FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 35 



open it. They have no knives, and seem to be only in the beginning 

 of the Stone Age. Hot stones are now put inside; after cooking a Uttle 

 it is divided, and each man goes on cooking his part over the fire and 

 eating off the crust. Natives' teeth are worn off to the gums from 

 constant use. They eat everything except leeches Austrahan veg- 

 etables are mostly poisonous, and have to be roasted and poimded 

 between stones or soaked in water two or tliree days, and the result, 

 a sort of dough, is eaten with the four fingers. Everytliing is eaten 

 cooked with exception of the larvae of a beetle, and they will not eat 

 anything that is spoiled. Lizards good. Opossums are mostly eaten. 

 Grasshoppers are quite good. The larvae of a tree ant jarred out of 

 the holes are eaten. ^^ 



The earth oven or pit oven is both an ancient and widely distrib- 

 uted device for cooking. It may be divided into the heap ovens 

 and pit ovens. One of the simpler forms of the heap oven is that of 

 the Nutka Sound Indians described by Jewitt : 



" When they cook their fish by steam, which are usually the heads, 

 tails, and fins of the salmon, cod, and halibut, a large fire is kindled, 

 upon which they place a bed of stones, which, when the wood is 

 burnt down, becomes perfectly heated. Layers of green leaves or 

 pine boughs are then placed upon the stones, and the fish, clams, 

 etc., being laid upon them, water is poured over them, and the whole 

 closely covered with mats to keep in the steam. This is much the 

 best mode of cooking, and clams and mussels done in this manner 

 are really excellent."*' 



This is the general method among the coast peoples and solves the 

 problem of opening shellfish. The familiar clambake was adopted 

 from the Indians. It will be observed that in the heap and frequently 

 in the pit oven the cooking is effected b}' means of hot stones, as 

 in stone boiling. The Chopunnish (Nez Perce) Indians of western 

 United States used a similar method: 



"The Indians prepared a large fire of dried wood, on which was 

 thrown a number of smooth stones from the river. As soon as the 

 fire went down and the stones were heated they were laid next to each 

 other in a level position and covered with a quantity of branches of 

 pine, on which were placed fletches of the bears ( Vrsus horrihilis) , the 

 boughs and the flesh alternated for several courses, leaving a thick 

 layer of pine on the top. On this heap w^as then placed a small quan- 

 tity of water, and the whole covered with earth to the depth of 4 

 inches. After remaining in this state about three hours the meat was 

 taken off. It was really more tender than that which had been 



w Conversation given by Australian explorer, Mr. Lumholtz, at Anthropological Society of Washing, 

 ton, Dec. 17, 1889. 

 » J. R. Jewitt's Narrative, 1803, New York, 1816, p. 69. 



