Polynesian Fire Making. 



115 



they "passed by on the other side." If they came from the American continent that also 

 was a land where before the coming of the white man the fire drill was nniversally used. 

 With the curious disdain the Hawaiian seems to feel for the works, processes 

 or results of his forebears in heathen times, one cannot be surprised at the utter forget- 

 fulness that has fallen on the modern representatives of this great Polynesian family 

 so annoying when the archaeologist tries to resuscitate old customs. Almost as soon 



FIG. 98. MAORI FIRE MAKING. 



as a matchbox could be obtained the ancient implements of firemaking which had 

 well served countless generations were consigned to the limbo of useless things, and 

 their very names soon erased from memor}^ Names that were obtained more than 

 half a century ago and embalmed in print are the only relics of many a useful and to 

 us interesting process in the daily life of the primitive settlers in the Pacific. I have 

 seen old Hawaiians who worked for Kamehameha the Great make fire at my request, 

 but as the present generation is ignorant of these matters and not eager to be photo- 

 graphed doing such "old fashioned things" I turn to their kin in New Zealand for an 

 illustration (Fig. 98) of the old Hawaiian method of making fire: it was done on 



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