12 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



There appears an invention to raise the fuel above the fire bed and 

 promote combustion, consisting of stones set in the fire. 



The fireplace of the Nascapi Indians of Labrador is in the center 

 of the tent and is composed of several large stones to support the 

 :sticks of fuel laid across them.'^ 



In the mud huts of the United States of Colombia the fire was 

 built between three stones.^^ 



Almost all of the primitive fireplaces had as an early addition per- 

 haps a bordering circle of stones, which, among other things, facili- 

 tated the keeping of the fire and protected it in a measure from 

 winds. At a later stage we see three stones or bosses of mud placed 

 in the fire as a rest for the cooking pot. Trivet bosses of baked clay 

 in one piece, forming a fireplace, have been uncovered in ruins of 

 both the cliff and open-air type in New Mexico and Arizona by the 

 writer (pi. 2, figs. 1, 2). 



These primitive andirons are suggestive, and it is allowable to see 

 in them the rude beginnings of the stove and an approach to the 

 idea of draught. Three pot supports are seen in simple stoves in 

 various localities (see p 48). The erection around the fire, consist- 

 ing of four posts with cross sticks, used for drying, roasting, or smok- 

 ing food, prefigure further additions of the stove. Morton, quoting 

 from Josselyn and Young, describing the wigwams of the New 

 England Indians, says: "One good post they set up in the middle 

 that reaches to the hole in the top, with a staff across it. At a 

 convenient height they knock in a pin upon which they hang their 

 kettle. Beneath that they set up a broad stone for a back, which 

 keepeth the post from burning."'"' The boxing in of the fire with 

 circles of stones, slabs, or mud or daub and wattle walls are steps 

 toward a better utilization of fire and liint at coming inventions. 

 Occasionally a considerable advance is seen in ancient fireplaces. In 

 the ancient pit houses at Luna, New Mexico, the writer uncovered a 

 hearth in the side of a pit. The bottom was a smooth stone slab 

 and the jambs were slabs of clay baked hard by the fire. The stone 

 bottom projected in front, forming a little step.^^ The central fire in 

 these pits was laid sometimes on a pavement of stones (pi. 2, bottom). 



The rudimentary oven is observed in the primitive fireplace where 

 food to be baked is buried in hot ashes. 



The chimney might have its origin in the embankment, walling in, 

 or other protection of the fire from wind. The idea of draught had 

 not yet appeared. Sooner or later a simple knowledge of draught has 



" Manuscript of Lucien M. Turner in United States National Museum, p. 454. 



'•Woman's Work for Women, November, 1887, p. 294. 



wjosselyn's Voyages, p. 126; Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 144; Notn in Morton's New Eng- 

 lish Canaan, Prince Society, Boston, p. 135. 



»> Walter Hough. Ancient Pit Dwellings at Luna, New Mexico, vol. 55, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1919, 

 pp. 409-421. 



