boys know pretty well how Indians cooked their food. Most of us have
roasted potatoes in the hot ashes, and broiled meat or frogs’ legs over
the open fire. The Indians did much the same. Pieces of meat would be
spitted on sharp sticks, and set so as to hang over the fire. Clams,
mussels, and other things, were baked among the hot coals or ashes. One
time “Old Elsie,” a Lipan woman, took a land turtle, which I brought her
alive, and thrust it head first into the fire. This not only killed the
turtle, but cooked it, and split open the hard shell box so that she could
get at the meat inside.
Over the fireplace the Indians usually have a pot or kettle suspended in
which various articles may be boiling together. The Indians invented
succotash, which is a stew of corn and beans; we have borrowed the thing
and the name. At the first meal I ate among the Sacs and Foxes, we all
squatted on the ground, outside the house and near the fire, and took a
tin of boiled fish off the coals. We picked up bits of the fish with our
fingers, and passed the pan around for every one to have a drink of the
soup.
All this is easy cooking; but how would you go to work to boil buffalo
meat if you had no kettle, pot, nor pan of any kind? A great many Indian
tribes knew how. When a buffalo was killed, the hide was carefully
removed. A bowl-like hole was scraped out in the ground and lined with the
buffalo skin, the clean side up. This made a nice basin. Water was put
into this and the pieces of meat laid in. A hot fire was kindled near by,
and stones were heated in it, and then dropped into the basin of water and
meat. So the food was boiled. A number of tribes cooked meat in this way,
but one was called by a name that means “stone-boilers”—Assinaboines.
Meat was often dried. In some districts where the air is clear and dry and
the sun hot, the meat is cut into strips or sheets, and dried by hanging
it on lines near the house. At other places it was dried and smoked over a
fire. Where there was buffalo meat, the Indian women made pemmican, which
was _good_. The buffalo meat was first dried as usual. The dried meat was
heated through over a low fire, and then beaten with sticks or mauls to
shreds. Buffalo tallow was melted and the shredded meat stirred up in it.
All was then put into a bag made of buffalo skin and packed as tightly as
possible; the bag was then fastened up and sewed tight. Sometimes the
marrow-fat was also put into this pemmican, and dried berries or
choke-cherries. Pemmican kept well a long time, and was such condensed
food that a little of it lasted a long time. It was eaten dry or stewed up
in water into a sort of soup.
[Illustration.]