90 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



sents a much more advanced stage of mechanical knowledge than 

 the Kitzuki fire drill indicates."" 



The Koreans know the method of making fire by wood friction, 

 but it is not practiced at present.'^ 



The Taiyals of Formosa employed the pump drill for producing 

 fire used in ceremony. The fire saw and hand drill are also found 

 here. 



CHINA 



It is difficult in the older civiUzations, as China, to trace the use 

 of the fire drill or other fbre-making apparatus except the modern 

 flint and steel. It is probable that there exist historical references 

 and even survivals of religious custom which would show some 

 method of making fire with wood friction, as in India. Dr. Berthold 

 Laufer has brilHantly covered the ground as to the use of lenses in 

 China." 



INDU 



The simple two-stick drill is found in various parts of India among 

 the less-advanced tribes. The method of working is identical with 

 that found in other countries. The sacred driU is worked by a cord 

 as the European, but vertically instead of horizontally. Moor, Hindu 

 Pantheon, 214, says that a bow was used. He states that the wood 

 for the drill was Adenanihera aculeata or Prosopis aculeata. If these 

 could not be procured the Pipala, resemblng our poplar, was em- 

 ployed. An ancient reference to this drill is found in Milinda panha, 

 the questions of King Milinda. This MiUnda panha dates probably 

 from the early part of our era, and is still famous in northern Bud- 

 dhist countries. Referring to the question of the gradual formation 

 of quahties, Nagarena uses the following illustration: "Suppose, O 

 King, there were no fire-stick apparatus, no twirling stick, and no 

 cord for the twirling stick, and no matrix, and no burnt rag for tinder, 

 and no human effort and exertion, could there be fire by attrition?" 

 Again, he says: "Suppose, O King, there were no burning glass, and 

 no heat of the sun, and no dried cow dung for tinder, could there be 

 fire?" '• 



The Veddas of Ceylon illustrate with what facility the lowest of 

 mankind produce fire when it is needed : 



"One of them took his arrow, broke it into two pieces, sharpened 

 the one like a pencil and made a hole in the other to receive its point ; 

 then placing the latter on the ground and holding it down firmly with 

 his toes, he whirled the pointed one round in the hole, rolling it rapidly 

 between the palms of his hands. In a few moments it began to 



" Lafcadio Hearn. The Most Ancient Shrine In Japan. Atlantic Monthly, December, 1891, footnote, 

 p. 792. 

 '< From Pom K. Soh. 



'« Optical Lenses. I. Burning-lenses in China and India, T'omig-pao, vol. 16, May 1915. Brill, Leiden . 

 '> T. W. Rhys Davids. Sacred Books of the East, vol. 36, 1882, p. 85. 



