2. ESKIMO FOUR-PART APPARATUS.

Fig. 17.Fire-making Set with Touchwood.(Cat. No. 129970, U. S. N. M. Ainos of Yezo, Japan. Collected by D. P. Penhallow. Lent by Peabody Museum, through Prof. F. W. Putnam.)

The Japanese formerly used the simple drill; a few are yet preserved in the temples. Under the name of “Sacred fire drill” it is described[24]as a board 1 foot wide, 1 foot 4 inches long, 1 inch thick, and with a step 1 inch wide or over on one edge. It has holes and grooves like the Eskimo hearth. The drill is a stick twirled between the hands. The parts are of thehi-no-ki, or fire tree,Chamæocyparis obtusa. The drill is calledhi-kiri-usu, or fire drilling mortar. It was and perhaps is yet used for the purpose of drilling fire at the four corners of the temple inclosure to ward off the calamity of fire. They are said also to have used therokuro, or pump-drill. It is interesting to note that the Japanese carpenter’s drill with the iron point is rotated between the palms. They are still in use. The one figured is in the Tokio Museum.

Prof. Romyn Hitchcock has kindly allowed a drawing to be made of a photograph which he procured of a sacred fire drill preserved in the temple called Oyashiro, at Idzumo, Japan (fig. 18). The hearth of this set is made ofhi-no-kiwood and the drill of theUt-su-gi, Deutzia scabra.

Fig. 18.Sacred Fire Drill.From photograph of specimen in Tokio Museum. Lent by Romyn Hitchcock.

Professor Hitchcock says:

The fire drill is used at the festivals of the Oyashiro to produce fire for use in cooking the food offered to the gods. Until the temple was examined officially in 1872, the head priest used it for preparing his private meals at all times. Since then it has been used only at festivals and in the head priest’s house on the eve of festivals, when he purifies himself for their celebration in theImbidous, or room for preparing holy fire, where he makes the fire and prepares the food.

The art of fire-making by sticks of wood by the method of rotation is, or has been, as far as we know, universal on the African continent as it was in the two Americas at the time of the discovery. There is not a clue as to how the ancient Egyptians generated fire.

The Somalis are a pastoral people of Arab extraction, inhabiting a large maritime country south of the Gulf of Aden. Their fire-sticks (fig. 19) are pieces of branches of brownish wood of equal texture, in fact the hearth has formerly been used as a drill, as may be seen by its regularly-formed and charred end. This is another proof that it is not necessary that the sticks should be of different degrees of hardness. The grain of the wood, that of the drill being against and the hearthwith the grain, in effect accomplishes what the use of wood of different qualities results in. The hearth and drill are in the neighborhood of 12 inches long, the former with a diameter of three-eighths of an inch and the latter one-fourth of an inch. They were collected by Dr. Charles Pickering in 1843.

It is possible that the Somalis may have carried this method with them from Arabia. They conquered this coast, driving back the earlier tribes inhabiting the country in the early part of the fifteenth century. Long since that time, and even now, some Arab tribes practice the drilling of wooden sticks to produce fire.

Fig. 19.Fire-making Set.(Cat. No. 129971, U. S. N. M. Somalis, E. Africa. Collected by Dr. Charles Pickering. Lent by Peabody Museum through Prof. F. W. Putnam.)

Fig 20.Taveita Africans Making Fire.After H. H. Johnston. (See Jour. Soc. Arts, June 24, 1887.)

In eastern equatorial Africa the Wataveita, says Mr. H. H. Johnston, generate fire in the common African way by rapidly drilling a hard-pointed stick into a small hole in a flat piece of wood. An interesting bit of custom comes out in connection with this art among the people. “It is the exclusive privilege of the men, and the secret is handed down from father to son, and never under any conditions (as they say) revealed to women.” I asked one man why that was. “Oh,” he said, “if women knew how to make fire they would become our masters.”[25]The figure (fig. 20) shows how this people of the great Bantu stock make fire; this tribe visited by Mr. Johnston lives on the slopes of the beautiful Kilimanjaro Mountain.

Mr. R. W. Felkin[26], in a study of the Maidu or Moru negroes of Central Africa, 5° north latitude, 30° 20′ east longitude, describes the fire-making of that tribe. He says that one piece of wood about the size and shape of a large pencil is rotated in a hole in a flat piece of hard wood. One man holds the wood steady whilst two others take it in turn to rotate the stick. This article of Mr. Felkin’s is commended to ethnologists as a model ethnologic study in method and research.

That veteran and renowned explorer, Dr. Schweinfurth, gives the following:

The method of obtaining fire, practiced alike by the natives of the Nile lands and of the adjacent country in the Welle system, consists simply in rubbing together two hard sticks at right-angles to one another till a spark is emitted. The hard twigs of theAvona senegalensisare usually selected for the purpose. Underneath them is placed either a stone or something upon which a little pile of embers has been laid; the friction of the upper piece of wood wears a hole in the lower, and soon a spark is caught by the ashes and is fanned into a flame with dry grass, which is swung to and fro to cause a draught, the whole proceeding being a marvel which might well-nigh eclipse the magic of my lucifer matches.[27]

Kaffir fire-making is described in some detail in the following:

The Kaffir blacksmith never need trouble himself about the means of obtaining a fire. Should he set up his forge in the vicinity of a Kraal, the simplest plan is to send his assistant for a fire-brand from one of the huts. But if he should prefer, as is often the case, to work at some distance from the huts, he can procure fire with perfect certainty, though not without some labor. He first procures two sticks, one of them taken from a soft-wood tree and the other from an acacia or some other tree that furnishes a hard wood. Of course both sticks must be thoroughly dry, a condition about which there is little difficulty in so hot a climate. His next care is to shape one end of the hard stick into a point and to bore a small hole in the middle of the soft stick. He now squats down * * * places the pointed tip of the hard stick in the hole of the soft stick, and, taking the former between his hands, twirls it backwards and forwards with extreme rapidity. As he goes on the hole becomes enlarged and a small quantity of very fine dust falls into it, being rubbed away by the friction. Presently the dust is seen to darken in color, then to become nearly black, and presently a very slight smoke is seen to rise. The Kaffir now redoubles his efforts; he aids the effect of the revolving stick by his breath, and in a few more seconds the dust bursts into a flame. The exertion required by this operation is very severe, and by the time the fire manifests itself the producer is bathed in perspiration.Usually two men at least take part in fire-making, and by dividing the labor very much shorten the process. It is evident that if the perpendicular stick be thus worked, the hands must gradually slide down until they reach the point. The solitary Kaffir would then be obliged to stop the stick, shift his hands to the top, and begin again, thus losing much valuable time. But when two Kaffirs unite in fire-making, one sits opposite the other, and as soon as he sees that his comrade’s hands have nearly worked themselves down to the bottom of the stick he places his own hands on the top, continues the movement, and relieves his friend. Thus the movement of the stick is never checked for a moment, and the operation is consequently hastened. Moreover, considerable assistance is given by the second Kaffir keeping the dust properly arranged round the point of the stick and by taking the part of the bellows, so as to allow his comrade to expend all his strength in twirling.[28]

Usually two men at least take part in fire-making, and by dividing the labor very much shorten the process. It is evident that if the perpendicular stick be thus worked, the hands must gradually slide down until they reach the point. The solitary Kaffir would then be obliged to stop the stick, shift his hands to the top, and begin again, thus losing much valuable time. But when two Kaffirs unite in fire-making, one sits opposite the other, and as soon as he sees that his comrade’s hands have nearly worked themselves down to the bottom of the stick he places his own hands on the top, continues the movement, and relieves his friend. Thus the movement of the stick is never checked for a moment, and the operation is consequently hastened. Moreover, considerable assistance is given by the second Kaffir keeping the dust properly arranged round the point of the stick and by taking the part of the bellows, so as to allow his comrade to expend all his strength in twirling.[28]

It is an anomaly that the African, to light the fire to smelt the iron out of which he forges his remarkable weapons, should use sticks of wood.

The arts of the Eskimo yield more satisfactory results to students of comparative ethnology than those of any other people.

In all their range the culture is uniform; one finds this fact forced upon his observation who has examined the series of specimens in the National Museum, where they are arranged in order by localities from Labrador to southern Alaska. Prof. Otis T. Mason’s paper on Eskimo throwing-sticks[29]gave a new interpretation to this fact and powerfully forwarded the study of ethnology by showing the classificatory value of the distribution of an art.

Professor Mason points out that though the Eskimo culture is uniform in general, in particular the arts show the modification wrought by surroundings and isolation—tribal individuality, it may be called—and admit of the arrangement of this people into a number of groups that have been subjected to these influences.

The Eskimo fire-making tools in the Museum admit of an ethnographic arrangement, but in this paper it is not found necessary to make a close study of this kind. From every locality whence the Museum possesses a complete typical set, it has been figured and described.

The Eskimo are not singular in using a four-part apparatus, but are singular in the method of using it. The mouth-piece is the peculiar feature that is found nowhere else.

The drilling and fire-making set consists of four parts, viz:

The mouth-piece,—sometimes a mere block of wood, ivory, or even the simple concave vertebra of a fish, or the astragalus of a caribou. More often, they show great skill and care in their workmanship, being carved with truth to resemble bear, seals, whales, and walrus. The seal is the most common subject. The upper part is almost always worked out into a block, forming a grip for the teeth. The extent to which some of these are chewed attests the power of the Eskimo jaw. Frequently the piece is intended to be held in the hand, or in both hands, hence it has no teeth grip. In the under part is set a piece of stone, in which is hollowed out a cup-shaped cavity to hold the head of the drill. These stones seem to be selected as much for their appearance as for their anti-friction qualities. They use beautifully-mottled stone, marble, obsidian, and ringed concretions.

The drill is always a short spindle, thicker than any other drill in the world. It is frequently of the same kind of wood as the hearth.

The thong is the usual accompaniment of the fire drill. It is rawhide of seal or other animals. The handles have a primitive appearance; they are nearly always made of bears’ teeth, hollow bones, orbits of wood. Sometimes handles are dispensed with. Mr. Warren K. Moorhead found some perforated teeth in an Ohio mound that in every respect resemble the Eskimo cord handles. They have also been found in caves in Europe decorated with concentric circles like those on the Eskimo specimens.

The bows are among the most striking specimens from this people. They are pared down with great waste from the tusks of the walrus, taking the graceful curve of the tusk. The Museum possesses one 24½ inches long. It is on their decoration that the Eskimo lavishes his utmost art. The bow does not lend itself well to sculpture, as does the mouth-piece; so he covers the smooth ivory with the most graphic and truthful engravings of scenes in the active hunting life in the Arctic, or he tallies on it the pictures of the reindeer, whales, seals, and other animals that he has killed.

Professor Baird was interested more with these bows than with any other Eskimo products, and desired to have them figured and studied.

The distribution of the bow is remarkable. It is not found south of Norton Sound, but extends north and east as far as the Eskimo range. The Chukchis use it,[30]but the Ostyaks use the ancient breast drill.[31]

The bow is used by individuals in boring holes. It is presumed that its use as a fire-making tool is secondary, the cord and handles being the older. The difficulty of making fire is greatly increased when one man attempts to make it with the compound drill; at the critical moment the dust will fail to ignite; besides, there is no need of one man making fire; a thing that is for the common good will be shared by all. Hence the cord with handles, which usually requires that two men should work at the drill, is as a rule used by the Eskimo.

Though the Sioux, and some other North American tribes, made use of the bow to increase the speed of the drill, they did not use the thong with handles, nor was the bow common even in tribes of the Siouan stock that had attained to its use (see remarksp. 549). The bow may be termed a more advanced invention, allowing one man with ease to bore holes.

The hearth is made of any suitable wood. It is commonly stepped and has slots. The central hole with groove is also found. These hearths are preserved carefully, and fire has been made on some of them many times.

The distribution of the central-hole hearth (seefig. 21, pl.LXXIV), and the slot-and-step hearth (seefig. 36), is rather striking. The central holes are found in the specimens observed from the north coast of Alaska, Insular British America, and Greenland, exclusively. The stepped hearth with edge holes and slots is by far the more common in western Alaska, though the other method crops out occasionally; both ways are sometimes used in the same tribe. More often, the central holes are bored on a groove (fig. 34), which collects the ground-off particles and facilitates ignition. Rarely fire is made by working the drill on a plane surface, in single, non-connecting holes.

Figs. 21, 22.Fire-making Set and Extra Hearth.Cat. No. 10258, U. S. N. M. Frobisher Bay. Collected by Capt. C. F. Hall.

Fig. 22.

Fig. 23.Moss in a Leathern Case.Cat. No. 10191, U. S. N. M. Collected by Capt. C. F. Hall.

Fig. 24.Boring-set.Cat. No. 34114, U. S. N. M. Cumberland Gulf. Collected by L. Kumlein.

The difference between these features is, that it is found to be more difficult to get fire by a single hole without groove, or slot, than when the latter features are added. The powder forms a ring around the edge of the hole, is liable to be dispersed, and does not get together in sufficient amount to reach the requisite heat for ignition. Of course this is obviated when a second hole is bored connecting with the first, when the latter becomes a receptacle for the powder.

It is found that these different ways are due to environmental modification, showing itself as remarkably in fire-making, as in any other Eskimo art. Both the stepped and central-hole hearth are different devices for the same end. The step on the hearth is to keep the pellet of glowing powder from falling off into the snow, so universal in Eskimo-land; hence, the simple hearth of primitive times and peoples of warmer climates has received this addition. The same reason caused the Eskimo to bore the holes in the middle of the block.

By following the distribution of the center hole method, a clew may perhaps be gotten to the migrations of the Eskimo.

From Labrador to Norton Sound, by the collections in the Museum, the center hole is alone used; south of Norton Sound both methods prevail, with a preponderance of the stepped-hearth species. The step seems to be an addition to the Indian hearth; the center is an independent invention.

The operation of the drill is well told in the oft-quoted description by Sir. E. Belcher. The writer can attest to the additional statement, that the teeth of civilized man can scarcely stand the shock. He says:

“The thong of the drill bow being passed twice around the drill, the upper end is steadied by a mouth-piece of wood, having a piece of the same stone imbedded, with a counter-sunk cavity. This, held firmly between the teeth, directs the tool. Any workman would be astonished at the performance of this tool on ivory; but having once tried it myself, I found the jar or vibration on the jaws, head, and brain, quite enough to prevent my repeating it.”[32]

The ethnographical study of the Eskimo fire-drill begins with Labrador, including Greenland and following the distribution of the people among the islands and around the North American coast, to Kadiak Island and the Aleutian chain. The following is an interesting account from Labrador, showing what a man would do in the exigency:

He cut a stout stick from a neighboring larch, and taking out the leather thong with which his moccasins were tied, made a short bow and strung it. He then searched for a piece of dry wood, and having found it, cut it into shape, sharpened both ends, and twisted it once around the bowstring; he then took a bit of fungus from his pocket and put it into a little hole which he made in another dry piece of wood with the point of the knife. A third piece of dry wood was fashioned into a handle for his drill.[33]

Eskimo in other localities often use such make-shifts. Cup cavities are often observed in the handles of knives and other bone and ivory tools where they have used them for heads of the fire-drill.

Cumberland Gulf is the next locality to the northward. There are several specimens in the collection from this part of Baffin Land, procured by the famous explorer, Captain Hall, and the less known, but equally indefatigable Kumlein. The fire-making implements from Cumberland Gulf have a markedly different appearance from those of any other locality in the Eskimo area. They have a crude look, and there is a paucity of ornamention unusual among this people. The drill bow is one of the things which the Eskimo usually decorates, but these bows have not even a scratch.

It can be inferred that in Baffin Land, more unfavorable conditions prevail than in southern Alaska. It must be this cause coupled with poor food supply, that have conspired to make them the most wretched of the Eskimo.

The hearth (fig. 21, pl.LXXIV) is of drift oak. It was collected at Frobisher Bay by Capt. Charles F. Hall. It has central holes, and appears to be very unfavorable wood for fire-making. The block hearth is also from Frobisher Bay (fig. 22, pl.LXXIV). It is an old piece of hemlock, with two central communicating holes. The mouth-piece is a block of ivory. Another mouth-piece is a bit of hard wood soaked in oil; it was used with a bone drill having an iron point. A very small, rude bow goes with this set (fig. 24).

Fig 25.Fire-making Set.(Angmagsalik Eskimo, E. Greenland. Copied from G. Holm’s Ethnologisk of Angmagsalikerne, 1887.)

Our knowledge of eastern Greenland has been very much increased by the explorations of Holm and Garde, who reached a village on the east coast never before visited by a white man. Extensive collections were made, both of information and specimens. In reference to fire-making, Mr. Holm reports:

“They make fire by turning a hard stick, of which the socket end is dipped in train oil, very rapidly around by means of a sealskin thong with handles. This stick is fixed at one end into a head set with bone, and the other end is pressed down into a cavity on the lower piece of wood (fig. 25). Therefore there must be two persons in order to make a fire. One turns the drill with the cord, while the other presses it down on the hearth; both support the block with their feet. As soon as the dust begins to burn they fan it with the hand. When it is ignited, they take it and put it into dried moss (sphagnum), blow it, and soon get a blaze. In this way they make a fire in an incredibly short time.”[34]

In the preliminary report, Mr. Holm gives the time at almost less than half a minute. It was made by the Eskimo, Illinguaki, and his wife, who, on being presented with a box of matches, gave up their drill, saying that they had no farther use for it.

In the same report Mr. Holm gives an interesting note. He says:

This fire apparatus is certainly better developed than that which has been described and drawn by Nordenskiöld from the Chukchis (Voy. of theVega,II, p. 126). The principle is the same as the Greenlander’s drill, which they employ for making holes in wood and bone, and which is furnished with a bow and mouth-piece.[35](fig. 26.)

Fig. 26.Boring Set.(Angmagsalik Eskimo, E. Greenland. G. Holm’s Ethnologisk of Angmagsalikerne.)

The central holes of this hearth are worthy of note, occurring in the farthest eastern locality of the Eskimo, and in Labrador.

Western Greenland.—The material in the Museum from western Greenland is very scanty. The southern coast has been settled for so long a time that the Eskimo and many of their arts have almost become extinct. No view of fire-making in Greenland would be complete without Davis’s quaint description of it, made three hundred years ago, but it was the upper end of the spindle that was wet in Trane. A Greenlander “begaune to kindle a fire in this manner: He tooke a piece of a boord wherein was a hole half thorow; into that hole he puts the end of a round sticke like unto a bedstaffe, wetting the end thereof in Trane, and in a fashion of a turner with a piece of lether, by his violent motion doeth very speedily produce fire.”[36]

Eskimo graves and village sites yield evidence also that the fire-making tools were not different from those at present used higher north along the coast, and on the east coast.

Dr. Bessels, speaking of Itah Eskimo of Foulke Fiord in Smith Sound, says: “The catkins of the arctic willow are used as tinder to catch the sparks produced by grinding two pieces of stone. Also the widely diffused ‘fire-drill’ is found here; the spindle is held between a piece of bone and a fragment of semi-decayed wood, and is set in motion by the well-known bow, and is turned until the wood begins to ignite.”[37]

The “fire-bag” is an accompaniment to all sorts of fire-making apparatus. The fire-bag shown (fig. 27, pl.LXXV) was collected by Captain Hall, at Holsteinberg, western Greenland in 1860. It is made of sealskin, and is a good specimen of the excellent needlework of these Eskimo. It was used to carry, more especially, the fire-drill and tinder which require to be kept very dry.

There is a wide gap in the collections of the Museum between the locality of the specimen just mentioned, and the fire hearth from the Mackenzie River (fig. 28). This specimen is from Fort Simpson presumably, where B. R. Ross collected. It is said to be difficult to discriminate the Eskimo from the Indian on the lower Mackenzie. This hearth may be Indian, as it has that appearance; besides, no Eskimo hearth yet observed has side holes and slots like this without the step. The Indians of this region are of the great Athapascan stock of the North. The close resemblance of this stick to the one from the Washoans of Nevada has been commented upon. (Seefig. 6,p. 537.)

There is also a very fine old central-hole hearth from the Mackenzie River, collected also by Mr. Ross. It is a rough billet of branch wood, cut apparently with an axe, or hatchet (fig. 29). It is semi-decayed and worm-eaten. It has ten central holes where fire has been made; they are quite deep, forming a gutter in the middle of the hearth. There is, as can be seen, no need of a groove, as the dust falls over into the next hole, collects in a mass, and ignites.

Fig. 28.Lower Part of Fire-making Set(on one end is gum for cement).(Cat. No. 1978, U. S. N. M. Mackenzie River, B. C. Collected by B. R. Ross.)

Fig. 29.Lower Part of Fire-making Set.(Cat. No. 1963, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Mackenzie River, B. C. Collected by B. R. Ross.)

Fig. 27.Fire-bag.Cat. No. 10128, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Holsteinberg, West Greenland. Collected by Capt. C. F. Hall.

The Anderson River set is a very complete and interesting outfit. It was collected many years ago by C. P. Gaudet. The parts are small for convenience of carrying. It is the custom of those who live in snow-covered regions to wrap the drill and hearth together very carefully to keep them dry, as these are the essential parts of the apparatus. It does not matter about the mouth-piece or bow. In this example there is a groove cut along the bottom of the hearth in order to facilitate tying the drill and hearth securely together. The hearth is a square block of soft wood with three central holes (fig. 30).

The other parts of this set are also worthy of consideration. The mouth-piece is set with a square piece of black stone. The part held in the mouth is very much chewed. One of the wings has a hole for tying, as has the hearth.

This is an usual Eskimo precaution to prevent small objects from being lost in the snow. The drill is short, being only 7 inches long. The bow is the fibula of a deer, pierced at each end for the frayed thong of sealskin. It has a primitive look, but it admirably serves its purpose.

The Point Barrow set was collected by the most successful expedition under charge of Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. S. Army. The knuckle-bone of a deer serves as a mouth-piece, the cup cavity and its general shape fitting it for the purpose admirably.

Fig. 30.Fire-making Set.(Cat. No. 1327 U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Anderson River, B. C. Collected by C. P. Gaudet.)

The drill is regularly made of light pine wood; it is slightly smaller in the middle. The hearth is a rudely rounded piece of pine. A fragment has been split off, and on this surface a groove has been cut and three fire-holes bored along it. The thong is without handles; it is used to tie the parts together when they are not inuse. A bunch of willow twigs, the down of which is used as tinder, is also shown (fig. 31).

This set is especially interesting, because it shows the degeneration of an art. The fire-drill is so rarely used at Point Barrow, Mr. John Murdoch says, that it was not possible to get a full set devoted to that purpose. Those here shown are a make-shift. The method only survives by the conservatism of a few old men of the tribe, who still cling to old usages. One of these made the drill for Lieutenant Ray, telling him that it was the kind used in old times. It seems primitive enough; the knuckle-bone might well have been the first mouth-piece. The Eskimo farther east sometimes use a fish vertebra for the same purpose; one from the Anderson River has this. The cord without handles is undoubtedly the earliest form also.

The small wooden and bone mouth-pieces of the Eskimo east of Point Barrow to Cumberland Gulf seem to be copies of the deer knuckle-bone. Another primitive adaptation is found in an Anderson River bow, which is made of the fibula of a deer (seefig. 30).

The fire-making drill collected from the Chukchis by theVegaexpedition in the Cape Wankerem region, in northeastern Siberia, about the same latitude as Point Barrow, is figured in Nordenskiöld’s Report.[38]It is worked by a bow, and the drill turns in a mouth-piece of a deer astragalus like the Point Barrow specimen. The block has central holes, with short grooves running into each one.

Fig. 31.Fire-making Set(with mouth-piece of deer’s knuckle-bone, thong, and tinder of willow catkins).(Cat. No. 89822. U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Point Barrow, Alaska. Collected by Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. S. A.)

Nordenskiöld’s description of the manner of making fire is very detailed.He records that the “women appear to be more accustomed than the men to the use of this implement.”

He gives also a most interesting observation on the use of a weighted pump drill among the Chukchis. The Chukchis also use flint and steel.[39]

The drilling set from Point Barrow (pl.LXXVI,fig. 32), will show the appearance of the parts of the fire-drill if we substitute the round stick for the flint drill. Some of the old drill stocks are pointed with finely chipped flint heads. The length of these points varies from 2 to 4 inches; the transverse section of one would be a parabola. They are in general more finely wrought than any of the prehistoric drills found in various localities all over the world. Prehistoric man was an adept in the art of drilling stone, bone, and shell; the stone tubes, some of them 18 inches long, bored very truly, are triumphs of the American Indians. Without doubt the prehistoric drill points were mounted like the Eskimo specimen, and were, perhaps, twirled between the hands, the almost universal method of using the fire-drill. Japanese carpenters drill holes in this way.

The winged mouth-piece is also a good example of workmanship. It is set with a mottled, homogeneous stone that is tolerably soft, which gives a minimum friction. This stone is much affected by the tribes over quite an extent of coast for labrets, etc. It is probably an article of trade as are flints. The bow is of walrus tusk, accurately made, but poorly engraved in comparison with the life-like art work of the southern Eskimo.

Another drilling set is from Sledge Island (pl.LXXVII,fig. 33). The Museum has no fire-making specimen from this locality. The drill stock is set with a point of jadeite lashed in with sinew cord. The bow is of walrus ivory; it is rounded on the belly and flat on the back. All Eskimo bows of ivory have a like curve, no doubt determined by the shape of the walrus tusk. In another, the most common form of the bow, its section is nearly an isosceles triangle, one angle coming in the center of the belly of the bow. The head is intended to be held in one or both hands; it agrees in form with the rude St. Lawrence Island heads.

Mr. E. W. Nelson collected at Unalakleet, in Norton Sound, a fire-drill, and the native names of the parts. The name of the set isŏŏ-jŏŏ-gŭ-tat; the mouth-piece,nă-ghŏŏ-tuk; the drill,ŏŏ-jŏŏ-ga-tuk; the hearth of tinder-wood,athl-uk; the bow,arshu-lŏw-shuk-pish-ik-sin-uk.

Fig. 32.Boring-set.Cat. Nos. 89400, 89424, and 89630, U. S. N. M. Point Barrow, Alaska. Collected by Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. S. A.

Fig. 33.Drilling-set.Cat. Nos. 25021, 44978, and 45108, U. S. N. M. Sledge Island, Alaska. Collected by E. W. Nelson.

This is a complete set (fig. 34) in first-rate order. The hearth has central holes along a deep median groove. Its bottom is flat, and it is rounded off on the sides and ends. All the parts are of pine wood, decorated in places with red paint. The drill is quite long, much longer than in any Eskimo set observed. It resembles more the Indian drillfor rubbing between the hands. The bow is of wood, which also is quite the exception in other Eskimo regions, where it is of ivory. There are many bows of antler from Norton Sound in the Museum, some of them skillfully and truthfully engraved. The mouth-piece is plain; not very well made. It is set with a square block of marble. It has the usual hole in one of the wings for the passage of a thong.

Fig. 34.Fire-making Set(hearth showing median groove).(Cat. No. 33166, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Norton Sound, Alaska. Collected by E. W. Nelson.)

Fig. 35.Lower Piece of Fire-making Set(hearth).(Cat. No. 39601, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Cape Vancouver, Alaska. Collected by E. W. Nelson.)

Cape Vancouver is represented by a fine old hearth. This object has evidently been prized by its owner; it has had two rows of fire-holes (fig. 35), one row bored on the step in front of the first holes made; some of the holes are bored clear through. The reason why this was valued is, because the wood is so tindery that it is easy to make fire upon it.

Chalitmute, in the Kuskokwim region, on the northern side of the bay of that name, opposite Nunivak Island, is the next locality southward, to be considered. The parts of this set are exceptionally well-finished. The hearth is (pl.LXXVIII,fig. 36) stepped. It has four holes prepared for use; on one, fire has been made. The drill is unusually thick. The mouth-piece has no teeth-grip, and there is no evidence that it was ever held in the mouth. It is intended to be held in the hand. This mouth-piece is set with an oval socket-stone of black obsidian, ground down into facets and polished. The cord handles are fine, large teeth of the sea lion. The centers of the circles so characteristic of Eskimo art, are inlaid with wood. The holes for the drill cord are narrow; they must have been dug through with a sharp, narrow instrument. As before remarked, this is the region where the hand rest is more used than the mouth-piece, and the bow is not used at all.

The fire-making set from the Togiak River, was collected in 1886, by Sergt. I. Applegate, of the U. S. Signal Corps. Kassianamute, from which village it comes, is in the Bristol Bay region, but this set has a different appearance from the former outfits (pl.LXXIX.,fig. 37). The hearth is a block of wood worked out at one end into a handle. It is remarkable in having central holes not connecting, and with no connecting grooves. In this it closely resembles the block from East Greenland (fig. 25). This hearth is of soft, tindery wood, and doubtless when the holes became too deep to allow the powder to mass around the edge, the upper part of hearth was scarped down. The mouth-piece is large, and is in the form of a seal. It has only a shallow, crescentic teeth-grip; from the size of the mouth-piece, its shape, and the absence of a block to fasten between the teeth, it must have been nearly always held in the hand of one of the operators. It is set with a round pebble, mottled with green. The cord is a thong of rawhide with handles of wood.

The next locality is Koggiung, on the southern shore of Bristol Bay, near its head. Two sets are shown from this locality. From the hearths it will be seen that both fire-slots on the side and center holes are used here. These sets are callednŭ-tshŭn(fig. 38). The apparatus shown in figure 38 has the stepped hearth. Both drill and hearth apparently have been made for sale. The mouth-piece is a good one, set with a large socket-piece of a black stone with green mottlings. This stone is tolerably soft. It is much used by the Bristol Bay Eskimo for making labrets, etc. The teeth-grip is very shallow. The hearth (fig. 39) is of a very peculiar shape; only one other has been noticed like it. The wood is of the best kind, and fire has been made on it a number of times. In several places the holes have been bored clear through. The mouth-piece bears no evidence that it has been held between the teeth. It is highly probable that fire was made on these outfits more often by two persons, one holding the mouth-piece, or rest, and fanning the flame, the other pulling the cord. This must be the method in Bristol Bay. Neither the true mouth-piece nor any bow has been procured by the Museum from this interesting region, from whence there are copious collections of ethnological objects. The cords without handles are worthy of notice.

Fig. 36.Fire-making set.Cat. Nos. 36325 and 37961. U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Chalitmute (Kuskokwim Region), Alaska. Collected by E. W. Nelson.

Fig. 37.Fire-making Set.Cat. No. 127520, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Kassianamute (Togiak Region), Alaska. Collected by S. Applegate.

Fig. 38.Fire-making Set(hearth with step and five slots).(Cat. No. 127819a, U. S. N. M. Koggiung, Bristol Bay, Alaska. Collected by W. J. Fisher.)

Fig. 39.Fire-Making Set(hearth with central holes and end step).(Cat. No. 127819b, U. S. N. M. Koggiung, Bristol Bay, Alaska. Collected by W. J. Fisher.)

Fig. 40.Fire-making Set.Cat. No. 55938, U. S. N. M. Eskimo of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Collected by Charles McKay.

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