86 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



drill may not allow placing of the period farther back than the Neo- 

 lithic, thus assigning previous periods to the stage of preservation of 

 fire. Biblical references may be found in Ezekiel XIX: "And a fire 

 is gone out of a rod of her branches which has devoured her fruit," 

 may afford ground for supposing that the Jews were acquainted with 

 fire making with the drill. In Ezekiel XXI a more distinct reference 

 is given: "The King of Babylon will take his station at the cross 

 road, where an old road branches off in two directions, to have re- 

 course to divination to kindle fire with the staff and to interrogate 

 images." It is known the Akkadians made fire by revolving two 

 pieces of wood.^^ The cuneiform character for the Assyrian fire god, 

 Gibil, "reed fire," is a fiire drill. The cord drill was in use in Homeric 

 times.®- In the tool basket of an ancient Egyptian carpenter of 

 Thebes were found drill bows and the nut or socket of wood in which 

 it was worked. Pictures of such a drill are found on tombs of the 

 IV and V dynasty.®^ It is probable that the Egyptians made fire 

 with this device. In the Settle cave in Yorkshire, England, objects 

 supposed to be drill-cord handles were found. These refer to the 

 Neolithic and Roman period.®* 



In the course of the profound advancement of Europe in civiliza- 

 tion the ancient methods of producing fire by wood friction long since 

 passed out of practice. Only as cult survivals and occasionally for 

 practical needs did tliis primitive art remain to indicate its former 

 prevalence in Europe. Students of folklore have collected many of 

 these, and Frazer's Golden Bough recites a number of instances. 



In 1892 the writer collected from Henry Walther, an employee of 

 the Smithsonian Institution born in East Prussia, in territory form- 

 erly belonging to Poland, a first-hand relation of this method of mak- 

 ing fire about the year 1825. Mr. Walther related that the boys, who 

 were on watch in.the fields while the potato crop was being gathered, 

 would sometimes make a fire by wood friction. Two stakes were 

 fastened in the ground and a spindle pivoted between them horizon- 

 tall3\ A cord was passed over the spindle and the latter revolved 

 smartly and after a short time the tinder held at one of the bearings 

 would ignite. The wood used was dry willow. The operation was 

 not performed as a sport or from curiosity, but as a necessity, since 

 the flint and steel must needs remain in the kitchen. 



The same apparatus was used in Essen in Hanover in 1828 to pro- 

 duce the alarm fire. In the Swiss Cantons this ancient method is 



«' W. St. Chad Boscawen. Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol 6, 1878, p. 279. 

 " Odyssey, Book 9, p. 282. 



•3 Sir Gardner Wilkinson. Ancient Egyptians, vol. 1, London, 183", p. 401. 

 •«< W. Boyd Dawkins. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. 1, 1872, p. 04. 



