General Remarks.--Although, in the teeth of every precaution, fires
constantly break out, yet when a traveller wants a light and does not
happen to have any of his ingenious fire-making contrivances at hand, it
is very difficult for him to obtain it. And further, though sparks, of
their own accord and in the most unlikely places, too often give rise to
conflagrations, yet it requires much skill and practice to succeed
without fail, in coaxing a small spark into a serviceable camp fire.
Therefore every traveller should carry on his person the means of
procuring a light, under ordinary circumstances of wind and weather; that
is to say, he should have in his pocket a light handy steel, a flint or
an agate, and amadou or other tinder. I also strongly recommend that he
should carry a bundle of half-a-dozen fine splinters of wood, like
miniature tooth-picks, thinner and shorter than lucifer-matches, whose
points he has had dipped in melted sulphur; also a small spare lump of
sulphur of the size of a pea or bean, in reserve. The cook should have a
regular tinder-box, such as he happens to have been used to, and an
abundance of wax lucifers. Paper fusees are not worth taking in travel,
as wet entirely spoils them.
There are usually three separate agents in making a fire, each of which
may be varied in many ways and requires separate description. 1. The
Spark or other light to start with. 2. The Tinder; that is, some easily
ignited and smouldering substance. 3. Fuel, judiciously applied to the
burning tinder, or other feeble light, so as to develop it into a
serviceable fire.
To obtain Fire from the Sun.--Burning-glasses.--The object-glass, and
every other convex glass of a telescope is a burning-glass, and has only
to be unscrewed to be fit for use. The object lenses of an opera-glass
are very efficient. The larger the glass and the shorter its focus, the
greater is its heating power. Convex spectacle glasses and eye glasses
are too small and of too long a focus to be used with effect, except when
the sun is very hot. An old-fashioned watch-glass, filled with water, and
having the rays of a powerful sun glittered down upon it vertically by
help of a mirror, will give a light. Dr. Kane and other arctic travellers
have made burning-glasses of ice.
Reflectors.--The inside of the polished metal cover of a hunting-watch
will sometimes converge a sufficiency of rays, to burn. The vestal fire
of Rome and the sacred fire of the Mexicans were obtained by means of
reflectors. If I understand aright, they consisted of a stone with a
conical hollow, carefully polished, the apex of the hollow cone was a
right angle: the tinder was held in the axis of the cone. See Tylor's
'Early History of Mankind.'
Black Tinder.--Tinder that is black by previous charring, or from any
other cause, ignites in the sun far sooner than light-coloured tinder.
Fire by conversion of motion into heat.--General Remarks.--When a moving
body is arrested, heat is given out; the quantity of heat being in exact
proportion to the mass, multiplied into the square of its velocity. Thus
if a cannon ball be fired at an iron target, both it and the ball become
exceedingly hot. There is even a flash of light when the velocity of the
ball is very high. When bullets are fired with heavy charges at a target,
the lead is just melted by the heat of impact, and it "splashes," to use
a common phrase. It is obvious from these two examples, that no velocity
which the hand of man is able to give to a steel, when striking a flint,
or to one stick rubbing against another stick, will be competent to
afford a red-hot temperature unless the surface against which impact or
friction is made be very small, or unless great care be taken to avoid
the wasteful dissipation of heat. The spark made by a flint and steel,
consists of a thin shaving of steel, scraped off by the flint and heated
by the arrested motion. When well struck, the spark is white-hot and at
that temperature it burns with bright scintillations in the air, just as
iron that is merely red-hot burns in pure oxygen. This is the theory: now
for the practice.
Flints.--If we may rely on a well-known passage in Virgil, concerning
Æneas and his comrades, fire was sometimes made in ancient days by
striking together two flints, but I confess myself wholly unable to light
tinder with flints alone, and I am equally at a loss to understand what
were the "dry leaves" that they are said in the same passage to have used
for tinder. Neither can I obtain fire except with a flint and steel, or,
at least, hardened iron; a flint and ordinary iron will not give an
available spark. Flints may be replaced by any siliceous stone, as agate,
rock-crystal, or quartz. Agate is preferred to flint, for it gives a
hotter spark: it is sold by tobacconists. A partly siliceous stone, such
as granite, will answer in default of one that is wholly siliceous. I
have been surprised at finding that crockery and porcelain of all kinds
will make a spark, and sometimes a very good one. There are cases where a
broken teacup might be the salvation of many lives in a shipwrecked
party. On coral-reefs, and other coasts destitute of flinty stones,
search should be made for drift-wood and drifted sea-weed. In the roots
of these, the pebbles of other shores are not unfrequently entangled, and
flint may be found among them. The joints of bamboos occasionally contain
enough silex to give a spark.
Steels.--The possession of a really good steel is a matter of great
comfort in rough travel, for, as I have just said, common iron is
incompetent to afford a useful spark, and hardened iron or soft steel is
barely sufficient to do so. Any blacksmith will make a good steel out of
an old file, if he has nothing more appropriate at hand. A substitute for
a steel can be made, even by an ordinary traveller, out of common iron,
by means of "casehardening" (which see). The link of a chain, or the heel
of a boot, or a broken horse-shoe, is of a convenient shape for the
purpose.
Pyrites are, and have been, widely used for striking sparks. Two pieces
struck together, or one piece struck with a steel, gives a good spark;
but it is a very friable mineral, and therefore not nearly so convenient
as flint.
Guns.--If you wish to get a light by means of a flint-and-steel gun, the
touch-hole may be stuffed up, and a piece of tinder put among the priming
powder: a light can be obtained in that way without firing the gun. With
a percussion-cap gun, a light may be obtained by putting powder and
tinder outside the nipple and round the cap; it will, though not with
certainty catch fire on exploding the cap. But the common way with a gun
is to pour in a quarter of a charge of powder, and above it, quite
loosely, a quantity of rag or tinder. On firing the gun straight up in
the air, the rag will be shot out lighted; you must then run after it as
it falls, and pick it quickly up. With percussion-caps, gunpowder, and
tinder, and without a gun, a light may sometimes be had on an emergency,
by scratching and boring with a knife, awl, or nail, at the fulminating
composition in the cap, till it explodes; but a cap is a somewhat
dangerous thing to meddle with, as it often flies with violence, and
wounds. Crushing gunpowder with hard stones may possibly make it explode.
Lucifers.--An inexperienced hand will waste an entire boxful of them, and
yet will fail in lighting a fire in the open air, on a windy day. The
convenience of lucifers in obtaining a light is very great, but they have
two disadvantages: they require that the air should be perfectly still,
while the burning sulphur is struggling to ignite the stick; and, again,
when the match is thrust among the wood, the sticks upon which is has to
act, have not been previously warmed and consequently, though one or two
of them may become lighted, the further progress of the fire is liable to
cease. On the other hand, in methods where the traveller begins with
tinder, and blows its spark into a flame, the adjacent wood becomes
thoroughly heated by the process, and the flame, once started, is almost
certain to maintain itself. Consequently, in lighting a fire with
lucifers, be careful to shield the match from the wind, by throwing a
cloak or saddle-cloth, or something else over the head, whilst you
operate; and secondly, to have abundance of twigs of the smaller sizes,
that there may be no uncertainty of the lucifer-match being able to light
them, and set the fire a-going. In a steady downfall of rain, you may
light a match for a pipe under your horse's belly. If you have paper to
spare, it is a good plan to twist it into a hollow cone; to turn the cone
with its apex to the wind; and immediately after rubbing the match, to
hold it inside the cone. The paper will become quickly heated by the
struggling flame and will burst into a miniature conflagration, too
strong to be puffed out by a single blast of air. Wax lucifers are
undoubtedly better than wooden ones, for in damp weather, wooden ones
will hardly burn; but wax is waterproof, and independent of wet or dry.
When there is nothing dry, at hand, to rub the lucifer-match against,
scratch the composition on its head with the edge of a knife or with the
finger-nail. It is a sure way of lighting it; and with care, there is no
need of burning the fingers.
Fire-sticks.--In every country without exception, where inquiry has been
made, the method of obtaining fire by rubbing one stick against another,
has been employed. In savage countries the method still remains in
present use; in nearly all the more civilised ones, it has been
superseded within historic periods by flints and steels and the like, and
within this present generation by lucifer-matches. The only instance I
know in which flints are said to have preceded fire-sticks, is in the
quotation below from Pliny. A light has also been obtained in
pre-historic times, as I have already mentioned, by reflecting the sun
from a hollow surface; but this method required costly apparatus, and
could never have been in common use. Hence, although so far as I am
aware, the Bible, and Homer, and other records of great antiquity, are
absolutely silent on the contemporary methods of procuring fire; and
although Pliny says the reverse--I think we are justified in believing
that the plan of rubbing sticks together was absolutely universal in the
barbaric infancy of the human race. In later Greek History, Prometheus is
accredited with the invention of fire-sticks. Among the Romans both
Seneca and Pliny write about them. Pliny says (Nat. Hist. xvi. 76, 77),
"There is heat in the mulberry, in the bay-laurel, in ivy, and in all
plants whence fire-sticks are made. The experience of soldiers
reconnoitring for encamping-grounds, and that of shepherds, made this
discovery; for a stone is not always at hand whence a spark might be
struck. One piece of wood therefore, is rubbed by another, and it catches
fire through the friction, while a dry tindery substance--fungus and
leaves are the most easilyattainable--is used to perpetuate the fire.
Nothing is better than ivy used as the stick to be rubbed, and bay-laurel
as the stick to rub with. Wild vine--not the 'labrusca'--is also found
good."
I have made a great many experiments with different kinds of wood, having
procured an assortment of those used by the fancy toy-makers of Tunbridge
Wells, and the chippings from botanical gardens. I find what I have heard
from savages to be quite true; viz., that it is much more difficult to
procure good wood for the "fire-block" than for the drill-stick; any
though hard, and dry stick will do for the latter, but the fire-block
must be of wood with little grain; of a middle degree of softness;
readily inflammable; and, I presume, a good on-conductor of heat; but I
do not know if there be much difference, in this latter respect, between
woods of the same quality. If it be too hard, the action of the
drill-stick will merely dent and polish it; if very soft, it will be worn
away before the friction has time to heat it sufficiently: ivy is
excellent. I find it not at all difficult to produce smoke (it is much
more difficult to produce fire) with a broken fishing-rod, or ramrod, as
a drill-stick, and a common wooden pill-box, or tooth-powder box, as a
fire-block. Walnut, also, does as a fire-block, and the stock of a gun is
of walnut. Deal and mahogany are both worthless for fire-sticks.
It is well so to notch the fire-block, that the wood-dust, as it is
formed by the rubbing, should all run into one place: it will then glow
with a smouldering heat, ready to burst out into an available flame with
a very little fanning, as soon as a degree of heat sufficient to ignite
tinder has been attained. Tinder is a great convenience, in ensuring that
the fire, once obtained, shall not be lost again; but it is not essential
to have it.
There are many ways of rubbing the sticks together, in use among
different nations. Those curious in the matter should consult Tylor's
'Early History of Mankind.' But the traveller will not obtain much
assistance from these descriptions, as it will be out of his power to
obtain fire by any but the simplest of them, on a first trial. He is only
likely to succeed at first by working at leisure, with perfectly dry
wood. Even savages, who practise the art all their lives, fail to procure
fire in very wet weather, when the shelter is bad. Of the plans employed
by savages, the simplest is that in use both in South Africa and in
Australia.
[Fig 1 as described].
The Australian blacks use the flower-stem of the grass-tree, which is of
a tough pithy nature, and about one inch in diameter. The operation of
making the fire is assisted by the use of a little charcoal-powder,
which, in Australia, is found on the bark of almost every tree, from the
constant passage of grass-fires over the ground. The process is as
follows:--One piece of the stick is notched in the middle, fig. 1, and
the notch slightly hollowed out; another is roundly pointed at one end.
The black fellow, being seated on the ground, holds down one end of the
notched stick with each foot, fig. 2, and placing the point of the other
stick into the notch, twirls it rapidly and forcibly between the palms of
his hands. In doing this his hands gradually slip down the stick, and he
has to shift them rapidly up again, which loses time: but two people,
seated opposite, can alternately take up the rubbing, and more easily
produce fire. A little of the above-mentioned powdered charcoal is
dropped into the notch during the operation. In a very few minutes
red-hot powdery ashes commence to work up out of the notch, which falling
on a small heap of tow, or of dry tow-like bark, or lint, or cotton
stuff, is quickly blown into a flame. The Africans carry the drill-stick,
which in shape and size is like an arrow, in a quiver with their arrows,
and the fire-block--a stick three inches long and one in diameter, of a
different wood--as a pendant to their necklace.
A plan more practicable to an unpractised hand is that in use among some
of the North American Indians. I copy the illustration of it from
Schoolcraft's work upon those people.
One person works the "drill-stick" with a rude bow, and with his other
hand holds a piece of stone or of wood above it, both to steady it and to
give the requisite pressure--gentle at first, and increasing judiciously
up to the critical moment when the fire is on the point of bursting out.
Another man puts his hands on the lower piece of wood, the "fire-block,"
to steady it, and holds a piece of tinder ready to light it as soon as
fire is produced. If a serious emergency should occur, it is by no means
hopeless to obtain fire after this method. A large party have
considerable advantages over only one or two men, because as the work is
fatiguing, the men can undertake it in turns; and, again, as considerable
knack is required for success, it is much more probable that one man out
of many should succeed, than that only one man, taken at hazard, should
do so. But the best plan of all for a party of three or more men is for
one of them to hold the upper block, another to hold the lower block and
the tinder, should there be any, and the third man to cause the
drill-stick to rotate. He will effect this best by dispensing with the
"bow," and by simply using a string or thong of a yard or four feet long.
He makes one or two turns with the string round the drill-stick, and then
holding one end of the string in either hand, he saws away with all his
force. I believe that a party of three men, furnished with dry wood of an
appropriate quality and plenty of string, would surely produce smoke on
the first few trials, but that they would fail in producing fire. If,
however, they had a couple of hours' leisure to master the knack of
working these sticks, I think they would succeed in producing fire before
the end of that time. The period of time necessary for a successful
operation is from one to three minutes. It is of little use fatiguing
yourself with sustaining the exertion for a longer period at a time,
unless the wood becomes continuously hotter. As soon as the temperature
remains uniform it shows that you have let the opportunity slip; it is
then the best economy of effort to desist at once, to rest, to take
breath, and recommence with fresh vigour.
[Sketch unlabelled].
Fire by Chemical Means.--It is not in the province of this book to
describe the various matches that take fire by dipping them into
compositions; and I have already spoken of lucifer-matches in the last
section. Only one source of fire remains to be noticed, it is--
Spontaneous Combustion.--It is conceivable that the property which masses
of greasy rags, and such-like matter, possess of igniting when left to
themselves, might under some circumstances, be the only means available
to procure fire. It is at all events well that this property should be
borne in mind when warehousing stores, in order to avoid the risk of
their taking fire. Any oil mixed with a hatful of shavings, tow, cotton,
wool, or rags, heaped together, will become very hot in one, two, or more
days, and will ultimately burst into flame. The rapidity of the process
is increased by warmth.
Tinder.--General Remarks.--There are two divisions of tinder: those that
are of a sufficiently strong texture to admit of being grasped in the
hand, and those that are so friable as to require a box to hold them. In
the first division (a) are the following:--amadon, a roll of rag, a
cotton lamp-wick, a roll of touch-paper, a mass of hair of certain
plants, and a long string of pith sewed up in a sheath. To ignite these,
we must hold them as in fig. 1, and use the steel to strike downwards
upon the flint. In the second division (b) are:--tinder of burnt rags,
tinder of any kind with grains of gunpowder strewed over it, and
touch-wood. All these require tinder-boxes, as explained below. There are
also many other substances belonging to both divisions of tinder, in use.
A traveller should inform himself about those peculiar to the country
that he visits.
a Amacou, punk, or German tinder, is made from a kind of fungus or
mushroom that grows on the trunks of old oaks, ashes, beeches, etc.; many
other kinds of fungus, and, I believe, all kinds of puff-balls, will also
make tinder. "It should be gathered in August or September, and is
prepared by removing the outer bark with a knife, and separating
carefully the spongy yellowish mass that lies within it. This is cut into
thin slices, and beaten with a mallet to soften it, till it can easily be
pulled asunder between the fingers. It is then boiled in a strong
solution of saltpetre."
A Roll of Rag.--Cotton rag will easily take fire from the spark from a
flint, in a very dry climate, if well struck. It must be rolled up
moderately tight, so as to have the end of the roll fluffy; the rag
having been torn, not cut. A rag rolled in this way is not bad tinder, if
the sparks are strong, and one commences to blow it the instant one of
the fibres is seen to be alight. If its fluffy end be rubbed into a
little dry gunpowder, its property as tinder is greatly improved.
Cotton Lamp-wick.--A piece of it drawn through a tin tube, to shield the
previously charred part from being rubbed off, is excellent in dry
climates. (See fig. 1, p. 180.)
Touch-paper is merely paper dipped in a solution of saltpetre, or what
comes to nearly the same thing and is somewhat better, paper smeared with
damp gunpowder until it is blackened. Some grains of uncrushed gunpowder
should be left adhering to the paper, and a few more should be allowed to
lie loosely upon it. Unsized paper, like that out of a blotting-book, is
the best suited for making into touch-paper; paper is rendered unsized by
being well soaked and washed in water. (See next paragraph.)
Saltpetre for Tinder.--In all cases the presence of saltpetre makes
tinder burn more hotly and more fiercely; and saltpetre exists in such
great quantities in the ashes of many plants (as tobacco, dill, maize,
sunflower), that these can be used, just as they are, in the place of it.
Thus, if the ashes of a cigar be well rubbed into a bit of paper, they
convert it into touch-paper. So will gunpowder, for out of four parts of
it, three are saltpetre; damaged gunpowder may be used for making
touch-paper. If it be an object to prepare a store of tinder, a strong
solution of saltpetre in water should be obtained, and the paper, or
rags, or fungus, dipped into it and hung to dry. This solution may be
made by pouring a little water on a charge of gunpowder, or on the ashes
above-mentioned, which will dissolve the saltpetre out of them. Boiling
water makes a solution forty-fold stronger than ice-cold water, and about
eight times stronger than water at 60 degrees Fahr.
Hair of Plants.--The silky down of a particular willow (S. lanata) was
used by the Esquimaux, with whom Dr. Kane had intercourse; and the
botanist Dr. Lindley once informed me that he had happened to receive a
piece of peculiarly excellent tinder that was simply the hair of a
tree-fern. The Gomuti tinder of the Eastern Archipelago is the hair of a
palm.
Pith.--Many kinds of pith are remarkable as tinders; that whence the
well-known pith hats are made, is used as tinder in India. Pieces of pith
are often sewn round with thin cotton or silk, so as to form a long cord,
like the cotton lamp-wick I have described above, and they are carried in
tubes for the same reason.
b. We now come to the different kinds of tinder that fall into our second
division, namely, those that are too friable to bear handling.
Rags.--Charred linen rags make the tinder that catches fire most easily,
that burns most hotly when blown upon, and smoulders most slowly when
left to itself, of any kind of tinder that is generally to be obtained.
In making it the rags are lighted, and when in a blaze and before they
are burnt to white ashes, the flame is stifled out. It is usual to make
this kind of tinder in the box intended to hold it; but it can easily be
made on the ground in the open air, by setting light to the rag, and
dropping pinches of sand upon the flaming parts as soon as it is desired
to quench them. The sand is afterwards brushed away, and the tinder
gently extricated.
Touch-wood is an inferior sort of tinder, but is always to be met with in
woody countries.
Dry Dung.--Dry and powdered cattle dung--especially horse-dung--will
take a spark, but with trouble. After it is lighted it can be kept
burning with little difficulty.
Tinder-boxes.--There are three ways of striking a flint, which are best
explained by sketches. Fig. 1, p. 180, shows how tinder that is tough
enough to bear handling, is grasped together with the flint. When no
tinder-box is at hand the more friable kinds of tinder, as touch-wood,
may be enveloped in a roll of rag and be used either as in fig. 1 or in
fig 3. Fig. 2 shows how tinder may be laid on the ground, and how sparks
may be struck upon it. The household tinder-boxes of thirty years ago,
before lucifers were invented, were for use in this way. Fig. 3 shows how
sparks may be struck into a small tinder-box. It is the method most
commonly adopted by travellers: for instance, it is universally used in
South Africa and in North America. A hollow cylinder of wood or metal,
about three inches long, and corked up at one end, is all that is
essential. If it be barrel-shaped the flint lies against its sides, at
the most convenient angle for striking sparks into the box, as is shown
by the bottom drawing of fig. 3.
[Fig 2 and 3 as described].
Wet Weather.--In long-continued soaking weather, the best way of keeping
a tinder-box dry is to put it into a small pocket hung close under the
armpit.
Fuel.--Firewood.--There is a knack in finding firewood. It should be
looked for under bushes; the stump of a tree that is rotted nearly to the
ground has often a magnificent root, fit to blaze throughout the night.
Dry Cattle-dung.--The dry dung of cattle and other animals, as found on
the ground, is very generally used throughout the world, in default of
better fuel, and there is nothing whatever objectionable in employing it.
The Canadians call it by the apt name of "Bois de Vache." In North and
South Africa it is frequently used; throughout a large part of Armenia
and of Thibet the natives rely entirely upon it. There is a great
convenience in this sort of fuel; because, as it is only in camps that
fuel is wanted, so it is precisely at old encamping-places that
cattle-dung is abundantly found.
Bones.--Another remarkable substitute for firewood is bones; a fact which
Mr. Darwin was, I believe, the first to mention. The bones of an animal,
when freshly killed, make good fuel; and even those of cooked meat, and
such as have been exposed to the air for some days, will greatly increase
the heat of a scanty fire. Their smell is not disagreeable: it is simply
that of roast or burnt meat. In the Falkland Islands, where firewood is
scarce, it is not unusual to cook part of the meat of a slaughtered bull
with its own bones. When the fire is once started with a few sticks, it
burns well and hotly. The flame of course depends on the fat within the
bones, and therefore the fatter the animal the better the fire. During
the Russian campaign in 1829, the troops suffered so severely from cold
at Adrianople, that the cemeteries were ransacked for bones for fuel.
(Moltke, in the Appendix.)
Sea-weed makes a hot though not a cheerful fire. It is largely used. The
vraic or sea-weed gatherers of the Channel Islands are represented in
many picturesque sketches. The weed is carted home, spread out, and
dried.
Peat.--Travellers must bear in mind that peat will burn, especially as
the countries in which it is found are commonly destitute of firewood;
and, besides that, are marshy, cold, and aguish.
Charcoal is frequently carried by travellers in sacks; they use a
prepared charcoal in the East, which is made in the form of very large
buttons, that are carried strung together on a string. An Indian
correspondent informs me that they are made by mixing powdered charcoal
with molasses, in the proportion of ten to one, or thereabouts, rolling
the mass into balls, and drying them in the sun. A single ball is called
a "gul." They are used for igniting hookhas: they are also burnt inside
the smoothing-iron used by washermen in order to heat it. The juice or
sap of many plants would probably answer the purpose of molasses in their
preparation.
Small Fuel for lighting the Fire.--Shreds and Fibres.--The live spark has
to be received and partly enclosed, in a loose heap or nest of
finely-shredded fuel. The substances for making such a nest, are one or
other of the following list:--
Dry grass of the finest kinds: leaves: moss: lichen, and wild cotton;
stalks or bark, broken up and rubbed small between the fingers; peat or
cattle-dung pulverised; paper that has been doubled up in many folds and
then cut with a sharp knife into the finest possible shavings; tow, or
what is the same thing, oakum, made by unravelling rope or string; and
scrapings and fine shavings from a log of wood. The shreds that are
intended to touch the live spark should be reduced to the finest fibre;
the outside of the nest may be of coarser, but still of somewhat delicate
material.
Cook should collect them.--It is the duty of a cook, when the time of
encamping draws near, to get down from his horse, and to pick up, as he
walks along, a sufficiency of dry grass, little bits of wood, and the
like, to start a fire; which he should begin to make as soon as ever the
caravan stops. The fire ought to be burning, and the kettle standing by
its side, by the time that the animals are caught and are ready to be
off-packed.
Small Sticks.--There should be abundance of small sticks, and if neither
these nor any equivalent for them are to be picked up, the traveller
should split up his larger firewood with his knife, in order to make
them. It is a wise economy of time and patience to prepare plenty of
these; otherwise it will occasionally happen that the whole stock will be
consumed and no fire made. Then the traveller must recommence the work
from the very beginning, under the disadvantage of increasing darkness. I
have made many experiments myself, and have seen many novices as well as
old campaigners try to make fires; and have concluded that, to ensure
success, the traveller should be provided with small bundles of sticks of
each of the following sizes:--1st, size of lucifer-match; 2nd, of lead
pencil; 3rd, smaller than little finger; 4th, size of fore-finger; 5th,
stout stakes.
In wet Weather, the most likely places to find wherewithal to light a
fire, are under large stones and other shelter; but in soaking wet
weather, little chips of dry wood can hardly be procured except by
cutting them with an axe out of the middle of a log. The fire may then be
begun, as the late Admiral the Hon. C. Murray well recommended in his
travels in North America, in the frying-pan itself, for want of a dry
piece of ground.
To kindle a Spark into a Flame.--By whirling.--1st. Arrange the fuel
into logs; into small fuel, assorted as described above, and into shreds
and fibres. 2nd. Make a loose nest of the fibre, just like a sparrow's
nest in shape and size, and let the finer part of the fibres be inwards.
3rd. Drop the lighted tinder in the next. 4th. Holding the "nest" quite
loosely in the half-closed hand, whirl the outstretched arm in vertical
circles round the shoulder-joint, as indicated by the dotted line in the
diagram. In 30 seconds, or about 40 revolutions, it will begin to glow,
and will shortly after burst out in a grand flame. 5th Drop it, and pile
small twigs round it, and nurse the young fire carefully, bearing in mind
the proverb that "small sticks kindle a flame, but large ones put it
out."
By blowing.--Savages usually kindle the flame by blowing at the live
spark and feeding it with little bits of stick, just so much as is
necessary. But it is difficult to acquire the art of doing this well, and
I decidedly recommend the plan I have described in the foregoing
paragraph, in preference to it. When the wind blowssteadily and freshly,
it suffices to hold up the "nest" against the wind.
Sulphur matches are so very useful to convert a spark into a flame, and
they are so easily made, in any quantity, out of split wood, straw, etc.,
if the traveller will only take the trouble of carrying a small lump of
sulphur in his baggage, that they always ought to be at hand. The sulphur
is melted on a heated stone, or in an old spoon, bit of crockery, bit of
tin with a dent made in it, or even a piece of paper, and the points of
the pieces of wood dipped in the molten mass. A small chip of sulphur
pushed into the cleft end of a splinter of wood makes a fair substitute
for a match. (See "Lucifer-matches.")
Camp Fires.--Large Logs.--The principle of making large logs to burn
brightly, is to allow air to reach them on all sides, and yet to place
them so closely together, that each supports the combustion of the rest.
A common plan is to make the fire with three logs, whose ends cross each
other, as in the diagram. The dots represent the extent of the fire. As
the ends burn away, the logs are pushed closer together. Another plan is
to lay the logs parallel with the burning ends to the windward, then they
continue burning together.
In the pine-forests of the North, at winter time, it is usual to fell a
large tree, and, cutting a piece six or eight feet long off the large
end, to lay the thick short piece upon the long one, which is left lying
on the ground; having previously cut flat with the axe the sides that
come in contact, and notched them so as to make the upper log lie steady.
The chips are then heaped in between the logs, and are set fire to; the
flame runs in between them, and the heat of each log helps the other to
burn. It is the work of nearly an hour to prepare such a fire; but when
made, it lasts throughout the night. In all cases, one or two great logs
are far better than many small ones, as these burn fast away and require
constant looking after. Many serious accidents occur from a large log
burning away and toppling over with a crash, sending a volley of blazing
cinders among the sleeping party. Savages are always getting burnt, and
we should take warning from their carelessness: sometimes they find a
single scathed tree without branches, which they have no means of
felling; this they set fire to as it stands, and when all have fallen off
to sleep, the tree tumbles down upon them. Indeed, savages are seldom
free from scars or severe burns; they are so cold during the night that
they cannot endure to be an inch further from the fire than necessary,
and consequently, as they turn about in their sleep, often roll into it.
[Diagram as described following].
Logs to cut up, with a small axe or knife.
Let A O be the log. Cut two notches (1), (2), on opposite sides. Hold the
log by the end A, and strike the end violently against the ground; the
piece O, 1, 2, will fly off. Then make the cut (3) on the side opposite
to (2), and again strike, and the piece 1, 2, 3, will fly off. So again
with cut (4), etc. (Peal.)
Brushwood.--If in a country where any a number of small sticks and no
large logs can be collected as firewood, the best plan is to encamp after
the manner of the Ovampos. These, as they travel, collect sticks, each
man his own faggot, and when they stop, each takes eight or nine stones
as large as bricks, or larger, and sets them in a circle; and within
these he lights up his little fire. Now the party make their fireplaces
close together, in two or more parallel lines, and sleep in between them;
the stones prevent the embers from flying about and doing mischief, and
also, after the fires have quite burnt out, they continue to radiate
heat.
Charcoal.--If charcoal be carried, a small chafing-dish, or other
substitute for a fireplace, ought also be taken, together with a set of
tin cooking-utensils.
Fireplaces in Boats.--In boating excursions, daub a lump of clay on the
bottom of the boat, beneath the fireplace--it will secure the timbers
from fire. "Our primitive kitchen was a square wooden box, lined with
clay and filled with sand, upon which three or four large stones were
placed to form a hearth." (Burton's 'Medinah.')
Fireplaces on Snow.--On very deep snow, a hearth has to be made of a
number of green logs, upon which the fire may be made. (See "Esquimaux
Cooking Lamp.")