HEATING AND LIGHTING UTENSILS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM 7 



Plate 45, Figure 1. (Cat. No. 325617, Philippine Commission, 39.4 

 inches (1 m.) long.) In this class is a torch of strips of apparently 

 palm spathe tied in a cylindrical bundle used by the Javanese and 

 called dbor Tnantjoung in native dialect. (Cat. No. 128017, Java; 

 Bureau of Arts, Paris, 29 inches (73.6 cm.) long.) Another specimen 

 is made of long splints of fat pine bundled together to form an 

 especially effective torch for outdoor use in the wind. This torch was 

 collected from the Choctaw Indians of Louisiana. (Cat. No. 178163; 

 Walter Hough.) 



In the birch tree area bundles of dry bark are rolled up to form 

 a torch for the woods or for fishing. (Cat. No. 178162, Iroquois 

 Indians; Walter Hough.) On the information of W. W. Rockhill, 

 the Chinese make torches by crushing bamboo and twisting it into 

 a rope, the crushing of the fiber rendering it more inflammable. 

 No resin or other aids to combustion are added as in the European 

 link. 



Another class of torches has a wide distribution in southeastern 

 Asia and in western and central Africa. They consist of cylindrical 

 masses of resin bound up usually in palm leaf, pandanus leaf, and 

 palm spathe. Apparently the first notice of them was given by Sir 

 Alfred Russell Wallace, who records seeing them for sale at Ternate. 

 This torch is common in Malaysia. It would appear that this type 

 is coincident with the distribution of the dammar tree, which pro- 

 duces the resin used in the torch. Specimens were received from 

 Singapore about 50 years ago by the United States National Museum. 

 They are encased in pandanus leaves and tied with rattan. The 

 handle is a continuation of the leaf below the resin bound into small 

 compass. (PI. 4&, fig. 2, Cat. No. 76727, Singapore; U. S. Depart- 

 ment of State, 16.5 inches (24 cm.) long.) Plate 3 depicts a group 

 of resin torches, except Figure 1, described later. Figure 2 is a 

 simple packet of dammar wrapped in palm leaf, from the Karens of 

 Burma. (Cat. No. 175194; Mrs. U. B. White; 18.9 inches (48 cm.) 

 long.) (See pi. 7 for Siamese form.) The third specimen is spindle- 

 form, wrapped in palm leaf and tightly bound with many turns of 

 split rattan. It is evidently the work of a professional Siamese torch 

 maker and reflects the meticulousness of Siamese art. (Cat. No. 

 175979, Trong, Lower Siam; Dr. W. L. Abbott; 34.5 inches (84.5 

 cm.) long.) Figure 4 is a large resin torch from the Philippines. 

 It is encased in palm leaf and spirally wound with rattan. It is 

 lighted at the lower end shown in the plate, the twisted loops nt the 

 upper end being for temporary suspension. (Cat. No. 232826, Moros 

 of Saranaya, Rio Grande, Mindanao; Maj. E. A. Mearns, L'. S. 

 Army; 40 inches (102 cm.) long.) 



In one locality in the New World the resin torch is found. The 

 type was collected at Arima, Porto Rico. It consists of a roll of resin 

 54261—28 2 



