112 
" Burma " we read that among other uses to which the bamboo is 
applied, not the least useful is that of producmg fire by friction. For 
this purpose a joint of thoroughly dry bamboo is selected, one and a 
half inch or two inches in diameter, and this joint is then split into 
halves. A ball is now prepared by scraping off shavings from a per- 
fectly dry bamboo, and this ball being placed on some firm support, 
as a fallen log or piece of rock, one of the above halves is held by its 
ends firmly down on it, so that the ball of soft fibre is pressed with 
some force against its inner or concave surface. Another man now 
takes a piece of bamboo a foot or less long, and shaped with a blunt 
edge, something like a paper-knife, and commences a sawing motion 
backward and forvvord across the horizontal piece of bamboo, and 
just over the spot where the soft fibre is held. The motion is slow 
at first, and by degrees a groove is formed, which soon deepens as the 
motion increases in quickness. Soon smoke arises, and the motion is 
now made as rapid as possible, and, by the time the bamboo is cut 
through, not only smoke but sparks are seen, which soon ignite the 
materials of which the ball beneath is composed. The first tender 
spark is now carefully blown, and when well alight the ball is with- 
drawn, and leaves and other inflammable materials heaped over it, 
and a fire secured. This is the only method that I am aware of for 
procuring fire by friction in Burma. 
Another method of obtaining fire by friction from bamboos is tlius 
described by Captain T. H. Lewin ('* Hill Tracts of Chittagong, and 
the Dwellers therein," Calcutta, 1869, p. 83), as practiced 'in the 
Chittagong Hills. The Tipporalis make use of an ingenious device 
to obtain fire; they take a piece of dry bamboo, about a foot long, split 
it in half, and on its outer round surface cut a nick, or notch, about 
an eighth of an inch broad, circling round the semi-circumference of 
the bamboo, shallow toward the edges, but deepening in the centre 
until a minute slit of about a line in breadth pierces the inner surface 
of the bamboo fire-stick. Then a flexible strip of bamboo is taken. 
about one and a half foot long and an eighth of an inch in breadth, 
to fit the circling notch, or groove, in the fire-stick. This slip or band 
is rubbed with fine dry sand, and then passed round the fire-stick, on 
which the operator stands, a foot on either end. Then the slip, 
grasped firmly, an end in each hand, is pulled steadily back and forth, 
increasing gradually in pressure and velocity as the smoke comes. 
By the time the fire-band snaps with the friction there ought to appear 
through the slit in the fire-stick some incandescent dust, and this 
placed, smouldering as it is, in a nest of dry bamboo shavings, can 
be gently blown into a flame.— 77?^ Gardetiers' Chronicle. 
