88 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



pin, which by a common bow drill is made to rub against a block of 

 dry, half blackened wood. The upper part of this pin runs in a drill 

 block of wood or bone. In the light-stock holes have been made to 

 give support to the pin, and perhaps to facilitate the formation of 

 the half carbonized wood meal which the drilhng loosens from the 

 light-stock and in wliich the red heat arises. When fire is to be 

 lighted by means of this implement one foot holds the light-stock 

 first against the ground, the bowstring is put around the drill pin, 

 the left hand presses the pin with the drill block against the light- 

 stock, and the bow is carried backwards and forwards, not very 

 rapidly, but evenly, steadily, and uninterruptedly, until fire appears. 

 A couple of minutes are generally required to complete the process. 

 The women appear to be more accustomed than the men to the use 

 of this implement. An improved form of it consisted of a wooden 

 pin on whose lower part a lense-formed and perforated block of wood 

 was fixed. This block served as fljrwheel and weight. Across the 

 wooden pin ran a perforated crossbar which was fastened with two 

 sinews to its upper end. By carrying this crossbar backwards and 

 forwards the pin could be twined round with great rapidity. The 

 implement appears to me the more remarkable as it shows a new 

 way of using the stone or brick lenses which are often found in 

 graves or old house sites from the Stone Age. "'* 



Among the Tuski of Siberia the women light the fire with the drill, 

 a custom which is at variance with that of most peoples. The refer- 

 ence of fire making to man is almost universal. 



"A piece of flat board has a number of small holes made in it, 

 into one of which one end of a pointed stick is placed, the other ex- 

 tremity fitting into a sort of breastplate put on by the woman offi- 

 ciating, who with a bow works the stick to and fro rapidily, just as 

 in drilling a hole. In about 10 minutes, under favorable circumstan- 

 ces, she succeeds in detaching burning fibers of the wood; these are 

 hastily put into a handful of dried grass, which envelopes them, and 

 by rapid motion through the air kindles into flame. This is a most 

 laborious operation.^^ 



The Koryaks live south of the Chukchis, between the Anadyr 

 River and the central part of the Peninsula of Kamchatka. In her 

 compilation of the work of various Siberian explorers Miss CzapUcka 

 describes the sacred implements for fire making used by the Koryaks 

 and the customs connected therewith. 



"The Koryak 'guardians' and 'charms' serve as protectors to indi- 

 viduals, famiUes, or villages, whereas such greater supernatural beings 



"Nordenskjold. Voyage of the Vega, vol. 2, 1881, pp. 120-122. 

 •» W. H. Hooper. Tents of the Tuski, New York, 1879, p. 187. 



