FIRE AS AX AGEXT IX HUMAN CULTURE 43 



In the Solomon Islands vegetables were boiled in deep wooden 

 bowls by means of hot stones.* 



Further references to stone boiling are given in Tylor's Primitive 

 Cultm-e, where the subject is excellently treated. A modern survival 

 of the stone boiling method is seen in the scalding of hogs to remove 

 the bristles, practiced on the farms at butchering time. The warm- 

 ing of hquids with a hot poker may also be mentioned. 



Steaming. — This quite indirect application of heat for the softening 

 and cooking of food is limited in extent among uncivilized peoples, 

 but is an important feature of modern cuisine. In America but one 

 reference is found this method, namely, to its use by the Zuni Indians 

 of New Mexico in making stewed dumplings. Gushing says: 



" Fine flour was boiled in water until paste had been formed. Into 

 this paste enough meal was mixed to make a stiff dough, and of this 

 dough little balls or pellets were rolled out and spread evenly over a 

 yucca sieve or screen of sticks connected at the ends. A large pot 

 half filled with water was set over the fire, inside of which a smaller ves- 

 sel, partially filled with water and weighted with pebbles to keej) it 

 stead}^ was placed. Upon this smaller pot was laid the sieve or screen 

 holding the balls of dough, the larger pot then being covered with a 

 slab of stone and kept boiling until the dumplings were thoroughly 

 cooked by steaming."® 



Rice particularly lends itself to steaming, and it is in the rice- 

 growing area that a utensil designed for the purpose is prevalent. A 

 specimen of rice steamer, angoo koo3'an, from Simalur Island, East 

 Indies, collected by Dr. W. L. Abbott, may serve as the type (pi. 12). 

 It consists of a cylinder of bark hooped and sewed with rattan, having 

 one-fourth way from the bottom rim a grating of rods, the sharp ends 

 thrust into the walls of the cylinder. In use a leaf is spread over 

 the grating and rice put on top and the whole put over a pot of 

 water. The top of the cylinder is kept covered. Another specimen 

 is from the Orang Talang, Mandau River, Siak, East Sumatra. The 

 Malay name is " Icolcsissan palat.^' It is a cylinder of bark strongly 

 bound, and has near the bottom a rod grating, entire, resting on a 

 ring support. The grating has attached to it three rattan splints, 

 so that it can be drawn up to the top of the cylinder in taking out 

 the cooked rice. The steamer is provided with a rattan bail. The 

 exterior of the vessel is padded with a layer of palm leaf to con- 

 serve the heat. It is 51 centimeters high and 28 centimeters in 

 diameter. 



It will be observed that in the pouring of water on the hot stones 

 preparatory to covering in the pit oven there is a suggestion of steam- 



' C. M. Woodford. Among the Head Hunters, London, 1890, p. 29. 

 • Frank H. Gushing. Zuni Breadstuff, 1920, pp. 299-300. 



