50 DEMONSTRATION ON FIRE-MAKING APPLIANCES.
Before describing these in detail it would be as well to briefly introduce
the subject. The modern chemical method of getting fire by means of.
articles is an invention as of but yesterday, compared with the enormous
antiquity of making fire by mechanical means.
These mechanical modes were (and are) as far as we know, of three kinds
—viz., by (1) Friction, (2) Percussion, and (3) Compression. Of these the
oldest and by far the most generally distributed is that by Friction.
The apparatus consists usually of two pieces of wood : one of these is the
rubber and is composed of a hard wood ; while the other or "hearth" is of
a softer kind. Sometimes the rubber is worked up and down a groove in the
"hearth," as was the apparatus in vogue amongs the Hottentots and in some
parts of South Africa ; while in the general way the rubber is twirled in a hole
in the softer piece of wood.
Many of the North American Indian tribes made fire in this way ; as also
did the Eskimos ; so did many of the African natives, as well as the Veddas of
Ceylon and the Bheels of Central India.
The usual method of working this Fire-drill was by twirling it between
the hands ; two operators were required to keep the motion on till fire comes,
for any pause is fatal to getting fire. The Eskimo people seem to have hit
upon some clever devices ; one of these is the Bow-drill. The operator holds
the drill down, with a stone-lined cap, with one hand ; whilst with the other
he works, saw-like, a bow of walrus ivory, the thong of which takes a turn
round the drill stick.
Another way is with a bare thong worked by one man from side to side,
whilst another man holds down the drill. Yet another is, where the thong is
worked by the same man who holds the pressing cap in his teeth. Consider-
ing the enormous drag on a fire-drill, these men must have good teeth and
strong jaws !
The Bheels of India use the drill, the wood of Tectona grandis, and the
"hearth" is made of the Ziziphus jujuba.
The Somalis use a similar form, but the wood is unknown to me.
The Pump-drill, a form of enormous antiquity, was in common use
among the Zuni Indians, while some of the Oriental primitive races used two
pieces of bamboo with a curious sawing process.
In all these examples what takes place is practically the same, and it is
this. The rubber or drill being of hard wood rubs off fine particles of the
softer wood, which are of course rendered very hot in the process. This hot
wood dust coming into contact with the oxygen of the air, ignites, and
smoulders, and can soon by the aid of a little dry moss kindle a flame.
It will be noticed that in all the "hearths" exhibited there is a little
notch at the side of the hollow in which the drill revolves ; this is to admit the
air to the heated wood dust which could not otherwise ignite.
The method of obtaining fire by Compression is so limited that we may
dispose of it before proceeding to the much greater subjects of percussion.
Indeed the compression tube has been used in Europe as a scientific toy, and
it is therefore very surprising to find it used by such a people as the Shans
for the very practical purpose of getting fire. Their apparatus consists of a
flask-shaped box of very hard wood, into which a sort of piston rod, also of
wood, fits, at the one end of this is a hollow for holding a bit of very dry