AN ESKIMO STRIKE-A-LIGHT. 



Barrow.* [t is then put into a little, round, flat pouch, with a flap in the 

 middle of one side (Fig. 1). The pyrites (Fig. 3) looks like a short pestle, 

 into which shape it has been worn by the repeated scrapings it has re- 

 ceived. The upper end has a natural concavity, while the lower end is 

 as smooth as though it had been used for trituration. 



4-a 



Fi<;. 3. Pyrites. Figs. 4 4«. Flint striker and handle. 



The flint (Fig. -4) is an oblong piece, square at one end and rounded at 

 the other. It is well chipped and was evidently made for this purpose, 

 though away from its surroundings as used it would be provisionally 

 • hissed as a scraper, though not a skin-scraper blade, as it is chipped on 

 both sides. Dr. J. Simpson, in the Arctic Blue Book, says that flints 

 are brought from the Kuwuk Kiver. Mr. Murdoch tells me that the 

 Eskimo think that pyrites comes down from heaven in meteors, and for 

 this reason they call it fire stone. Two pieces of the latter are often 

 used for striking fire. A native told Mr. Murdoch that in old times they 

 did not use Hint, but two pieces of pyrites, and got "big fire." The 

 pieces of flint used at Point Barrow are small and are not fixed in a 

 handle. The flint under consideration is mounted in a short wooden 

 handle (Fig. 4a), of two pieces, rudely dressed down with a flint tool, as 

 may be seen from the character of the cutting, which is striated, as though 

 done with a serrated edge. This is corroborative evidence to that of 

 < Japtain Berendeen, who says that this is a genuine relic of the times 

 before the use of the steel was known to the natives, which has not 



• Report of the Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska, Lieut. P. II. Kay, U. S. Army, 

 p. 16. 



