2 BULLETIN 139^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Gen. James M. Ashton informs me that the reindeer herds of the 

 Chukchi and Chuvanes of Siberia are tended by the young folks, 

 who are sometimes caught out in devastating bhzzards. In such 

 an exigency two deer are made to he down side by side, back to the 

 wind, and the herder creeps between them and weathers the gale 

 between his warm hosts. Incidentally, deer are made to lie down 

 by a gentle kick on the shin of the hind leg. 



The Kamtschadales are said to use dogs as bedfellows for warmth. 

 Frequent observations go to show that many tribes in the region of 

 seasonal cold regulate their habits in consonance with the seasonal 

 environment. Variety in the seasons renders life in northern lati- 

 tudes more expansive and tends to develop expedients meeting the 

 needs of each period of the year. 



FIRELESS PEOPLES 



From time to time there have appeared in the accounts of travel- 

 ers stories about fireless peoples. When other observers seek to 

 verify these stories they are proven to be without foundation. Not 

 only is fire knowledge a characteristic of all historic races, but as far 

 back as the search for early man has been carried he is found to pos- 

 sess this faithful aUy. Much of the misconception giving rise to 

 stories of fireless peoples is due to the habits of some tribes as to the 

 preservation of fire. In some cases it is the custom to carefuUy pre- 

 serve fire, so that an observer, though he may remain a long time, is 

 not likely to see an example of renewing fire by artificial methods. 



FIRE PRESERVATION 



This important section of the fire subject presents some of the 

 most interesting examples of the ingenuity of man. It must, how- 

 ever, be confined to those classes which will give a comprehensive 

 view of the primitive technology, bearing on development, and take 

 up more extensively the use of fire in the ceramic arts, metallurgy, 

 and other arts of enormous consequence to civilization. 



With the acquisition of natural fire we have the beginning of a 

 technic regarding its preservation. The question of an adequate and 

 suitable fuel supply comes up at once. If the acquirement of fire is 

 to be regarded as a blessing to mankind, the burden which its care 

 threw upon man represents a heavy price. The primitive industry 

 in feeding the fire is the beginning of the enormous fuel industries of 

 to-day. It is apparent also that the preservation of fire became a 

 subject of invention to relieve the cares of fuel gathering as much as 

 guarding against the loss of fire, which has been customarily assigned 

 as the cause of preservation. 



Hints of the methods which may have been employed in early 

 times are given by fire-preservation customs observed in various 



