Part 6

The Ainos of Japan use flint and steel for striking-a-light, this method having supplanted the generation of fire by sticks (p. 551.) This outfit shown (fig. 57, pl. LXXXI) is complete. The shoe-shaped steel is attached by a piece of sinew to the cork of a small wooden bottle containing the soft charcoal used as tinder. The flint is a small piece of ferruginous silex. With this set is a piece of stick which retains fire for a long time. It is the root of the _Ulmus campestris_, or _lævis_, formerly used for the fire-drill (see fig. 17), but has come into a secondary place since the introduction of the flint and steel.

Plate LXXXI.

To strike a light the Aino takes out the cork with the steel attached and stirs up the tinder with the sharp point. He then holds up the flint in his hand over the box and strikes a spark down into it. He then transfers the coal to his pipe, or material for fire, or fire-stick, with the point of the steel. These articles are kept in a rush pouch of twined weaving. A much ruder pouch of fishskin is in the Museum.

The Japanese tinder-box has two compartments, one with a damper for the tinder, and the other larger one for the flint and steel. This box is a familiar object in Japanese kitchens yet. The mounting of the steel in wood is an improvement on holding it between the fingers (fig. 58 and 59). No one it seems ever thought of so mounting the steel in Western countries. The matches are broad shavings tipped at both ends with sulphur, and are the Japanese rendering of the “spunks” used with our tinder-box.

Smokers in Japan carry a very small strike-a-light (fig. 60). The cloth pouch with a long flap that can be rolled around several times and tied, contains the three essentials, flint, steel, and tinder, the latter of burnt cotton.

_List of specimens described and figured._

Catalog Name. Localities and Collector. No. Tribes.

Text fig. 1 74379 Fire-making set Sitkans, Alaska John J. McLean. 2 20644 do Bella Bella, James G. Swan. British Columbia. 3 127866 do Quinaielts, Charles Willoughby. Washington 4 24096 do Klamaths, Oregon L. S. Dyar. 5 77193 do Hupas, California Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. S. Army. 6 19640 Hearth Washoes, Nevada. Stephen Powers. 7 17230 Fire-making set Pai-Utes, Southern Maj. J. W. Powell. Utah 8 11976 do do Do. 9 22022 do Wind River Shoshones Do. 10 128694 do Mokis, Arizona Mrs. Tilly E. Stevenson. 11 127708 do Zuñi, New Mexico Col. James Stevenson. 12 69850 Slow match, do Do. punk 13 25268 Hearth from Silver City, New Henry Metcalf. cave Mexico 14 130672 Hearth Apaches, Arizona Capt. Jno. G. Bourke, U.S. Army. 15 9555 Fire-making set Navajos, New Mexico Dr. E. Palmer. 16 15396 do Costa Rica W. M. Gabb. 17 129970 do Ainos, Japan Peabody Museum, D. P. Penhallow. 18 [65] Sacred Idzumo, Japan R. Hitchcock. fire-drill 19 129971 Fire-making set Somalis, East Africa Peabody Museum, Dr. Chas. Pickering. 20 Taveita men making fire. Pl. LXXIV {10258} Fire tools Frobisher Bay and L. Kumlein. Cumberland Gulf. 21 {9833} 22 {10295} 23 Capt. C. F. Hall. {14252} 24 {34114 Boring set do L. Kumlein. Text fig. 25 Fire drill East Greenland From Holm and Garde. 26 Boring set do Do. Pl. LXXV 27 10128 Fire Bag Holsteinberg, West Capt. C. F. Hall. Greenland. Text fig. 28 1978 Hearth with Mackenzie River B. R. Ross. cement 29 1963 Hearth do Do. 30 1327 Fire drill Anderson River C. P. Gaudet. 31 89822 Fire-making set Point Barrow, Alaska Lieut. P. H. Ray, U.S. Army. Pl. LXXVI 32 {89500 Boring set do Do. {89630 {89424 Pl. LXXVII {25021 do Sledge Island, E. W. Nelson. 33 Alaska {44978 {45108 Text fig. 34 33166 Fire-making set Norton Sound, Alaska Do. 35 38601 Hearth Cape Vancouver, Do. Alaska Pl. LXXVIII {37961 Fire-making set Chalitmute, Alaska Do. 36 {36325 Pl. LXXIX 37 127520 do Kassianamute, Alaska I. Applegate. Text fig. 38 127819a do Koggiung, Bristol W. J. Fisher. Bay, Alaska. 39 127819b do do Do. Pl. LXXX 40 55938 Fire-making set Bristol Bay, Alaska Charles L. McKay. Text fig. 41 72514 Hearth and Kadiak Island, W. J. Fisher. drill Alaska 42 129775 Fire sticks Malays After Wallace. (model) 43 130675 do Samoa Harold M. Sewall. 44 1861 Strike-a-light Fort Simpson, B. R. Ross. British Columbia. 45} 128405 do Mackenzie River E. P. Herendeen. District 46} 47} 48 75516 Tinder-box England L. and M. Farmer. 49 130431 Wheel Broadalbin, New York F. S. Hawley. tinder-box 50 129693 Strike-a-light Boulogne-sur-mer, Edward Lovett. France 51 {22431 Flint and steel Otoes, Kansas J. W. Griest. Belt Assiniboins, Dr. J. P. Kimball. {8481 with Dakota flint, steel, etc. 52 22104 Strike-a-light Cheyennes, Arkansas Dr. W. H. Barry. 53 6972 do Comanches, Texas Dr. E. Palmer. 54 126576 Flint and steel Guadalajara Do. Indians, Mexico. 55 130607 Pipe-lighting Koords, East Turkey Rev. A. N. Andrus. outfit 56 130311 Strike-a-light China George G. Fryer. Pl. LXXXI 57 22257 do Ainos, Japan B. S. Lyman. Text fig. 128137 Tinder-box Japan Japanese Department 58} of Education. 59} 60 128138 Strike-a-light do Do.

Footnotes

[1]Lafitau.—Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains. Paris 1724. II p. 242, 243.

[2]Schweinfurth. The Heart of Africa. New York, 1874. I, p. 257.

[3]Swan.—Northwest Coast, p. 248.

[4]Bancroft.—Native Races. I., p. 237.

[5]Kane.—Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians. London, 1859.

[6]Smithsonian Report. 1885. Pt. ii, p. 723.

[7]American Antiquarian. Mendon, Illinois, September, 1886. VIII, p. 283.

[8]Smithsonian Report. 1865. p. 367.

[9]Dr. Matthews’s mountain chant of the Navajos, in the fifth annual report (1883-’84) of the Bureau of Ethnology, gives some very striking ceremonial uses of fire. No ethnologist should fail to read this important contribution to science.

[10]The Aborigines of Hispaniola. J. Anthrop., Inst. Gt. Britain and Ireland, XVI, p. 282.

[11]G. Benzoni.—History of the New World. Hakluyt Society, XXI, p. 151.

[12]Smith.—The Natural Inhabitants of Virginia. English Scholars’ Library. No. 16, p. 68.

[13]Beverley.—History of Virginia. 1722. 197, 198.

[14]Loskiel.—History of the Mission of the United Brethren. London, 1794. p. 54.

[15]Benj. Hawkins’ Sketch of the Creek Country. 1798-’99. 68-72, cited in Pickett’s History of Alabama. I, p. 108.

[16]Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 1883-’84. p. 518.

[17]The George Catlin Indian Gallery. Smithsonian Report. 1885. II, p. 456.

[18]Schoolcraft.—Indian Tribes. 1851-60. III, Pl. 28.

[19]Smithsonian Report. 1885. II, p. 315.

[20]Sir Daniel Wilson.—Prehistoric Man. II, p. 375.

[21]Darwin.—Narrative of the voyage of the Beagle. III, p. 458. Cited in Early History of Mankind. p. 241.

[22]Dr. Emil Hassler.—In Jahrbuch Mittelschweiz. Commerciel. Gesellsch. Arau, Zweiter Band. 1888. 114, 115.

[23]Harper’s Monthly Magazine. Nov. 1853. VII, p. 745.

[24]Trans. Asiat. Soc. Japan. 1878, vi. Pt. II, p. 223.

[25]J. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland. 1885. XV, p. 10.

[26]Proc. Royal Soc. Edinburgh. Session of 1883-’84. p. 309.

[27]Schweinfurth.—The Heart of Africa. New York, 1874. I, 531, 532.

[28]J. G. Wood.—The Natural History of Man. I, p. 101.

[29]Mason.—Throwing-sticks in the National Museum. Smithsonian Report. 1884. II, p. 279.

[30]Nordenskiöld.—Voyage of the _Vega_. London, 1881. II, p. 121.

[31]Seebohm.—Siberia in Asia. p. 109.

[32]Trans. Ethnol. Soc. London, 1861. p. 140.

[33]Hind.—Labrador. I, p. 149.

[34]Danish Umiak Expedition to Eastern Greenland, 1888. p. 28. Plate XIV contains the figure.

[35]Danish Umiak Expedition. Preliminary Report, p. 208. This seems scarcely what would be inferred from the development of these inventions.

[36]Hakluyt Society. III, p. 104.

[37]Die amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition. Leipzig. p. 358.

[38]Nordenskiöld.—Voyage of the _Vega_. London, 1881. II, 121, 122.

[39]Nordenskiöld.—Voyage of the _Vega_. London, 1881. II, 120, 121.

[40]D. D. Daly.—Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. 1888. p. 10.

[41]Capt. T. H. Lewis.—Hill tribes of Chittagong. Calcutta, 1869. p. 83.

[42]The American Anthropologist. Washington, 1888. I, No. 3, p. 294.

[43]J. G. Wood.—The Natural History of Man. II, p. 502.

[44]R. Brough Smith.—The Aborigines of Victoria. London, 1878. I, p. 393.

[45]W. Powell.—Wanderings in a Wild Country, p. 206.

[46]R. Brough Smith.—The Aborigines of Victoria. London, 1878. I, p. 394.

[47]Dawkins.—Early Man in Britain. London. p. 210.

[48]_Loc. cit._, p. 258.

[49]J. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland. VII, p. 83.

[50]Lafitan.—Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains. p. 272. An earlier account is found in Le Jeune, Relation de 1634, p. 24. Quebec, 1858.

[51]J. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland, v, p. 225.

[52]Extracted from an article by the author in Proceedings U. S. National Museum, XI, 1888,181-4.

[53]Smithsonian Report. 1860. p. 326.

[54]Die amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition. Leipzig, 1879. p. 358.

[55]Kane.—Arctic Explorations. I, p. 379.

[56]Parry.—Second Voyage. London, 1824. p. 504.

[57]Bancroft.—Native Races of the Pacific States. I, p. 91.

[58]Keller.—Swiss Lake Dwellings. Pl. xxviii, fig. 29.

[59]Sir J. W. Dawson gives an interesting account of the strike-a-light flints used in Egypt in 1844, in Modern Science in Bible Lands, p. 30.

[60]See figure in D. Bruce Peebles’s address on Illumination, in Trans. Roy. Scottish Society of Arts, Edinburgh, XII., part I, p. 96.

[61]Nordenskiöld.—Voyage of the _Vega_, II, p. 122.

[62]The George Catlin Indian Gallery. Smithsonian Report. 1885. II, p. 456.

[63]See figure in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain, XVI, 1886, p. 67.

[64]See figure in Jahrbuch Mittelschweiz. Commercial. Gesellsch, Arau, Zweiter Band, 1888, pp. 114-115.

[65]From photograph.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Corrected a few palpable typographical errors.

—The “List of Specimens” was not consistent with figure captions; there was no obvious fix, and none was attempted.

—Added one section heading, “3. Iroquois Weighted Drill” to make section headings (but not section order) consistent with the introductory classification.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.