FIEE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 9 



fire in an agreed location for the convenience and other require- 

 ments of the social unit, considering also not only the benefits but 

 the danger of fire. 



In view of the early inculcated methods of preserving the fire over 

 periods of time and the small number of uses, it is not probable that 

 early man required much fire. The reproach of the Indian that the 

 white man uses a great heap of wood to cook his food, while the 

 Indian uses only a few sticks, is a case in point. Economy of fuel 

 is characteristic of unciviUzed man. 



A Sioux lodge at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, is thus described in 

 1846: 



" Their lodges are constructed of poles, erected in a conical shape, 

 for a framework, over which is thrown and fastened a roof of buff ala 

 skin prepared as to resist the weather. The diameter of these lodges 

 is usually 10 feet; some of them are larger. In cold and stormy 

 weather the fire is lighted in the center of the lodge. In warm and 

 fair weather the fire for cooking is lighted near the entrance on the 

 outside. The floor of the lodge is covered with buffalo skins, skins 

 forming an excellent carpet." ^^ 



The Western Hemisphere affords a good opportunity to show the 

 position of the fireplace over an immense "ladder" of latitudes. 

 Beginning with Alaska, the lamp, which corresponds with the house 

 fire, is kept within the dwelling. In southern Alaska among the 

 Indian tribes the fire is placed on the floor in the wooden houses, 

 sometimes a box filled with earth being the receptacle. The Makah 

 Indians of Washington put the fire on the floor in front of the bunks. 

 The Patwin of the Sacramento Valley, California, and the Maidu 

 and Klamath of northern California place the fire in the middle of 

 the hut and provide a smoke hole. The Tulolome (Athapascan) on 

 Rogue River, Oregon, five in square pits boarded up. The fireplace 

 is on one side and the smoke escapes through a draught passage.^' 

 The Carrier (Athapascan stock) had a central house fire, a smoke 

 hole, and ladder for exit and entrance, but no cowl as among the 

 Haida. Stones were used for andirons.'" Conmnmal houses had as 

 many fires as famihes. 



The Plains Indians, as cited, placed the fire in the middle of the 

 tipi or lodge. In northeast Canada the Montagnais also place the 

 fire in the tipi. The above may be considered the northern method 

 of fire placement in general, and shows temperature and other environ- 

 mental influences. In the southwestern United States we find the 

 Ute and Navaho open-air tribes placing the fire in a box of stone 

 slabs. The Pueblos anciently kept the fire in a stone box in the mid- 

 dle of the room. Now the fireplace is in the corner, covered with a 



"Edwin Bryant. Rocky Mountain Adventures, 1848, p. 110. 



»BuH. U. S. Geo!, and Oeog. Surv., vol. 10, p. 29. 



* A. O. Morice. Trans. Canad. Inst., 1892-93, vol. i, p. 187. 



