Fire-making Apparatus in the U. S. National Museum.
By Walter Hough.
Man in his originals seems to be a thing unarmed and naked, and unable
to help itself, as needing the aid of many things; therefore
Prometheus makes haste to find out fire, which suppediates and yields
comfort and help in a manner to all human wants and necessities; so
that if the soul be the form of forms, and the hand be the instrument
of instruments, fire deserves well to be called the succor of succors,
or the help of helps, that infinite ways afford aid and assistance to
all labors and the mechanical arts, and to the sciences themselves.
Bacon.—_Wisdom of the ancients, Prometheus_, Works, vol. iii. Lond.,
1825, p. 72.
There is a prevalent belief that to make fire by rubbing two pieces of
wood is very difficult. It is not so; the writer has repeatedly made
fire in thirty seconds by the twirling sticks and in five seconds with
the bow drill.
Many travelers relate that they have seen various peoples make fire with
sticks of wood. The most common way, by twirling one stick upon another
is well described by Pere Lafitau with reference to the Hurons and
Iroquois.
They take two pieces of cedar wood, dry and light; they hold one piece
firmly down with the knee and in a cavity which they have made with a
beaver-tooth or with the point of a knife on the edge of one of these
pieces of wood which is flat and a little larger, they insert the
other piece which is round and pointed and turn and press down with so
much rapidity and violence that the material of the wood agitated with
vehemence falls off in a rain of fire by means of a crack or little
canal which leaps from the cavity over a match [slow match]. This
match receives the sparks which fall, and preserves them for a long
time and from which they can make a large fire by touching it to other
dry materials.[1]
All these descriptions omit details that are essential to the
comprehension of the reader. There is a great knack in twirling the
vertical stick. It is taken between the palms of the outstretched hands,
which are drawn backwards and forwards past each other almost to the
finger tips, thus giving the drill a reciprocating motion. At the same
time a strong downward pressure, is given which may be called a rotating
pressure. The hands move down the drill; when they nearly reach the
lower end they are brought back to the top with a quick, deft motion.
This is repeated as rapidly as possible. If the lower part of the drill
is observed when the motion begins it will be seen that powder is ground
off and is collecting in the canal cut into the cavity from the side of
the lower piece of wood. Soon, as the motion progresses, the powder
begins to increase and to get darker, the odor of burning wood is
noticed and the smoke is seen. Probably when the next motion ceases
there will be a little curl of peculiarly colored smoke, which shows
that active combustion has begun. The pellet of ground-off wood may now
be shaken out of the slot or canal. At first it is dark; a thin line of
smoke comes from it; gradually the fire spreads through it until it
glows. In this semi-charred dust the heat is held until it increases to
about 450°, or higher. Everything depends on keeping the dust in a heap;
it is impossible to make fire without doing this. This is true in all
kinds of wooden fire-making tools.
By examination of many specimens of aboriginal fire apparatus it is
found that both the drill and lower piece, which, for convenience, shall
be called the hearth, must be of dry, inflammable wood. Wood that is
soft from incipient decay is chosen; most often pieces riddled by worms.
This is the _felicis materia_ spoken of by Festus as used by the
Vestals. Wood of this kind is not only easier of ignition, but it is
ground off more easily and retains the heat generated until enough is
accumulated to ignite the powder. In strong, skillful hands fire can be
made from wood that does not wholly fulfill these conditions.
Woods vary in combustibility, depending on their density, coloring
matter, and, perhaps, their chemical constitution. Sap wood of juniper
and soft, white maple yield fire with the bow, but light mesquite is the
best of all. The vascular, starchy flowering stems of plants have always
been a favorite fire-generating material.
It will be seen that the Eskimo attachments to the simple drill enable
him to use wood ordinarily of no account for making fire. Sand is used
by Indians and other peoples to increase the friction.
From the material in the collection at the Museum, it is found that
nearly every method that is or was used in the world is represented. The
following classification, based upon the presumed order of development
of the invention, is followed in this paper:
I.—Fire-making by reciprocating motion.
1. _Simple, two-stick apparatus_: Indians of the two Americas,
Ainos, Somalis, Kaffirs, Veddahs, Australians, etc.
2. _Four-part apparatus_: Eskimo, some Indians, Hindoos, and Dyaks.
3. _Weighted drill_, with spindle whorl; Iroquois and Chukchis.
II.—Fire-making by sawing.
Malays, Burmese, etc.
III.—Fire-making by plowing.
Polynesians, Australians, and Papuans.
IV.—Fire-making by percussion.
1. _With pyrites, or stone containing iron, and flint_: Eskimo and
northern Indians.
2. _With flint and steel_; General.
I. FIRE-MAKING BY RECIPROCATING MOTION.