1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 183 



been long on the extreme arctic coast whence this specimen comes. The 

 bag (Fig. 2) is made of the scrotum of the reindeer. The little bag which 

 hangs attached to the larger has a double use: it is a receptacle for 

 tinder, but its chief use is as a toggle; being passed under the belt it 

 prevents the loss of the outfit, which is carried by the women. 



An oblong pad stuffed with deer hair is sewed to the mouth of the 

 fire-bag to protect the hand from sparks and blows of the flint. 



Fig. 5. Using the strike-alight. 



To get a spark the Eskimo places the piece of pyrites on the pad held 

 in the left. hand over the curved forefinger (Fig. 5) ; it is placed large 

 end down and the thumb set in the cup cavity in the top. The flap of 

 the tinder pocket is turned back and held on the forefinger under the 

 protecting pad. The flint is held in the right hand and by a scraping 

 motion little pieces of pyrites at a dull red heat fall down into the tin- 

 der. The pellet that glows is transferred to the pipe or fire, and the 

 flap of the tinder pocket is turned down, serving to keep the tinder 

 dry and to extinguish it if necessary. 



It is a rare and complete fire making set, and in the minutiae and 

 number of accessories shows true Eskimo elaboration, though in detail 

 rudely made. Professor Mason remarks on Eskimo ingenuity that the 

 Australians and Puru-Puru were satisfied with the simplest form of 

 throwing-stick, while the Eskimo have invented a dozen different spe- 

 cies with numerous co ordinating attachments on the spear.* This is 

 also a good example of independence of invention by the Fuegians, and 

 the hyperboreans. The former could use no other means, in that 

 supersaturated atmosphere it is impossible to get a spark by means of a 

 drill. t At Cape Bathurst the cause of the abandonment of the fire drill 



*" Resemblances in Arts Widely Separated." American Naturalist, Mar. 188(5, p. 251. 

 tPeschel "The Races of Men," p. 148, cites W. P. Snow's " Off Tierra del Fuego," 

 II, p. 360. 



